Those who managed to get an only-sleep-on-you-baby to nap in cot, HOW?

[LetsPlayBamboozled]

Did you work at it or did they just accept it once a certain age? Did you try for one nap a day to be in cot or go all or nothing?

I keep meaning to try once a week but there's always something cold, teeth, night of a million wakeups that makes me chicken out and let dd nap on me. She will be 6 months on Monday, I really need to crack this. Even just one nap in the cot would mean I could do other things whilst she slept nd if I'm honest feel like I have a break from her.

She will go in her cot at night no probs. Wakes a lot but nothing extraordinary for her age I don't think. If I put her down for a nap she wakes 20mins later!

Would love to hear what's worked for you. TIA

Time, and starting off by getting her to nap in the pram in the daytime. Would take her for a walk and when she was asleep wheel the pram into the garden and have a snooze myself! Or occassionally garden if I had the energy.
It is so relentless though, the first few months. I know exactly what you mean about needing a break. Hopefully someone who had a cot napper will be along with some better advice soon!

My DS was like this until about 5 months I think. Not helpful that I can't accurately remember what I did to change it (must be the sleep deprivation) but I can vaguely remember. I must have started by taking him upstairs when he was sleepy but not asleep as I remember I spent a good month getting him to sleep on me in his room first. And then putting him down asleep. After about a month, I moved onto to putting him down sleepy but not asleep and trying to get him to go to sleep in his own. This was painful for about a week but didn't take as long as I thought. Teeth and colds do sometimes make it harder. Also, timing it just right helps. You have to figure out the best time which takes a little time itself but not that long. Some books say by the first yawn for example but our DS goes a little longer until head rubs for example.
I think I did morning naps first as he's generally easier to go down then and then did afternoon ones.
Don't be too hard on yourself either. Some days it will work and some days it won't. Even if it all goes pear shaped one day, don't think all your hard work has been for nothing, just keep trying! Good luck

I wish I had the answer,we've managed to move from on me to the pram. I'd still rather cot than pram but at least it's progress!

Wrap their bedding around you for a while so it smells of you. Put a warm hot water bottle in their cot before they go in it to take the chill Off and gentle music worked for me.

I know this isn't what you asked but my dc have all napped on me, with dc1 I was desperate to get him to nap in his cot. It worked at times and not at others. Then he grew up a bit and didn't want to nap on me, I think he was around 1. After a while I really missed it, having your baby sleep on you is so lovely. So dc2 got to nap on me until she outgrew it too and now I'm doing the same with dc3.
If I need to do stuff whilst she naps she goes in the sling and then I can get everything I need to do done.
I'm glad I'm not wasting any of their baby time stressing about something that happens naturally anyway.

I'm reading this with 4mo DD2 snoozing on me. I remember DD1 was similar and then at about 5-6mo she cracked it and naps started happening in the cot. I can't remember how this happened though, so shall be following your thread with interest!

Ds napped on me until he was about 7 months and then I switched him to his cot. I did it by laying with him in bed for a couple of days then laying with him as he went to sleep before pottering around the room/mn-ing next to him as he slept , then putting him in his cot and staying with him until he fell asleep before leaving the room, then finally putting him in his cot awake to go to sleep. It took perhaps two weeks but was totally worth it. Since then (hes 15 months now) he's self settled in his cot for all naps and it's so nice to be able to get things done. The main reason I did it though was because his night time sleep was so dire at the time that I thought it would help. It didn't and we sleep trained him at 11 months but when we did sleep training I think it was easier as I knew he could self settle in the day so it didn't feel like such a mountain to climb IYSWIM. I do miss him sleeping on me a bit though!

At around 4/5 months I started putting DS into his bouncer after being bf to sleep and then bouncing it with my toe to keep him settled. Once he got used to that I committed to all naps in cot (if we were at home). It took some perseverance but I think it was worth it.

I am currently trying to crack this with my 9mo. It's probably too late! Yesterday he slept for 2 hours. Today he woke as soon as he touched the cot and that was it. I'm going to keep trying every day that we're home. Have had more success since I started dressing him in his gro bag.

Thanks for all the ideas. I quite like the snuggles and have just accepted it since 6 weeks but I am a bit over it now tbh! For me never having any time to my self to refresh is hard and I am much more relaxed about night wakings when dp is off work and I get a breather. Otherwise I get cranky! She used to napin her pram but now she won't. I suspect the world is more interesting these days as she chats away to me and fights sleep.

Oh thatsnot don't say that! Good luck! Let me know how today goes.

Northern maybe I'll bookmark this thread in case I have another!?!

I feel like the general pattern from you all is to get them falling asleep not on you first, regardless of whether its the cot. I think I am going to try along the lines of Nicky and Essex thanks for the breakdown ladies, and add your sheet too miracle. There's a comforter in her cot that I had down my top but not sure its enough so that could help.

Her cot is in our room and we need to dismantle it in order to get it out the door into her room. Not sure when we're going to do that either! Seemsdaft when she's still waking to add going to her room to the night time fun but it makes me think I might try the toddlepod instead of her cot for naps first. I got it thinking it would make a more snuggly transition from my arms then we could build to falling asleep in it. That was a month ago and I've made one attempt to use it lol! Think I will sleep with the cover tonight to achieve the smell thing then try tomorrow. I will report back. Public record can be my incentive

I had exactly the same problem with DS who is now 9 months. Up until 6 months he would only nap on my husbands shoulder, but would sleep perfectly in his cot at night. I realised something had to change when I got home from a lond day at work to find he'd been asleep in my husband for 3 hours - tea wasn't cooked, dogs weren't walked, dishwasher was full, washing hasn't been done - nothing, I had a mini-meltdown!!!

I emailed the blissful baby expert for some advice and followed her 'controlled comforting'. Tbh it worked in 2 days without much crying at all. It was basically routine, Routine and more routine. She advocates putting into the cot awake and letting them self settle. DS now gets up at 7, naps for 40mins at 9am, 2-3 hours at 1pm and then bed at 7pm - no night wakings.

I feel blessed as it was becoming a huge issue- I resented dh as he used to sit on the sofa for hours with him whilst I ran around doing everything.

Maybe worth giving it a go?

He's asleep! It seems to be about striking the extremely fine balance between cuddling him enough so he's asleep but not so he's too used to being asleep on me. Also seems like putting him down later in the morning works better. Maybe he's moving his morning nap later and will drop the afternoon one eventually?

I think straight from sleeping on you to in the cot might be too much of a leap. DD was like this and our timings went roughly:

• From 2mo in sling
• 5mo in pram but had to be constantly moving (lots of walking!)
• 9mo in pram and she stayed asleep after having been rocked off to sleep
• (Not exactly sure when, but definitely when she was only on one nap a day - maybe around 18mo?) in cot

HTH