Do I need to get her to nap in her cot?

[skippingturtle]

Am blessed with a 12 week old who, bar a bad patch of silent reflux, has always slept pretty well at night. She self-settles and for the last week has been sleeping from 7 til 7. (Before anyone throws a virtual punch at me, I'm very well aware how lucky I am, and that this could change at any time!)

Napping during the day is a different story, I haven't discovered a routine yet, she seems to have different needs every day. During the day she will only nap in a moving pram, in her swing, in the car or in my arms. I've tried a few times to get her to nap in her cot and she's gone ballistic .

I'm happy enough at the moment, but is this going to cause a problem later?

A bit scared to persevere with cot napping in case it blights our good fortune at night time!

DS 1 was like your wee girl. Slept wonderfully at night, nightmare to nap though. He needed walked, etc.
I'd just go with it, especially as you get 12 hrs off!

(You lucky bugger! Ds 2 is AWFUL sleeper. I am tearing hair out!)

i agree, just do what works in the day for now. My DD is 7 months and we have a sort of routine in the day now - but this only started when she was about 4 months, before that she slept at all different times! even now it is far from regimented.

Don't waste your precious time and energy worrying about a routine - it will just come together in the near future without you even realising it!

with regards napping in the cot - again, I wouldn't worry about this. she may associated the cot with bedtime hence the fuss. If you are happy with the way it is for now then thats just fine.

just enjoy your baby - and the good nights sleep while it lasts!!

DS (5.5 months) is a nightmare at napping, but always goes to sleep very well at night. He currently does 7-7(ish) with a dreamfeed at 10.30pm. Even before I introduced the dreamfeed he would generally only wake once after going to sleep at 7/7.30.

I gave up worrying about his naps too much. He will nap, but likes to be in the pushchair or car. I was worried he would be a nightmare when he started creche 4 weeks ago, but they say he is an absolute dream, and he has no problems napping there! I've decided to stop worrying about a rigid nap routine at home, and just thank my stars he sleeps at night. I'm sure a nap routine will come with time when he gets a bit older....

Hi. I echo what has already been said. Don't worry about it. I've been battling with 5.5mo DS about napping in his cot and have decided to give up and bring the pram indoors to use. So far (1 week in) its going quite well and a lot less battles than trying to get him in the cot.

My DS sleeps well at night but has trouble napping during the day. He will normally go to sleep for a nap but will wake up after ten or twenty minutes and still be cranky and tired. Should I just give up as I seem to spend all my time trying to resettle him?

I didn't worry about my daughter not sleeping in the cot - as it suited me for her to sleep in pushchair. She is now 13 months and won't go to sleep in cot at all. We have to lie on the bed with her for an hour before she goes to sleep and then transfer her.

With hindsight i would have had at least one nap a day in the cot.
Solutions other than controlled crying anyone?

It's not the fact that it's the pushchair that's the inconvenience, it's that it has to be moving! I've walked miles and miles!

great way to keep fit (:
we persevered with the cot with my son (now 19mo) and i'm so glad we did - he would not sleep without moving pram or car during day, but like yours was also great at night.
eventually after lots of crying and stress he got the hang of it - and then was so predictalbe and easy with routines so it really paid off. was hard though to get to that stage.

Echo above posts. My DD (now a toddler!) slept through the night early on and self settled beautifully but often faught naps in her cot so we simply took her out in the pram or popped her into a auto swing - she then napped wonderfully. Night time - she was sleeping in cot no problem. So this is what we did. From 12 months, for some reason she became able to nap in the cot (nothing we did or tried, she simply became able).

I didn't stress because I figured that at the end of the day the ability to sleep well at night, all through the night, in a cot or bed was the ultimate goal of any parent.

I wouldn't stress it at the moment but I would have daytime sleeps in a cot as my eventual goal. So maybe keep trying her as she gets older. I find a 'settling routine' helps. I get his top layers off so he's comfy, do drink of milk, cuddles and a story on my bed then put him in his cot. He goes to sleep.

I've found with all my 3 DCs that when they reach the stage of only needing one good sleep in the early afternoon (1.5 - 2 hours) they sleep much better and longer if they are in a cot (ds3 still has an hour sleep in his cot after pre-school and he's 3)

My DS was always fine in his cot at night but would never sleep in it during the day and would cry constantly if put in there. Like you he would go off on the move, in the buggy or the car seat.

It came in quite handy in the end as if I wanted him to nap I just had to put him in the buggy and go for a quick walk around the block and it was much more flexible as we didn't have to stay home for naps. I'd often go out for walks and have a coffee while he slept in the buggy.

After a while I could predict when he would nap. i.e. If we go swimming in the morning I know he'll fall asleep in the car on the way home. If we drive to the park to meet friends at 2.30, i'll leave at 1.45 as he will fall asleep on the way there etc. As he got older he'd point to his buggy if he got tired and you wouldn't even have to go out with him, he'd just climb in and go for a sleep parked in the hall or out in the garden if the weather was decent.

If you like a set routine then it's probably easier if you can get him to sleep in the cot.

My DS is now 2.5 and is starting to drop his afternoon nap, we've never had problems getting him to bed in the evening where he'll sleep a good 12 hours so 'buggy napping' worked fine for us. I never used a traditional pram but had a reclinable pushchair suitable from birth which we still use so maybe that helped as he was used to sleeping in it. I'm expecting my 2nd next year and they will probably have their naps in the same way.