8 week old naps

[Lauren8642]

Ive Got a 8 week old baby she sleeps so well at night normally sleeps 9/10pm - 7/8am but day times is another story unless she’s in the pram on a walk for hours. I feel like we never get a good amount of awake time with her because she’s always tired because she doesn’t get a good nap. I always try to catch her when she starts yawning she’ll fall asleep on me the I transfer her dummy comes out then she’s awake again. Then I get her out thinking she’s not tired anymore and then she starts crying after 5/10 minutes and repeat.

As much as contact napping would be easier I’m worried how I’m going to ever get her to settle on her own if I never get her used to napping on her own in the day.

I’ve got a 4 year old so I want to get her used to napping on her own for when it’s school holidays or after school when I can’t pay full attention to my baby.

my 4 year old is also off poorly today (even tho she’s better now) so she’s wanted to play with me all day but baby won’t nap on her own

My baby is 5 months old and I gave up trying to transfer naps to Moses basket / pram at around 2-3 months old as she’d always wake up so matter what I did. It was such as effort to get her to sleep in the first place that I gave up and contact napped on the sofa. Just in the past few weeks she’s improved massively and is currently napping in her cot after I tried a few days ago. So I think it’s just one of things that they’ll grow out of. I do feel your pain as you cannot get anything done around the house but it will not last forever!

If it hellps, a solid 9-7 sleep is something most mothers would die for, and might be why the naps are coming less easily. My youngest would only sleep in the pram or the car too, but we got a chair style baby bouncer and she would drift off almost straight away in that. Sometimes the movement helps I think

I would have died of jealousy when I was at that stage if someone told me their 8 week old sleeps 10-11 hours per night.

Some babies just want to be on you/next to you all the time.

They're not sacks of potatoes that just sit there.

Accept the pram and the contact naps for now.

I found the morning nap was usually the easiest in the crib. Lunch and afternoon on me.

You can't and shouldn't sleep train until 5/6 months.

It’s the fourth trimester, it’s annoying but contacts naps are the way to go.

My 10 week old is similar! Not quite as long at night (around 7-8 hours) but on a morning she will nap if I’ve walked to school with her and my 4 year old either in the pram or the sling. If she’s not asleep by the time I’m nearly home from the school run I tend to divert my walking until she is. Could you try that? Get her up at 7 and then extend your school run a bit so she has a pram nap and you get fresh air and steps in?

that way I get a solid couple of hours to do all my house work and then afternoons and lunchtime she contact naps or lays next to me in bed whilst I nap. I love our afternoons as I know the jobs are done and I can enjoy those snuggles!

the above might work if you use a sling for her on a morning?

@Band3benefits My daughters schools about 30 minute walk or 6 minute drive and I can’t seem to get us all ready in time to work so I always drive then as soon as I move her from car seat to Moses basket she wakes up. Although the other day I put her straight into pram went for a walk then when I got home she stayed alseep in her pram a little bit so I think I’m just going to have to do that every day . Will help with the weight loss 😂 they do say second babies just have to slot into your live 🤦🏼‍♀️

Oh bless she's only eight weeks old, let her have the contact naps - she still thinks she's a part of you. But when she's a bit bigger I'd put her in her pushchair and rock her to sleep, I did that with my little one for months. Once she was asleep I could leave her and just potter about and do jobs, I even put a baby monitor next to the pushchair so I could go upstairs if I needed to.