Pushchair sleep training!!!!

[poppyseed]

OK, have a great DS (14 months) who sleeps brilliantly at home during the day in a darkened room in his cot and a full 12 hours at night. (What's the problem I hear you shout!!?)
We go to France in 5 weeks and the thought of going back 'home' so that DS can have his 2 hours is a little unrealistic. So - today was day 1 of pushchair training!!! Went to visit a friend this morning, so had an active morning's play grovelling on the floor with Brio stuff.... left at what is normally his 'sleep time' and started to walk home (2 miles!!) He did everything BUT go to sleep. Pulled shoes off, sucked toes, Oooohed at dogs, you name it he did it. Got home absolutely knackered and decided to give him an early lunch and put him to bed. Had to wake him 2 1/2 hours later so that we could go to pick up DD from school!!! I ask myself - and you if this is all worth it or not!!!! Suggestions please!!

Oh dear STF ... DD will be 7 months old in 3 weeks time ....
You are right though, point taken ..... if we are out and about DD will go to sleep anywhere but will only sleep for about 30 minutes whereas in her cot she will sleep for much longer ....

STF - I think that it is well worth the upheavel to your day to work round nap times personally. I find that when I put DS down I can be assured that he will get a good refreshing sleep whilst allowing me the time to do other jobs around the house that I can't do when he's about. That way when he wakes up I know that he'll be in a good mood . At the moment all this means is that if we need to go out we go first thing and then return for lunchtime and then go out again later. Sounds a hassle but it's for such a short amount of time in the long run really. Like you Both of ours slept anywhere at first but then became dreadful at about 9/10 months. This is the easiest way for us to exist as a family and get through the day without lots of tears!!

Just wondered if anyone else puts there baby to sleep in the day with the curtains open, so that they can distinguish between day time naps and night time ??

I do, always have done, and have never had any probs. Also means they don't need it to be dark if we are out and about anywhere.

Have tried it although closing the blinds seems to be a huge trigger for sleep in our house! For me too sometimes!!

hello everyone!
Over the summer I have taken my dd out to places which have involved coming home in pushchair during her nap time, she has never fallen asleep at her usual time, however i did find that she eventually fell asleep around 1.45-2.15pm, and i let her sleep her normal 2 hours. So far this has not ever affected her night sleep. However, I don't do it too often as I love having those 2 hours to myself!

I would love my dh to go to sleep or even coo at the passing world. BUT all she does is scream blue murder. She loathes her pram. It is a Chicco Travel System (3 in 1). I have tried the bassinet part (flat and upright) as well as the stroller(flat and upright). The result is the same. Screaming.

Reluctant to try the car seat section because then she can't lie flat. She is 3 months. Any suggestions?

Sorry, meant dd :-). Freudian slip.

Ameliasmum,
I may be wrong, but I don't think her sleeping in the car seat for short bursts during the day is going to do any harm. My DS is the same as your DD. Absolutely hates being in the push chair unles being wheled very fast accross country or being made a big fuss of. He's nearly 1yr and so nosey he just won't sleep and just gets very annoyed when he's tired.

Seriously thinking of getting the shadey thing but interested if anyone has had any succes getting their previously unsleeping baby to sleep using one.

By the way, I think my DH would sleep in the pushchair given half a chance!!

BR

I don't think dd likes the shade-a-baby thingy very much. When she does have to sleep in the pram (just this weekend for instance as I've been to my mums and had to get her to sleep on the train journeys) I get her off to sleep first, then pull it down but the most she's slept is an hour (usually it's 30 mins) when in the cot she'd have at least 2. She's 22 months though so seems to get by with a shorter sleep.

I've got a bog-standard Maclaren pushchair and I find the shady covery thing very bulky on it.

Not worth it IMHO. Ds is 17 months and we have just got back from Brisbane (live in NZ). Some days ds fell asleep in his car seat, and other days he didn't and just want to bed early or had a nap at 4pm-5 and then up for a couple of hours and then went to sleep. He catagorically did not go to sleep in his pushchair, just used it to rest his body so he had more energy for ohhing and pointing. He only seemed to have the sleep he absolutely needed also, so 40 minutes most days followed by an early night. We're now back home and he enthusiastically went back to his routine (probably relief, he would have been knackered).

I am also jealous of comatose toddlers in pushchairs and toddlers who can fall asleep in their mother's arms on airplanes. But on the other side of the coin my friend's toddlers always fall asleep in the car and buggy but will not go to sleep in their cot during the day and only sleep for an hour.

don't forget that all the excitement of being in a new place will also wear him out, so he is more likely to crash out in the buggy.

this is going to sound really grumpy, but holidays are such a minefield. With a holiday with DS1 at 9 months he regressed to waking every two hours at night. With DS2 at 5 months the same thing happened and we still haven't got him back into night routine two months later.

it's good you are going to be so prepared!

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Not at all!! We point sleeping babies out to DS all the time

'Look DS see! That's a sleeping baby. That's what babies do, sleep in pushchairs!!'

DS still doesn't sleep in his pushchair and probably never will. Let me know if you have any success with your DD.

BR

dd, a GF baby, never EVER consented to sleeping in her buggy, until around 18mths. then suddenly she would nod happily off in it at lunchtime. at around 2yrs, she would climb into it at the right moment, saying she wanted to go to sleep, stick in the thumb, grab her comfort blanket (these must make the whole thing easier because of all the sleep associations) and -- bam. she did it in noisy restaurants etc.
so not napping in the buggy isn't fixed in stone for GF babies, and at a certain point, when their sleep becomes habitual and deep, rather than a top-uppy sort of thing, it does get easier - or that was what we found

Oh me too. I so envy those mums pushing around sleeping babies. Ds is a GF baby, though less so now and he used to sleep in his pram until about 6 months. Now if I put the pram flat he can manage to pull himself up. Tried the Shade a Babe but he could still see out and wanted to play with the velcro straps. Only thing that's worked has been covering the pram with my pashmina type scarf so that he can't see anything. That said he'll only sleep for 20 mins. Thinking of making my own blackout shade as someone above mentioned. Sympathies.

All three of mine always slept in the pram/buggy as i was so worried when they were young that they would get mixed up with daytime "nap" and night time "sleep" that from birth they napped in the pram/buggy and into the cot only at night time.Have no idea though how you would change that half way through,id be too afraid now to put dd in her bed for an afternoon nap in case she thought it was night and slept all day LOL