Dark or light room for naps?

[pickleandflux]

I have posted before about my DD (8 weeks) struggling to sleep well in the day time due to overstimulation. I am trying to put her down for naps upstairs (I know technically against SIDS advice) and wondered if I should keep the room light or if I should shut the curtains. I find she sleeps better in a darker room but will she start to mix up day & night? She is currently pretty good at night so I don't want to mess it up!

How much sleep is she getting during the day? At that age DD was doing two hours awake, two hours of sleep during the day. We have her sleep downstairs during the day mostly as I hoped it would mean she would be able to sleep anywhere if we were out and about.

She has one big nap upstairs midday (she's 5 months now) and I leave the curtains and window open for her. We got an angelcare monitor so if we're downstairs it beeps when she breathes. They are not cheap though, would it be an option for you?

The bassinet has cat net thing too, which we put up and that blocks out some light/movement for her when she's downstairs but not so much she mixes up night and day.

Some babies (just like adults) prefer to nap/sleep with minimal light. All of mine have napped way better in the dark (I use blackout blinds).

Doesn't mess up night/day as long as they are exposed to daylight when awake.

My pediatrician told me to make dd2 nap in light during the day so that it would set her circadian rhythms and she would naturally have lighter and shorter sleep during the day and longer, deeper sleep during the night. Not sure how true that it but it worked for us.....

After having a nightmare of a time with sleep with DS1, I took a completely different approach with second child. Nap in noisy daytime atmosphere (in a swing), and night sleep in quiet dark bedroom. Also, keep awake times to a max of 45-1 hour. This is easier ti do with a swing with baby wrapped up in a light blanket. I realize the swing thing is considered a sleep association, but its worked for us because her circadian rhythm is well on its way to be set. She's happy to go down fir naps in the swing and starts settling as soon as i start wrapping her. The frequent naps during the day ensure she doesnt become overtired, which in turn has resulted in her night sleep being better.
This has worked for us a treat. As she starts ti consolidate her naps, we're going to transition her to sleeping in her cot for naps. I am not going to get frustrated this time around, going ti take baby steps and let her do things at her own pace.