Baby naps help!

[OneLemonLion]

Please if anyone can help I would be so grateful.

There are two ways I can get my 5 month old to sleep:

1. feeding to sleep then transferring whilst asleep onto our bed or the crib - bedtime transfer to crib is usually fine but during the day he often wakes. On our bed he usually wakes after 30 minutes and anyway this won’t be an option soon even with the monitor as he’s starting to learn to roll over.

2. in the pram with snooze shade - but generally this is max 30 minutes since we moved from the bassinet (which he outgrew) to the buggy. It’s great that he can sleep whilst we’re out and about but sometimes I really really don’t want to leave the house just to get him to sleep, and I can’t get anything else done in that time.

I want to try and teach him to fall asleep in his crib.

All the articles online talk about placing them in the crib ‘drowsy’ and comforting them without picking them up. When I do this he is sort of on and off comforted but escalates to full crying if I try to reduce the comforting (eg stop shhhing but keep stroking head). I end up picking him up to calm him and trying again but each time I put him down he gets to full crying quicker. So I give up and feed again and contact/bed nap.

I have tried complete darkness, dimness and red night light and always using white noise (which I know helps him sleep in the pram/whilst feeding)

I don’t want to use any method that involves leaving him to cry.

Is all this advice online just rubbish? Or will this eventually work if I do it day after day? Admittedly I have not tried consecutive days because it’s just so stressful.

Thanks so much for any help.

At that age its his inability to connect sleep cycles, thats why he sleeps 30min max. My son was the same. How many naps a day is he on? What are wake windows?
Also, any new skill (falling asleep in the cot in this case) will be met with protest / crying, its inevitable.

Thank you! So you are saying I need to just persevere/ lots of crying doesn’t mean I’m doing something wrong?

He has 3 naps if I can get a longer midday one (basically lying next to him and feeding back to sleep) or 4 otherwise, wake windows 2 hours first thing then 2-3 hours depending on sleep cues, although I don’t think I am great at deciphering these

do they start connecting sleep cycles naturally over time?

So in my case my sons sleep was rubbish for the first year until my mum saw my struggles and sleep trained him (nothing too extreme). But Im talking waking up every 2 hours at night for boob so I genuinely looked like a zombie, there was no other way.
In order to make him fall asleep quicker with minimal crying, you need to make sure he is properly tired. Yes, he will cry for a bit, but thats because you essentially ask him to do something new, to fall asleep in his cot and not being fed to sleep. First time will always be the hardest, but you have to stick it out, otherwise he will just get confused. And when he cries, you don't have to leave him alone! My mum was going in and out of the room, she returned every couple of min to comfort him with shushing, patting, anything but the boob obviously. First time will be hard but they learn very quickly. Also, a good technique- lay him on his side, put one hand on his hip and one on his shoulder, and gently rock. This is basically a version of rocking in the cot and it works magic.

I used the first nap of the day as cot nap practice. Spot sleepy cues. Big breastfeed, in the cot, go for a quick shower. If baby still awake/protesting when I got out after max 10 mins, contact or pram nap later.

Longer independent cot naps didn't come until around 7 months, I think it's a developmental thing (I tried everything before that and naps were only ever 40 minutes max unless contact napping).

Depends on your baby. If you have a very "convenient" baby who is mild tempered and doesn't fly off the handle for hours when left alone, then maybe some some sleep techniques will work.

We sleep trained around 5.5 months. Ferber. To my surprise, DS cried HARD for 10 minutes and that was it. I really didn't think he had the temperament for it but i had never actually leftt him to cry before either. I did the same on night no.2. On night no.3 we had zero tears. Did the same.for naps (morning and lunch). I found for the afternoon nap, he needed some help. He went from being an awful sleeper to a great one in 3 days so I would recommend trying. Even now he is 2, he asks for the sleep sack, and once in it, he just rolls over happily, chats for a bit to himself, and then falls asleep.

Thank you for all your comments, he fell asleep in the cot this morning after about 15 minutes hurrah, @Acidburn the hip and shoulder rock is truly magic!