How did you stop contact napping

[orzo15]

My 8 month old has only contact napped. He’s fed to sleep, he had a brief month around 5 months where he would sleep in the pram but since then screams bloody murder if he is tired in the pram.

i have tried transferring him to the cot for naps recently and he wakes instantly and starts crying. I am fed up of being told to just enjoy it or try a sling, i want my own space now! He won’t take a dummy, he uses my boob as a dummy. But also realise I have created this for myself as he refused to be put down as a newborn and I gave up trying quite early on.

for those people who’s baby seemed like they would never stop contact napping but finally did, how did you do it?

You just push through. Mine largely contact napped, but they would also sleep in the car or in pushchair when out and about. Personally, neither of mine ever napped in a cot and I never really had a need for them to, but I imagine it’s similar. You just keep trying til it works. I would push mine around until they fell asleep or we’d drive until they did and then have a few extra laps on the way home to make sure they got enough of a nap.

It’s not exactly the same, but I did a lot of co-sleeping for naps, so I’d lay down next to them until they fell asleep and then I’d get up and move if I needed to (often I just had a nap, because sleep is more important than tidying the kitchen). If you are really determined to have naps be in a cot, I’d do what you do at night, but you’ll probably have to be persistent.

If you’re going to move in any direction though, I’d focus on pushchair and car naps. Soon he’ll switch to one long nap a day and if you don’t like being stuck at home, having him be able to sleep out and about will make life much easier. I have friends whose babies would only sleep at home in a cot with the blackout blinds down and it made life really difficult. Like literally, they’d hop up midway through lunch in a panic, say thanks for the meal and go running for the car to get home at the first sign of tiredness.

My DD was the same and I never thought she'd change! At about the age of one, she suddenly went back to liking her pram and we now do all naps there. She's currently 2.5 and I'm sure would nap in a cot if we gave her the option, given her understanding and language is further on, but we've not yet tried it.

For us, it was just a matter of keeping offering alternative ways to nap, and eventually they will change and adapt. There is nothing wrong with contact naps in the meantime, unless they become an issue for you :-)

Thanks. I don’t have a car and have really tried with the pram but he absolutely screams the place down and gets so worked up he won’t fall asleep so I’m then rushing home. So I am basically at the situation your friends are in anyway because I am rushing home to have to sit on the sofa for 3 hours a day. I’m a single parent, so at the moment I literally only get the evening when he’s gone to bed to do my own thing, I’d just love to have a cup of tea and get some stuff done while he naps!
i would settle of course for him napping in the pram so I could be out and about but that actually seems the bigger challenge because it is full on hysterical meltdown and if anything is getting worse not better

Thanks @AmyW9did she scream In the pram too? It’s really hard being out right now, I have a window where he will be ok in it for about 20-30 minutes then all hell breaks loose!

I started with the first nap of the day - put down at the first sleep cue. I would BF my baby but NOT to sleep, just enough to make sure they were satisfied and wouldn't wake up hungry. My baby would fuss but not cry (if they cried I got them up). If not asleep after 15 minutes, get them back up and try later. I think this approach was called something like Give Babe a Chance on Reddit(?)

Oh yes she did. I used the sling for a long time, but again just kept offering the pram as an option and eventually her likes and dislikes changed.

I also fed my DCs to sleep and found it much easier to lie next to them, feed them to sleep and then roll away and make my escape. Repeat if they wake up. Sometimes I gently lay them down on something soft on the floor next to me and slowly move away. Eventually they got used to napping on their own and I could easily put them down and they’d keep sleeping without me having to resettle.

I have no idea OP, but I'm here in solidarity 😂 My 10mo does the exact same. I'm just a big human dummy for contact naps and she will only feed to sleep.

When you fed them to sleep and rolled away was this on your bed or just on the floor? @Dal8257Because he would sleep next to me on my bed but then I have to stay next to him in case he rolled off

@Ladamesansmerci i am also a human dummy! It’s been sweet but I’m ready not to be anymore 😆

Either on my bed or a low toddler bed. I bought a toddler bed really early on as I just couldn’t transfer into a cot. 😅Mine didn’t do much rolling in their sleep so I often just had them on the bed with some pillows on the side and a baby monitor (but of course not before 6 months).

Hi @orzo15 how did it go in the end? Did you figure it out?
I am in your predicament now again with a baby who refuses anything but feeding to sleep.

i got a floor bed so he will sometimes have a nap there if I feed him to sleep but sorry to say he’s 14 months and although naps perfectly in nursery most weekends are contact naps! I became less stressed about it over time and going back to work helps so it’s only on the weekends

@orzo15 thanks, what did you do about feeding to sleep. Mine is nearly 8 months and I want to stop that soon.

We have a floor bed in his room that I can fit in, and one night I just switched up the routine, fed him earlier in the evening in the living room with the light and chatted to keep him awake. Then we read a book in bed and then I lie down with him and we cuddle. It still takes about 20 minutes to get him to sleep and it took about a week for him to accept it, lots of crying and fighting it first night but as I was right there in bed with him I didn’t feel I was letting him cry it out