Is it bad that 10 week DD only has daytime naps in pram or sling?

[Saffra]

At the moment, I'm more than happy to go with the flow. But, I'm wondering at what point I should be moving DD's daytime naps out of the sling or pram (when I'm out and about) to the crib? Although she is improving, DD doesn't like to be put down which is why we are co-sleeping at night.

Perfectly normal I think. She's still tiny. My 13mo used to do all his naps in-arms, but not now (and not for a fair while).

Do you breast feed? I found that what worked for us was to master feeding lying down. Then when he's asleep I just roll away. He eventually got used to taking naps in the bed and dh is able to lie with him quietly and he drops off.

We still co-sleep but that's through choice now. We have a bedside cot to give us all enough room. Hmm, I think my point is that if it works for you and you're happy doing it, go with it. Your instincts are sound. When it stops working or you stop being happy with it, that's when you change something - not because everyone else does it differently or someone's telling you you're wrong.

DS2 is nearly a year old and has still never had a nap in his cot, he sleeps some of most nights in the cot but we co-sleep if and when he wakes up. It's working fine for us,if it wasn't I'd make a bit more effort to change things.

DS1 was very similar, started having daytime naps in his cot at around 18 months and was in his own room at night not much after. On the whole he's always been a good sleeper so I tend not to worry how things will turn out with DS2, I expect he'll get there in his own time.

To answer your question, no not one bit. My 8-mo-old DS was exactly the same, with the odd co-sleeping and tactical retreat option as described by Gincognito (love the name btw) until he was properly rolling.

About a month or two ago though, I decided that I really fancied a proper tea break now and again so spent a couple of naptimes settling him with shh-pat, and lo and behold he then started going down, rolling over with a sigh and contently slumbering. Today he even smiled as we went upstairs and slept for a good two hours. I even managed to do the crossword . No way he'd have done that at 10 weeks though - but I kind of knew when he was ready.

Thanks for the reassuring answers.

Yes, I do breastfeed (which I love) and I've recently started doing this lying down. What a revelation. Has bought me lots of extra sleep. We have a bedside crib - which she doesn't use at night and I've stopped trying for now - but will be good to start her using that at some stage again... Perhaps when she starts dropping feeds at night.

But, I suppose it does suit me to have DD nap in the sling as it's zero effort and I can just get on with things. Just worried that I'm perhaps storing up trouble for later. Esp when she's too heavy to carry around all the time. Good idea with the sneaky BF to nap thing. Will try this once I have a baby monitor. (Having pets mean I need to close the door).

Saffra - IMO it's a good thing to have them sleep 'anywhere' so what you are doing for now is fine, but getting to the stage where she naps in her cot is good too. Once they get bigger, heavier and nosier it's much harder to get them to have a nap if they aren't used to the routine of having one in a cot and it's a right, royal, pain in the arse to have to put them in the car/buggy etc to get them to sleep! Feeding to sleep is fine - but they grow out of it then you are left with a tired grumpy tot who can't self settle. JMO of course :)

My LO didn't sleep in her cot during the day until she was about 7 months - she just refused. I used to put her in her pram as she way too heavy to hold. It really bothered me at the time as I just thought she 'should' be in the cot, but I guess it just took her a little while to get used to it.

Do you swaddle? I think that can really help a baby to settle on their own if they've been used to sleeping in a sling. Hope that helps! :)

Strangely, DD has never liked being swaddled so I gave that one up. We had 2 swaddle blankets that we tried a fair bit during her colic stage. Seemed to hate both - she seemed quite angry at being confined! What she seems to like about the sling is that she's upright and held. I took her out for a walk today in the pram and 10 mins from home, she woke up and started howling. I couldn't get home quick enough! Sure enough, the second I picked her up, she stopped crying....

A lot of babies become much better at sleeping at about the 3-4 month mark so you might want to wait it out to that at least. However some babies won't figure out the whole cot sleeping thing by themselves until they are pretty old - however if she is napping in the pram than you stand a reasonable chance I think.

The main long-term problem with naps in the sling/pram I think is when you wake them up prematurely (e.g. because you decide that you want to go home) and then they start not getting enough sleep. The other thing to remember with pram naps is that the weather is likely to get nastier! I'd also not recommend it getting to the point where you resent it and be on the look out for that.

Check out about reflux/silent reflux too if she prefers being upright if you haven't already.

The other thing to be careful about with naps at that age is to not leave more than about 80 minutes after the last waking before trying for the next nap. And don't try to nap if getting fussy rather than to entertain or 'stimulate'.

OP, I totally sympathise. DS2 is 8 weeks and is exactly the same. He won't sleep happily on his back unless in motion, but sleeps happily on our chests for hours, which of course is not sustainable. I know he's not getting enough sleep, but I really don't know what to do about it. I'll be following with interest and hoping you sort it out soon