How to make baby drop contact naps?

[Annak332]

My baby is 12 weeks and I’m a pretty clueless FTM.

night sleep has been a rollercoaster, we have to let him fall asleep on us first and into a deep sleep for about 20 minutes before putting into the Moses basket but for the last two weeks he has stayed asleep and only woken up to eat at 2 and 5am and gone straight back down. This has now started to fall apart since we tried to stop swaddling him as he constantly jerks himself awake but sleeps well with the swaddle. If anyone has any tips on this I will also welcome those.

but day sleep have always been contact naps, if I try to put him down he will wake up within 20 minutes max. Im getting a bit sick of every nap having to be a contact nap and stuck under a baby for hours a day and I’m worried that I’m creating bad habits… please tell me what I can do and start implementing to make him stay or go to sleep independently?

is there anything I can do or is he too young and it’s simply just a waiting game ?

You may not get long independent naps (ie in cot by self for over an hour) until six months, unfortunately. It varies baby to baby. I sent many selfies to my partner of me trapped under a baby.

I did gradually persuade the baby to sleep on a firm pillow on the sofa next to me for longer periods - if baby started to wake, I would pin their hands down to stop them startling themselves, and they might go back in to a deeper sleep. Long pram walks were the other solution.

When your baby seems to have some kind of vague schedule, the first morning nap is the easiest one to start doing independently in the cot. But unlikely to be longer than 30 mins!

I somewhat miss the contact naps now mine is nine months old. They only happen these days if baby is ill. It's hard to say "oh enjoy it!" When all you want is a cup of tea or a bath, but this stage will pass very quickly.