Naps...

[AmandaNicole]

My 3.5mo does pretty well in his Moses basket at night, but has never been a great with daytime naps.

He doesn't seem to have that magical "drowsy but awake" stage, so I spend a lot of time rocking/shushing him to sleep during the day.

If I let him sleep on me he can nap up to 2hrs, but if I transfer him to the sleepyhead/cot/pram he always wakes up after 30-40min.

Question is..is it better to let him sleep on me so he gets more sleep or to keep transferring him so he gets used to sleeping on his own.

I really don't mind (and quite enjoy!) the cuddles, but am also starting to worry that he'll be so used to napping on me he won't sleep once I go back to work in August.

Any advice welcome!

Could you mix it up? So he could have two short naps in his cot, morning and afternoon and then one long nap on you in the middle of the day?

He gets a bit of practise sleeping by himself, but you also get the lovely sleepy cuddles!

When he wakes in his cot after half an hour/40 minutes does he cry to be picked up straight away or is he able to chill by himself for a bit?

@NuffSaidSam That's what I end up doing now some days, ones on his is own tend to be less often though. Maybe just make that more the standard thing to do.

No crying when he wakes up on his own,will just stare at whatever he can see.

If he doesn't cry when he wakes up, I'd leave him in bed and see if he will settle himself back down. Only go and get him if he is asking to be picked up or after nap time is finished (so an hour or however long you think he needs).

Or if you think it would work better try and resettle him yourself.

Just preserve a little with the nap, don't admit defeat as soon as he wakes.

Where will be be when you go back to work? Whomever is caring for him will work out their own way to get him to nap. I have let my daughter nap on me for every nap and she's now 11 months old and starting nursery in a month. I'm sure they'll figure it out. I wouldn't have given up that time with her for anything.

@TenSheets He'll be at nursery 3 days and Nan 1 day.

Poor thing was just with his Nan for 2hrs and refused to nap for her so was just hysterical the whole time from his normal nap time :-(

Took me 30min to calm him down so now he's asleep on me until whenever he wakes up on his own...but I'm feeling so terrible that he got to that point! But no idea how I'm meant to get him to nap for anyone that's not me! :-(

Things will be different by August. At 7mo ish my son went from all naps in the carrier or on me to napping consistently in the cot for over an hour at a time

It wasn’t a gradual thing either, almost overnight. All babies are different but you can’t tell now what your baby will be like in three months’ Time

Thanks for the reassurance @HerSymphonyAndSong. I'm already feeling guilty about returning to work, I over stress about everything!

Though I'm still at what to do in the meantime. He literally only naps if I rock him to sleep and I do occasionally need to leave him with his Nan. I try to work it around his naps, but it is very limiting