Struggling with 6 mo daytime naps - so confused and hopeless

[Babbington]

Help I’m really struggling and it’s starting to upset us both!

My dd mostly only naps for 30 mins if she’ll go down at all. I’ve been trying to establish cot naps when we’re in but she does nap easily in car seat and pram when out at the right times.

Her night sleep is great - 1 or 0 wakings fed to sleep and goes down no problem incot.

Problem is daytime naps. Morning nap pretty reliable about 2-2.5 hours after waking. Take upstairs and rock in sleeping bag and put down asleep but she’ll be awake 30 mins on the dot.

Then we tend to do something- a class or social thing and she’ll bf a bit while out. Problem is on the way home from that she’ll fall asleep in car seat or pram so gets a 20 min ish nap then when I’d rather she saved it for the cot! But I can’t never do anything...

What should I do when I get in? I tend to give her lunch (purée), play and hope to see tired cues then take her up for a cot nap. Our afternoons are generally free so I’d love her to do a long nap after lunch (like all my friends babies seem to! Grr) but she just won’t stay asleep when I rock and put down like morning, or if I bf like bedtime she just does a sleepy feed for ages and it takes the edge off and she wakes when I put her down. If she does go down it’s only for 30 mins again and she wakes tired and upset

Today I tried a nice story in her dim room before rocking but I’m getting so hopeless I just cried while she cried and gave up and brought her for a sleepy feed on me on the sofa with no intention of transferring her just to get her the sleep without the stress.

We end up doing this after her failed or short naps a lot. We also used to do this a lot when she was younger and I’d end up sat under a sleeping baby from 2-5pm!

I don’t want to leave her to cry. It’s not what I want her day to be like being left alone to cry 3 times a day, it’s so at odds with the rest of the time.

Any ideas?!

Just let her sleep on you or in her pram if that gets her to sleep longer and try the cot again in a week. DS goes through stages of sleeping so well in his cot and then refusing. We are back in pram for naps right now - probably because he's teething. Will go back to cot once he is feeling better again. There are so many regressions try not to stress

Sometimes DS sleeps on my lap while I watch tv, or sleeps in the pram in the kitchen after a walk. Ewan the Dream Sheep has been helpful in forming an association of sound with sleep. DS always gets his best sleep if we co-sleep - all bedding thrown off the bed for safety, him in his sleeping bag and me rolled in a blanket, in the middle of a firm flat mattress. He can sleep 2-3 hours like that, and sometimes if I don't fall asleep I can sit up beside him and quietly watch tv on my iPad or read a book.

Thanks for your responses guys. I think I am just going to forget the cot apart from the first nap. She was so happy when she woke up after 2 hours. I don’t mind having a rest and reading or box set watching! The cuddles are lovely after all and it’s got to be better than all that stress for both of us. You’re right about the regressions - can’t expect it to be consistent all the time