If your baby wouldn’t be put down…

[BumbleBee92]

If you had a baby who would not let you put them down for naps, when did (did??) this change and did you do anything you think helped them come to terms with being put down? Currently the ‘you sleep when they sleep’ advice feels a bit like trolling…

Just came on here to say that if you did want to make changes to how your baby falls asleep there are lots of options available rather than just accepting it how it is. It's perfectly fine to accept it and just wait for them to grow out of it but it's equally acceptable to want to make changes. For me, my mental health was suffering with feeling constantly trapped by having a baby that only napped either in the car or on me whilst I sat on the sofa holding him. Hated the sling. At 6 months old I used some very gentle methods to 'sleep train' him. People hear sleep training and thing it means leaving your baby to cry. It doesn't. I worked at changing his sleep associations from me in my arms being rocked, to falling asleep in the cot. There was a bit of crying but I responded to him constantly and at no point left him to cry it out. The difference was amazing. He started sleeping through the night in his cot and took regular naps. It got to a point by about 8 month I could just put him in his cot kiss him and leave and he would go off to sleep by himself. Just chill mama baby sleep on Instagram has a few courses. I didn't do these courses but she gets well recommended for having a course that gives varying levels of 'sleep training'. It's important to look after your own needs and if helping your baby learn to sleep in the cot is important to you then it's absolutely ok to look at ways to get to that place. Accepting holding them to sleep isn't your only option

@firstpregnancy1 thank you all advice appreciated! Will also look at different approaches like you say.

They all grow out of it eventually! Some babies just seem to be desperate to be held. My eldest contact napped until about 10 months. She was then able to nod off in the pram, as long as you kept walking till she was past the first sleep transition (29 minutes in her case). Around 13 months she would also nap a decent length in the car or i could transfer to the bed/sofa after half an hour and she's sleep for another 2 hours, and she also started sleeping for a solid 2hrs30 in the pram without needing more than 5 minutrs of walking at the start. She never napped in her cot.

You will survive it whether happens! She's a perfectly independent 6 year old now and sleeps very well. She woke once a night for a wee until 3 and a half though.

My boys are very different sleepers. It isn't anything I've done differently. I could put them in their pram in the sitting room and just give them a jiggle for a moment and they'd sleep! Incredible! They napped in their cots from 6 months with very little fuss or bother.

As a pp has said, you may be able to make gradual changes if that is what is best for you. But it's also ok to just go for contact naps if that works out best d you. When your child is older they will play indepently and your house will be less chaotic even if you can't get much done when they sleep!