Daytime naps - I'm confused!

[Lxii62]

So ... DD is now 11 weeks. She's been fighting daytime naps for the past few weeks but normally will relent after 10-15 minutes of rocking/patting/white noise. Sometimes she'll fight until scream crying when we resort to feeding to sleep but it's not something I want to make a habit of. We look for sleepy cues and are aware of age appropriate wake windows so she's not overtired. If we put her down when she's asleep sometimes she'll finish her nap in the moses basket, sometimes she'll wake after 5 minutes.

So the bit I'm confused by is at the beginning we were told she should nap in the light with noise around her etc but now from what I've seen online we should be putting her down in a dark room, swaddled, drowsy but awake? What's the reason for this? That transition just seems crazy to me and having tried putting her down drowsy but awake... I don't see it working.
What's your experience with daytime naps please?

SIDS guidelines say they shouldn't sleep alone until 6 months so not really practical to put in a quiet dark room unless you're just going to sit there too.
Mine just napped in the corner of the room in their basket or on me.

Agree with pp, at 11 weeks mine slept
On me
In their bouncer
In their moses basket
In their pram

They didn't go upstairs into a dark room until we did, circa 11pm.

At 11 weeks (and until 8 months) all naps were either on me or in the pram. Even now at 20 months I still can’t put her down drowsy but awake although at least she will stay asleep once transferred to the cot. I didn’t feed to sleep but did give her a dummy at nap time.

Feed to sleep if that’s what baby wants - it’s completely natural thing to do. Baby should also have all naps with you around and honestly mostly probably on you at that age!

In the beginning they need to learn night from day. That’s why the advice is bright and noise. Later on, I think it’s up to you. Some babies nap better swaddled in their cot in a dark room (advice is to stay with them if <6MO pf course) and sometimes it can help night sleep to have consistent habits for all sleeps, but personally I wouldn’t want the next 2.5 years to revolve around having to be home from 1-3pm so I’d be doing the absolute opposite and getting them used to pram naps with plenty of background noise so getting out and about is never an issue!

At 11 weeks I didn't bother trying to put DS down for naps. I just let him fall asleep when he was tired- on me, in the sling, in the pram, in his moses in whatever room I was in.

Around 5 months I started trying to take him in the sling or pram at specific times to see if he'd sleep. Then at 6 months I started trying to get a nap routine in place, as I could leave him on his own with the monitor on. Now at 11 months, he goes into his own room for naps, with the curtains closed and I basically do the same routine as bed time.

Sounds like a very rigid routine. It's biologically normal to feed to sleep, especially at such a young age. Why make life more difficult for yourself?

My children slept in their own nursery from birth. No cosleeping and not in our room
if you’re happy to put your child in darkened room and check regularly

The odd holy grail of ‘what I've seen online we should be putting her down in a dark room, swaddled, drowsy but awake?’. Loads of babies never manage this and become kids who happily sleep well in their own beds by themselves.

Mine usually slept in the pram when out and about, or in the travel cot downstairs. Didn't really have any problems getting them to nap. Definitely have household stuff going on.

At 11 weeks my daughter on slept on me and was in my arms 23h a day as it was the only way she didn't scream.

Going down for naps started around 7-8 months but only lay next to me. She was generally a poor sleeper

My friends who had good sleepers started being able to put their babies down for a nap in the cot around 5months

Thank you all for your advice and experiences! Seems that putting them down for all their naps is not the norm and that's absolutely fine, we will carry on with what we're doing which is mostly contact naps. I know she'll sleep better this way and I get to enjoy the little person cuddles a little bit longer :)

I would just be going with the flow at such a young age, don't worry abijt a routine til around 6 months old

11 weeks is way too young to worry about a routine - they go through so many phases and changes that even if you were to feel like you were cracking a routine, they would change again and you'd just be disappointed you were back to square 1.

I've also got an 11 week old which is my second baby, and we're no where near ready for a routine. All I do is keep an eye on how long they have been awake for, and as soon as he gets to 90-120mins awake, ill start to try and help him get over for his next sleep if it doesn't look like he's going by himself. If I remember correctly I think we stayed a nap routine from 5 months with my first.

At that age (and months after!) it was all contact and pram naps. If I needed a bit of sleep in the day I'd co-sleep in bed for a nap. Otherwise I was just out and about getting on with things.

I fondly remember the contact naps on the couch. Lovely excuse to just chill with a box set. Or if we were out I'd maybe meet with other mums and go for a walk while baby slept in his pram. Lots of long afternoons in cafés, breastfeeding, with babies falling asleep here there and everywhere in mums' arms.

Best to just go with the flow and things will settle into a routine in time.