unsure about day time naps, what do people think?

[Ghostie]

My dd is 11 weeks today and has generally been a good sleeper. At night she is good, goes to bed around 7 and sleeps to around 3 feeds ans sleeps to around 7 again. Sometimes she does struggle around 5/6 to settle and ends up in with me.

In the day she has started having much shorter naps and is starting to really only want t0 nap in the sling and being held. My mum made a big thing of me having to put her down in bed, which had got to me and is playing on my mind.She implying that I'm getting her into bad habbits by not putting her down and it does leave me less free to get on with other things.

What do others think?

Are you and DD both happy and healthy? Do you feel yourself that you need to change the way you are doing things?

If not, ask your mother exactly what her assertions are based on. Feel free to gently shrug them off.

I find that certain people (especially Mums or MILs...) have very fixed ideas about where or when a baby should and should not sleep, which aren't based on anything beyond tradition / accepted cultural practices / social norms.

Most of us just reach some sort of compromise that works best for our baby and our family, allowing everyone to get as much good quality sleep as they can.

My mum disapproves of the fact that I co-sleep and use a baby wrap or sling to carry DD rather than a pushchair/pram. But she's long learned that if she can't prove her point of view with robust evidence I'm not prepared to take her opinions seriously.

None of the things that my mum predicted have come to pass (i.e. DD is able to settle to sleep by herself in a variety of different locations with or without me, and is outgoing, sociable and non-clingy etc..).

Incidentally, napping in a sling is great for when you need to get out and about. When I was on maternity leave I always felt sorry for people stuck at home with babies who would only nap in a cot at a certain time of day while me and DD were out exploring the country and going to museums etc.. Baby carriers are very liberating.

There's definitely advantages and disadvantages of each. If you do teach dc to settle in the cot then you might be guarrenteed regular naps at set hours every day - great if you like house work. But if dc is happy sleeping whereever, in the pushchair, car, or sling then you can go out and about - great if you like to do stuff other than house work. My problem now is that dc prefers to sleep in the sling/pushchair/car and some days I don't really want to go out. Still, all these walks are good for me!

Wherever works best for you and your LO is the answer!
Problem with sleeping in slings (in my experience) is most babies need you to be on the move in order to stay asleep (often the case with the pram and the car too) - but it's good for getting a bit of exercise!