I posted on here a lot a month or two ago in desperation about short and difficult to put down naps and it’s really turned around due to one idea I saw in a post not even on my own thread so I wanted to share what I changed in case it helps anyone else.
I rocked my baby to sleep for naps until about a month ago - she’s 8.5 months now. It worked but it was very stressful putting her down without waking up - particularly for the later naps.
After reading a response to someone else’s post I started giving her a chance to relax and wind down in the cot in her sleep bag before I picked up for rocking in the hope that she’d start just falling asleep on her own - and she did!
I laid her down and sat by the cot and sang a gentle song or read a story with her white noise playing and one day she just turned onto her side, started sucking her thumb and went to sleep! Elation!! She started doing that more and now she does it for every nap - it’s amazing!
Just as I was beginning to think how heavy she was getting and how long was I going to be able to continue this for. Sounds simple but it’s so tempting to just go straight in with what you know works or you’ll end up doing anyway - I would never have believed I’d have a baby who could do this 2 months ago. It wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t given her that little routine and chance to go to sleep on her own first