I am in a panic

[NewChoos]

Back to work next week and 8mo DS will only sleep/nap if bf and occasionally will nap on his dad. He resists his cot, although he can sometimes manage a few hours in his cot if we manage to put him in asleep. We co sleep a lot, but he is quite unsettled at times even with this. He is teething.
DS starts nursery in Jan. My sister is helping with childcare in for 3 days in Dec, I know I have left this late (understatement) how can I encourage daytime naps? and eventually end co sleeping? Have tried PUPD/shush pat a lot....

If you can bear it try CC. It worked for me for day time naps. I would try to judge when DD is nicely tired (ie not overtired) and say nap time, get her in a sleeping bag, close the curtains, put the lullaby music on give her a short cuddle and kiss then put her in her cot. Leave her to cry 5mins first time, if she doesn't settle pick her up calm her down and put her down again.
It should work quite quickly. Also never underestimate the effect of someone else doing it not you. My DNephew was a right pickle for my DSis, but would self settle for naps for our Mum!

Does he ever nap in the pushchair? If so, then if your sister is willing that might be an option for naps in Dec. might be worth introducing some sleep cues eg lovey, story, music alongside the bf which can be carried on when you're not there.

In terms of nursery, my DD only naps in the pushchair at home and is a v light sleeper so I had similar worries, but they let her nap in the pushchair initially and then after a couple of months started putting her down in a cot and she took to it with no problems - I keep trying the cot at home but she won't have it so I think they adapt well to different routines in different settings. She still has the odd day where she has a rubbish or no nap but it's not too much of an issue now.

We coslept a lot too, from about 4 to 6 months when it just stopped working for us, and her sleep didn't get noticeably better or worse when we stopped - I think we just comforted her in her cot until she got used to it, and she was bf at night until fairly recently (she's 16 months now, her sleep is much better than it was but still not great!). Have you read no cry sleep solution? There are some ideas in there which might help on naps and reducing co sleeping - good luck!

Maybe talk to the nursery about it? Nursery got my DS to sleep though he would only nap in his buggy with me.