Sleeping on me

[FidgetMcGee]

My 9 month old DD has never been a great napper/sleeper. Over the last month or so I've managed to get her into a nap routine which doesn't involve walking her around in her buggy and it does seem to be going well. But, whilst sometimes I can put her down in her cot drowsy and she'll fall asleep, other times she'll only fall asleep on me. So, should I persist in trying to get her to sleep in her cot for naps or accept that she needs a cuddle and just let her sleep on me? We've had huge problems with her getting overtired in the past so I guess I'm worried that pushing for her to sleep in her cot will result in no nap at all. But equally I don't want her to start only falling asleep on me as it is really disruptive at night.

Other info in case it adds anything:
She has a dummy and a comforter;
Is EBF but doesn't feed to sleep;
Started on solids at 6months and eats a lot;
Cot has one side removed and is against the side of our bed.

Any help would be much appreciated.

The days where she goes to sleep easily in the cot, you probably got the timing right for naptime. It is quite normal that the more tired baby is, the more help they need to get to sleep.

On days baby needs extra help to get to sleep, firstly use it to inform future nap times to help you understand why she was more tired today and so next time you are in similar circumstances, so naptime 30m/1h earlier.

Then I wouldn't do the battle. If baby needs extra help to get to sleep is just give that and accept it. Sleeping in your arms regularly isn't a good habit, but it's no probably just occassionally. If it gets to be regularly, you would be better funding more independant sleeping ways to give extra help to go to sleep (pushchair rocking, cosleep on tge floor to get her to slerp then exteact yourself, even a long car journey of very exhausted).

Most importantly though is adjusting your timing so you anticipate when baby will be just-got-tired, which happens way before there are any outward signs of being tired. It's about learning to predict when this will be, rather than waiting for signs from baby. Getting to sleep is much easier at the just-got-tired point.

Both my children would only nap on me til they were about 14 months old and then they happily napped in the cot. By all means keep trying but don't stress if baby only naps on you.
Nighttime is important - the fact you're not feeding to sleep is amazing! Sounds like you're doing well to me

Thanks both.

FATE - I've been trying really hard to anticipate her need for naps so that's probably why she's going down ok sometimes. Also, I owe you a huge thank you for the advice you've given on loads of other threads. It's by following it that we've managed to get to the stage where she doesn't feed to sleep.

It's really reassuring to hear that you'd both cuddle to sleep if needed. I'm desperate to avoid turning bedtime/nap time into a battle as it wouldn't be good for either of us.