For those who contact nap during the day ...

[LizzeyBenett]

Just wondering if you contact nap during the day how do you get your babies down in a crib at night ? What's your methods tricks ? I can only get her down at night if she falls asleep on me first and can't move her for a good hour same when she wakes for a feed during the night , asking as had a melt down today due to sleep deprivation DH has taken her out for a walk to let me try have a rest. She is 11 weeks in 2 days but was born at 38 weeks so where sleep is concerned I've seen a lot of advice saying to consider her 2 weeks behind.

That sounds totally normal at that age. That's just exactly what we did with both our kids at that age. Just transfer them to their bed when they are in a deep sleep. Maybe try and do it sooner than an hour, if they start to stir you can pat or pick them back up again and try again 15 mins later etc. But totally normal for it to take an hour tbh. As they get older it gets easier.

Really hope it does get easier I'm completely sleep deprived

Where does she sleep at night?

It sounds normal to me too x

I know that it is utterly exhausting but they love the contact with their mumma, it's like you are one person.

It does get easier but it's a slow pace... x can you sleep when they do? That's what I did in the end... I just cleaned and showered when someone else was here x

Sorry to not be more helpful x

Could you consider co sleeping. If you breast feed can you put her on the bed and feed to sleep on your sides then roll away for a bit in the evening? This is what I did/ still do with my one year old.

I co slept until they were 6 months. It took me a few weeks to get her to sleep in a crib at this stage

I had one that used to contact nap and hated a sling so it became very restrictive. My husband used to come home and find me sitting in the dark with the baby on me. On the one hand, I quite liked those sleepy cuddles but it wasn’t really that practical and I remember having to work quite hard as she was approaching 1 to get her more used to the cot before nursery. That child always slept well in a cot at night despite the daytime contact napping and went on to become a brilliant sleeper (day and night) so the contact napping didn’t harm her long-term.

With my second I went for a totally different approach out of necessity to look after the first. As a newborn she was in the sling a lot more so it felt like I could get things done. We then moved to being quite strict about cot napping and bedtimes and following guides on awake times. I was shocked when it actually worked and no.2 was like clockwork and we worked around the recommended awake time windows (which are much shorter than I realised). That child was a textbook sleeper as a baby and then nearly killed me between 18m and 4 as she became a really rubbish sleeper and dropped her nap a year earlier than my first.

So basically… don’t worry too much. Everyone told me how silly I was being with my first re the contact napping but she ended up being much easier longer-term than my other one who was much better in the cot.

I was adamant I wouldn't co sleep... from 3 months DS was in the bed!

Contact napped until 9 months. Then.. it just got easier. Went down in his cot easily for naps and bed.

He is a great sleeper now at 2.5. Sleeps all night rare that he wakes up.

It gets better - and it goes faster than you think! I just went with it but as others have said try when they are in a deep sleep. Having a next to me helped us as I was able to get him in it a lot easier.

Can you snooze whilst she naps on you? Or co-sleep following the guidelines as it’s easier to sort of roll over still “attached” and then slip away slightly? Cosleeping in a bed without DH would also be easier… if you’ve a spare room.
Or if DH can take over post teatime- maybe a walk and bath time could you grab 1-2 hours sleep before the night?
None of this is long term but what I did with mine- ish…when struggling with sleep deprivation

I embraced cosleeping and then I got loads of sleep. Before that I remember Googling if I could die of sleep deprivation. Then I nearly fell down the stairs whilst carrying my baby from sheer exhaustion, at which point I decided that was the greatest risk.

Check out the UK Cosleepers Facebook group for excellent advice and if you're worried get an Owlet monitor which work really well for cosleeping because they monitor baby's heart rate and oxygen saturation.

Put down very sleepy but awake and lie next to them. Often I’d put my hand on their tummies and sort of rock them a bit. We co-slept with a full size cot attached to our bed so was very easy. And I didn’t have to worry about nodding off while holding them.