What to do first? Self settle or sort the naps?

[BriocheBriocheBrioche]

Hi all,

Just hoping for a little advice on what to do next...
Apologies in advance as this will be epic.

A bit of background.
6.5 month old baby, always (until recently - teeth and heat related I think) has slept well through the night and has a bed time of between 7.30-8pm with a good pre bedtime routine. She sleeps 11-12 hours only occasionally waking as she's lost her dummy/got legs stuck between the bars!!

Initially she was breast fed to sleep and transferred, we are now on bottles and are trying to encourage her to self settle. She now has her bottle in her bedroom, cuddle, in cot awake and various stroking, sshh-ing, patting until she sleeps. She likes to sleep on her side but I have to almost pin her arms and legs down until she is asleep otherwise she thrashes them around.

How can I get to the stage where I can put her down awake and she'll go to sleep on her own?

The next problem is her daytime naps. She tends to have 3 or 4 cat naps during day but never in her cot - either in my arms, pram or car. Sometimes I lie beside her on the bed so I can escape for 5 mins once she's sleeping.
How can I lengthen these naps and get them in her cot?

Any advice would be much appreciated!
Thanks!

I could have written your post, except DS is not quite 6 months. We have exactly the same issues, with the added bonus of him not sleeping well at night either. I have decided to go for naps first, as I'm less tired during the day. Yesterday was the first time I felt he napped well, and I think this made him less tired at bedtime so he settled more easily.

Thanks cupcakes its nice to hear im not the only one! I do count my blessings that in general she sleeps through the night but I do notice she sleeps better after having better naps in the day, which is why I want to get them sorted.

Sometimes I feel we do better if we go out for the day as she'll sleep in the pram/car when she feels like it and there is no stress of me trying to force her to sleep.
Even though I know she is tired she gets so worked up that it then takes even longer to settle her.

I feel like its my fault for not instigating a daily routine before now.

What did you do differently yesterday to get better results?

Sorry I meant to say that. Got distracted putting DS down!

Honestly? Nothing, really. The main difference was my own attitude, I think. I made the decision that we were going to sort out naps one tiny step at a time. So as of yesterday, I decided that naps were going to happen in his cot, with the following provisos:

1. I wouldn't force the issue for more than 20 minutes, as I felt we would both start to get worked up by then and he wouldn't sleep. If he wasn't asleep in his cot by then, I would go back to tried and trusted methods (i.e. the pushchair).
2. If I am feeling stressed already, I won't try it, for the same reason as above.
3. I will get him asleep in his cot by any means necessary, except for CC, CIO or feeding (as I already knew I could feed him and transfer him).

So yesterday I drew the curtains, changed his nappy, read him a story, then rocked him in my arms and sang until he fell asleep. I was amazed he did go to sleep actually, as he never has like that before. I then transferred him to his cot. When we are good at this routine, I'll start working on letting him self-settle, but that won't be for a while yet I expect. Yesterday, he had three naps, 1x 75 minutes and 2 x 40 minutes. Until then, he had only ever had 20-30 minute cat naps, 4 or 5 times a day. He was always tired. When we got to bedtime last night, I gave him his feed (he usually drops off in his feed and I transfer him), but he seemed wide awake - giggling, rolling around etc. So I popped him in his cot to go and get myself a bowl of ice-cream. By the time I got back he'd rolled onto his side and was looking sleepy. He was asleep by the time I had finished the ice-cream (and it was chocolate ice cream. I don't dawdle with chocolate ice-cream). I really do think it's because he wasn't over-tired so he wasn't stressed.

So today he had 1x40 minute nap in the car, and then a mammoth 2-hour nap over lunchtime in his cot, waking at around 3pm. I couldn't get him to take another nap later in the afternoon so I brought bedtime forward (usually I give the last feed at 7pm and he's asleep by 7.30-8). Tonight I fed him at 6.20. I put him in his cot awake again - this time I needed to stroke his head a little and use the dummy, but he's asleep again. This is a massive improvement for us and I really, really hope it's not a phase!

That sounds like a great day! I managed to get two 45 minute naps out of her today, neither in the cot but both times she fell asleep of her own accord (with me in the room).

I was desperate to get another one before dinner but she wasn't having any of it! She ended up rubbing her eyes with a peice of philly on toast on her hands and the mess was impressive! I bought forward bed time and after a bottle and cuddle she went down pretty easily.

Tomorrow is another day and I will try again - I think if I relax about it she might feel more relaxed.
Good luck