From baby carrier naps to cot naps

[LettucesAndRoses]

My DD is now 6 months old and a big baby. She has so far only managed to have her naps in the baby carrier but she's becoming too heavy for me, it's time to transition to cot naps. Any tips?
I've tried everything in the past: dark room, drowsy but awake, transfer while already asleep... Nothing worked and it was becoming too stressful so I just embraced the baby carrier way! I'm dreading trying again but it has become necessary.
I want to do it gently and not let her cry.

Thanks in advance!

I don’t think you’ll be able to ‘not let her cry’ completely - I say that in the kindest way to be realistic. She’s used to napping attached to you, with motion. She’s living the dream and she’s going to protest it taken away from her no matter what you do. If you mean you don’t want her to cry unsupported or ‘cry it out’ then that’s different. We had the same issue - DS (now ~ 10 months) loved sling naps or otherwise it was on the boob. He too was getting to heavy to be worn for 1-2 hours and I am going back to work soon. His dad had 14 days off work and we committed to all naps being in the cot or the pushchair, in that order of preference. DH started by fully cuddling DS to sleep before gradually reducing his input. At first, when DS realised he wasn’t going into the sling and at the stage where DS went into the cot awake (with lots of stroking and shh-ing from my husband, who stayed with him until he was fully asleep) there were tears. Quite a few. But they were always comforted and never alone. He now naps twice a day independently in his cot for 40 minutes at a time, thanks sleep regression

You need to decide your tolerance level for her tears and roll with it depending on how much you need to change the situation. For us, crying was acceptable, but never crying unsupported or being left to cry alone. If you have a partner id really recommend having them on board/doing it with them off work - it helps split the unpleasant task. Good luck x

My dd was the same. I started by letting her fall asleep while I was walking up and down the living room then I’d sit down while she napped. Then I sat down while she fell asleep but jiggled, next stopped the jiggling and gradually loosened the carrier straps then no carrier straps.

We had about a week of her waking up at the end of every sleep cycle when we moved to her napping in her cot and then she was fine.

She still falls asleep on my knee then I transfer her into her cot and she has a good nap