Putting baby down for a nap - how?

[graysor]

I'm curious about this idea of 'putting baby down' for a nap. Do you put your dc in their cot / crib / basket during the day? What about if you co sleep at night? When you put them down do they just lie quietly till they fall asleep? What do you do if they start crying?

I'm curious because my 12 week old dd will not nap in her crib in the day. Any attempt to lie her down results in wailing. I pick her up but usually she does not calm down for ages. She will carry on crying inconsolably until we have to abandon the nap because it's been so long that she's hungry again.

We pretty much don't bother now and just nap in the sling. Those of you who have successful nap times, how do you do it? I'm wondering if I'm missing something obvious, or if some dc are just more amenable to napping in their own bed than others.

Some will do it off the bat, some take longer and some will never do it. All you can do is keep trying and see if it 'clicks' one day. It's hard when they are so young as they are so prone to being overtired so timing is everything - with mine it's impossible to get them off in the crib if they are overtired. When they are older they are more forgiving with that and therefore it's easier to get them down in the cot.

At 12 weeks though, just do whatever works I think. The fact they get sleep at that age is so important, however it happens. Or are you asking because the sling naps aren't working for you anymore?

I'm facing similar issues with DD2, who's 13 weeks. Because she's had really bad colic and some reflux she's spent most of her daytime naps in my arms so far, but I'm getting to the point where I just can't spen hours every day sitting on the sofa anymore (and I don't get on great with slings). So, I've been trying to get her to nap in her Moses basket the last few days, with varying rates of success; she seems more inclined to do it in the mornings, but the afternoons so far have been epic fails!

I've been told to put her down when she's nearly asleep and say one particular phrase like "time for sleep now" firmly. If she starts crying (which she always does), pick her up again until she's calm, then repeat the phrase and out her down again. Keep doing this until she falls asleep...

As for some DC being easier to put down to nap than others - I'm pretty sure DD1 was never this resistant to go to sleep by herself at this age, though I might be misremembering as it was a few years ago.

Juxtaposition - sling naps are getting a bit hit and miss, but mostly ok. The problem is it's increasingly tiring for me! But I don't mind too much, as you say, I'm happy with whatever works to get her to sleep for now.

Metal - glad I'm not the only one! I keep reading all this stuff that says 'put them down for a nap' and that is a completely alien concept for me! When you try and get your dd down, and you pick her up when she starts crying, how long does she take to calm down enough that you try putting her down again? I find once she starts crying having been put down she won't calm down for 30-40 mins, even with cuddling, rocking, shushing etc etc.

I have my ones pram in the living room or sometimes dining room and she naps in that, it means I can wheel it around a bit if she stirs. Sometimes she will have a nap in her rocker thing which is again good as I can soothe her back to sleep again, she's quite flat in it luckily. Some days she is better than others so I spose its just luck.

DD is 7 months and will still only nap when on me, in the car or pram.

She sleeps fine in her cot at night but has a total meltdown if I put her in it during the day. I keep meaning to work on this with the aim of napping in the cot, but I quite like the cuddles ;)

DS2 is 6 months, he either naps on me, in the pushchair or in the car seat. He has never had a daytime nap in his cot.
Agree with above that I enjoy the cuddles. From DS1 I realise how fast the time goes.

The book (downloadable) baby sleep wisperer saved my sanity.

Some babies need to learn how to go off by themselves and sometimes they get over tired and we miss their sleep cues.

It's really good have a read

I agree with PPS, I do like the cuddles!

Pink - how do you get naps in the bouncer? Does she just drop off? My Dd likes her bouncy chair, but we use it for awake and play time. She never seems to get drowsy in it, so can't imagine her going to sleep there.

My ds is 21weeks. He naps in the day, really well provided we're at home and he can go In his cot. He won't sleep anywhere else even his car seat. At about 12 weeks I had a 'sleep week' where we basically stayed in and 'set' his sleep. Using his own natural routine, just encouraged it by repeating on a daily basis. My advice would be : recognise the baby's cues, eg ds makes a high pitched screechy sound when he'sready, never eye rubbing or yawning; wake up at the same time every day regardless of if you've had a bad night and open the curtains for natural light as soon as you can; and have a daytime sleepy routine as well as a bedtime one (we say night night to the mirror baby and close the curtains). I'm not saying this will work for everyone but its working for us. He also seems to like his space and doesn't like being held to sleep which is making it easier.

gray my DD often calms down immediately when I pick her up, at most it takes her maybe 5 minutes. There's no way I'd be doing it if she screamed for 30 minutes!! Sometimes she does work herself up into a right state and then I have given in and just let her sleep on me again.

I too enjoy the cuddles and would happily cuddle her to sleep if it meant she slept better, but unfortunately she seemed to become increasingly reliant on me holding her and started to wake up more frequently at night too, which I wanted to nip in the bud.

I fed mine to sleep/used a dummy then put them down once asleep. Or walk round the block with the pram and quickly home once they're off.

Gray- I've kinda tucked a blanket she likes around the straps so she can't get smothered by it but so it smells like her Moses basket and she seems to like it. Probably just luck! But it's quite handy that she will happily sit in it while I'm pottering about and then doze off. If I'm desperate I'll put her favourite music on and that sends her off to sleep.

I used to cuddle my boy to sleep. Now he's 2 years old I have to take him out in the buggy or car.

At about 12 weeks, I girded my loins and spent a week getting my ds to sleep in the cot. This involved a lot of rocking and bouncing and firm cuddling and vey short naps for about 6 weeks. But I couldn't manage sling naps any longer and have 2 losers dc as well. Once the principle of cot naps worked I reduced the amount of help to get him to sleep and now I can put him into the cot awake and pat him to sleep.

Interesting, thanks everyone. It seems like there are lots of different approaches. And that some babies are just better at napping than others!

I think I do struggle to spot dd's tired cues so I'm not sure I'm getting the timing right which I'm sure doesn't help!

op the book is really good at showing you tips that start waaaay before yawning.

Eg. Pulling at ear
Staring in to space - if dd was doing that she was getting too tired. Normally yawning is to late.

Try it , it was only a few quid downloaded and really helped me out

I also couldn't spot cues and so started trying to put DS down for a nap after a set time awake. At 5.5 months I started with 1.5hrs and tweaked it until I found the sweet spot. At this time naps were only in the pram or sling. Once I worked out when he needed a nap i started putting him in the cot.
For us, timing was key.

DS is now 7.5 months and is down to two naps a day roughly 3 hours after the last waking although it is much easier now to spot when he is tired and as a pp said if he is over tired it is not so hard to get him to sleep.