What worked for you - naps

[WittyNickname]

hi everyone

My LO is nearly 6 months old and sleeps pretty well for her age... she wakes up once a night during a 12 hour sleep and has 3 predictable naps during the day.

EXCEPT... I need to breastfeed her to go to sleep. She will be starting nursery in a couple of months and I need for someone to be able to just put her down when she looks sleepy, or even better when it is time for a nap. She does not take bottles or milk from a cup, and we will start weaning this week.

So right now I have tried to put her down for a nap. This is the sequence of events:

Normally: Sleeps from 2pm - about 3:30 or 4:00, but on the boob

Today:
13:45 - had feed, checked nappy, left freinds house
13:50 - fell asleep in pushchair
14:00 - woke her up to get her out of the pushchair. LO yawning and rubbing eyes
14:00:30 - Put down in cot
14:01 - starts crying, trying to reassure her but she is getting worse
15:00 - Still crying, making exorcist - style noises

She has been crying since then! I am checking on her every few minutes, not picking her up but trying to reassure her and she hasn't stopped. She doesn't normally cry much and it's so hard to hear.

I've tried doing this before but caved after 15 mins... I'm just trying to keep reassuring her; it's so hard to hear her cry for so long.

did anyone have a similar experience - What worked for you? Should i leave her a bit longer?

Guess what she's just fallen asleep! Not sure whether I can go through that again though. Still interested in what everyone else has done.

It's entirely possible that she will happily go to sleep for someone else in a different way - I've heard loads of stories of babies (and toddlers) who would only feed to sleep, but who sleep okay at nursery.

Rocking may work instead, especially if the pushchair works (although it's possible she may not let you rock her to sleep as she's used to you feeding her).

My DS went from being fed to sleep for all naps to letting me rock him with a dummy (while crying), then there was less crying, then I ditched the dummy, then he started to self-settle (then had a developmental spurt and it all went to pot, but that's a different story. )

From what I understand, nursery staff are used to rocking babies to sleep.

The fact that she is well rested is a big plus on your side as it's much harder to learn new ways of sleeping if they're at all overtired.

If you do want to continue the controlled crying type approach, you need to be consistent and do it for every nap, or she will just get confused.

thanks angeldog. she does rock to sleep quite well but I would like her to be able just to go in the cot.

I didn't realise nursery staff were used to rocking to sleep, so I might give this up! I am a nervous wreck hearing her cry like that so much.

I would continue to breastfeed her to sleep yurself as this is such a special time for you and trying to stop her might encourage her to wean early.

Personally I don't think she will have a problem going to sleep for someone else as you won't be around and she cannot smell your breastmilk. My DS was able to go to sleep for my mother perfectly fine but always wanted a feed from me, still does. I wouldn't worry about it she will be able to make the adjustment just fine as the whole routine will be different anyway.