7 week old - Day time nap problems

[Cbell]

Hi All,

Advice needed. As stated my DD is 7 weeks BF baby and day time naps are a problem.

We are currently working on a 7pm (ish) bedtime routine that involves, bath, feeding in darkened bedroom and being placed - sleeping/ sleepy or wide awake this evening in crib. Sometimes it even works!

Daytimes are another matter. I notice her sleepy signs but the only place she will consistently sleep is on me in a sling. Part of me thinks this is lovely, natural and I love my little snuggled up baby. However, at 3 - 6 - 12 months will I feel the same. So my questions are

1)Do you think she will just grow out of needing to nap on me as she gets older?

and if not..

2)How do I get her to nap somewhere other than in a sling during the day? No CC and with as minimum distress as possible.

Thanks for the help

I had a similar thing with BF DD2 in that she just wanted to sleep on me. The dr told me no problem at this age, but still try to put her down once sound asleep. At 6 months I decided that she needed to start being a little more indpendent _ mainly because I was goign back to work at 8 months) and I needed to klnow that at grandma's and nursery she would go to sleep if put down for her nap. I read a really good book called "Teach your child to sleep" - got form local library but can get from Amazon which helped me. At 6 mo, DD2 was only have 9 hours a day sleep when she should have been having 14 hours. At night, I'm still BFing (15mo now) and sometimes she's awake when I put her down and sometimes she's asleep. You have to remind yourself that she is still little and needs comfort more than anything at this stage. She will grow out of it :-)

Bless her. If she's sleeping in her crib at night this indicates that she's capable of self settling and sleeping somewhere other than on you. In which case i think it's probably just something she'll grow out of. She's still tiny and obviously loves her mummy cuddles - enjoy! My DS hadn't really settled into a daytime napping routine at that age, other than needing to go back to sleep within an hour and a half of waking in the morning. This was the nap i started off mastering as i found it the easiest. Within a couple of days he was settling fine in his carrycot.

From memory i think i began trying to put him down a bit more regularly and in the same place from about 8 weeks. Sometimes it worked, sometimes we ended up cuddling on the sofa when he wouldn't go down for an afternoon nap. He's now 14 weeks, sleeps and settles well, but i find myself yearning for the days when we just cuddled up together!

Wait til 12 weeks and then think about it. These are precious days, let her sleep on you and enjoy sniffing her head and gazing at her.

Mostly stay relaxed and enjoy, but it's good not to get into bad habits too regularly - it's amazing how fast you look round and they're 15 weeks still in the sling!!
Starting to try to put her down sleeping / sleepy or awake every now and then with a low threshold for bailing out, will not hurt and will start to teach her to nap somewhere else.

Also, as you are starting a bedtime routine(ish) then think about a naptime routine(ish).

I have a 15wo with sleep problems and wish i'd started a nap routine when I started her bedtime routine (about 8 weeks).