How do I make him nap in his cot during the day?

[Writerwannabe83]

I have a 6 month old DS who had never napped in his cot. He will only sleep if he's in the car, I'm taking a walk or he falls asleep at the breast.

Sometimes, even using the above methods he will only nap for 20-30 minutes during the entire day. That's 20-30 minutes in a 13 hour period.

No matter how shattered he looks he just will not sleep. As soon as I notice him getting tired I start trying to soothe him off to sleep but it just doesn't happen.

I've not long put him in his cot because he had a really bad night and is clearly shattered but within minutes the crying started and is still going.

I just don't know what to do.

How long am I supposed to leave him in there before accepting he's just not going to go to sleep?

No advice but watching as am in exactly the same situation.

Could you put his buggy in a darkened room and rock him to sleep in that? Id do that for dd at that age and just leave her after 100 pushes. Eventually I didnt need to push her at all, she became used to buggy in rhe dark = sleep.

Another thing it is useful for is you may fi d he stirs after 40/45 mins or so which is a typical sleep cycle. Going in after 35 mins and giving the buggy another little push back and forth will lull him out of one cycle and into another, stretching the nap out to 1.5hrs.

again, this eventually becomes unecessary and he will just sleep through the full 1.5hrs.

If you're lucky, the above will work.

We were not lucky

14 months in, and ds has never entertained the idea of sleeping in a cot during the day. Pushing him in the buggy in a darkened room does work, but we can't not push him 100 times, iykwim. After months of trying to tweak his napping cues, he still only falls asleep for boob, buggy or sometimes car.

I've stopped caring! I'm just glad we have a range if ways of getting him to nap, regardless of location. And he's starting to consolidate to one nap a day now anyway, so it's easy enough. He also started taking longer naps when he started crawling, btw, as I think he was more physically tired out then.

I'm not saying this to dishearten you, OP, just to say it's no big deal if your ds doesn't nap in his cot. Some babies don't know they're supposed to nap where we put them . It would be much more difficult to handle if he would ONLY nap in his cot and you had to race home before each nap!

My dd, 7 months, always used to nap on me, in the pram, or in the car. The naps on me were a conscious decision, as I didn't want her to be a catnapper like her big sister (30 mins x 3 times a day, exhausting). So sleeping on me meant I could pat her through any short naps, if you see what I mean.

But eventually, at about 5 and a half months, I thought, this has got to stop... Partly because I am going back to work, partly because dd2 was getting disturbed by whatever was going on in the room, and partly because I needed the nap time for dd1, myself, the house, etc!

So, I cleared the diary for a week. At nap time, so 2 hours after waking for the day, 3 hours after waking from first nap etc, I went to our room, put her in her bag, put the blinds up, fed her, popped her down drowsy.nstayed with her til she went to sleep. Because she was tired but not over tired, she grizzled a bit, cried a little, but went to sleep after a bit. First time, 30 mins to get to sleep for a 30 min nap. Second time, 25 to get to sleep, 45 min nap. I should point out this wasn't 30m of crying, it was mostly her gurgling, grumbling ect

She now prefers her cot for naps, will go in, squeaking a bit sometimes, sometimes not, and will sleep for 30 m up to 3 hours (those are good days indeed).

I guess what I am saying, and what I believe, is that babies love routine, and consistency. I would concentrate on getting him to nap in cot in first instance, however long he stays asleep for, then work on the nap length. I got extremely anxious with dd1 because I thought her brain wouldn't develop properly because of the cat naps. Yeah....

And make sure you really really do know his tired cues. Sometimes it's easier to go by the clock... Pop him down 90 mins after he wakes tomorrow and see what happens! Good luck!

I second watching the clock. My DD refused to nap in her cot until I realised that I was waiting far too long waiting for tired cues. 90 min after waking was the magic time for us at 6 months, then gradually got longer and longer. Always same routine, with sleeping bag, music etc. Now at 16 months does 2 hours after lunch every day.