How to move day time naps to cot

[MarahCarey]

Hi,
My baby is 5 months and has been doing really well with night time sleeping. However, day time naps have been rather short and I'm afraid to say that DS has only ever napped in his babybjorn bouncer (apart from when he was newborn and he snoozed in a Moses). He also struggles to go down and cries. Whereas at night he seems to know the difference and goes down quickly and stays asleep, for day naps it takes ages to get him to nap and he wakes after 30 mins.

This last week I have worked really hard on extending the day time nap at lunch time, which used to just be 30 mins, to 1.5hrs, an on one occasion 2hrs. I feel this has had a positive impact on my baby's mood and has also improved the quality of his night time sleep with only one wake up now.

My next step is to move his naps, (particularly the long lunch time one) to his cot. At least I think this is the right thing to do?

My question is about how best to manage this transition and move him from bouncer to his cot for these naps. Shall I start by having him go to sleep in his bouncer and then transfer him to cot when he's asleep, and then gradually build from there and start putting him down in his cot? Or should I just put him in his cot starting today and go through a phase of "training" him to nap in this way? (Hate that phrase btw).

I managed to teach him to go to sleep at bedtime through doing the pick up put down method and it took me 8 days of hard graft. However, lunchtime nap needs to happen around the same time so I don't know if this would work.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Thank you.

Congratulations on the good bedtimes and the long naps, what a huge achievement!

If i were you, I'd continue doing "whatever works" for naps until he's got the long stretch properly sorted. Changing too much at once can be much tougher than doing it bit by bit. Give it a week or two, and then if PUPD worked for you for bedtime, try it for naps. Definitely make sure he falls asleep where he stays asleep, don't faff about moving him over once he's sleeping.

Pick a week (could be after Christmas) and throw routine out the window, have zero plans, and just dedicate it to getting the cot naps sorted. Start early and don't worry too much about timings and routine, the learning is more important!

You can do this mama!

Ok that's really helpful, thank you! Thanks for your positivity! I thought I was going to get told I've been too PFB or something!

I will keep using the bouncer and then start the naps in the cot once he's got used to the longer nap.

No, you've done amazingly! My main advice is that if it's working for you, don't change it. If naps in the bouncer work for you and your baby, don't feel that he has to be in the cot.

Obviously, if bouncer naps aren't working, change it, but don't feel like you need to mess with a good thing just because some arbitrary rule says babies should be in their cots. DD slept in the sling for all naps til she was about 7 months, because it was foolproof.

Would you mind if I asked how you got your DS to take longer naps? My DD is 7 months and usually only naps for half an hour three times a day, I’d love to get longer out of her if I could!

Just beware about cot naps. So many friends of mine got really tied to the house for nap times and weren’t then able to attend baby groups/meet up with others etc due to this.

I beat myself up that DD never napped in her cot (or napped much at all really), but it was bloody brilliant for socialising. She got used to a covered buggy and white noise toy meaning nap time, and could therefore do it anywhere - cafes, parks, the beach, friends’ houses, shops....

Why do you want cot naps?

If baby becomes fixed in those (as many do)then you can kiss goodbye day trips, seeing friends during a big chunk of the day, lots of baby groups, all sorts.

If you get baby used to sleeping in a buggy etc, then they can do that at home or out, so you have flexibility. Best is if they can be flexible, so if at home, nap in cot, if you, buggy, or sling, or blanket on a patch of grass.

I have so much more freedom that my nap trapped friends.

I managed to get cot naps by doing the exact same routine for naps as for bedtime - close curtains/shutters (make it really dark), into sleeping bag, and most importantly read the same storybook. Yes, we read the same story for naptime and bedtime for seriously 18months. I still know that book off by heart. But.....it worked.

We do cot naps and created a proper routine at 4/5 months. Agree it can tie you down a bit, but I think just being flexible and being prepared to abandong the nap if you want to do something etc. Plus in the days of covid theres not many places to go anyway. I just fed on my room and then put him in the cot at the same time every day. Let him cry for 3 mins if necessary and then go in and settle by putting my hand on him and waiting for him to stay still and then leave him again. He's totally used to it now and has two cot naps a day. I often have to wake him

@Koolandorthegang well my DS is still napping in the bouncer as I said. But I elongated the lunchtime one from 30 minutes to 1.5 hrs by dedicating a week to it! I sat there with a timer (sleep track app) and at 25 minutes into his nap I knew his sleep cycle would end and he would start to rouse. I caught the exact moment that happened and started to gently rock and sssh. I didn't look at him directly and kept myself neutral, a bit like night time feeds. He woke up for a couple of minutes but fell back to sleep for another 30 minutes. Then at 55 minutes I repeated the above steps.

I did this religiously for a week or so and now he just sleeps through the cycles himself.

I also became stricter with the sleeping conditions for his lunchtime nap- less light in the room etc.

I am one of the 'nap trapped'. I don't mind, my DS sleeps well in his cot but terribly in a buggy (or even a sling, 1 barking dog ruins the job). We are all happier if he has a good sleep, it's worth the sacrifice of having to be home in the middle of the day. Sometimes you've just got to do what's best for your child.

Mine started self settling in the cot for naps not long after he started self settling at night - previously all of his naps were in arms. Maybe just try putting him in the cot for a nap and see what happens?

When I say what's best for your child, I mean what suits them best - it's not a judgement on what other people do, clearly having buggy naps work best for them.