struggling with daytime sleep in 8 month dd - help!

[lilysma]

My ongoing struggle with my 8 month old dd's naps is coming to a head as I need to prepare her for going to nursery 3 days a week in 2 months time. Since she was 2-3 months she has only napped in the pram on the move. I've kind of got used to this, but obviously it's not going to work for her at nursery. I've tried to get a definite nap schedule in place in preparation for trying to get her down in her cot, but she just seems to resist it. Even if I take her out at the same time every day she sometimes sleeps straight away and others screams for at least 15 mins before dropping off (or sometimes she won't sleep at all).

Because of summer plans potenially upsetting anything I do I really need to make some progress in the next couple of weeks. We did controlled crying at night a couple of months ago with mixed success (she sleeps for much longer periods but is still regularly unsettled and I feel we have to 'redo' it too often). Now I feel I have to try it in the day, although I've been reluctant to do this because her readiness to nap is so unpredicatble (I've tried pick up/put down and ncss to no avail).

Tried for the first time today at her nap time (she seemed tired). I let her cry for 5 mins then 7 mins and on my second visit she started to close her eyes as I stroked her hair so I stayed for 10 mins and she went to sleep, but woke up after 20 mins and wouldn't settle again although she still seemed tired - she stayed quite whiney for at least half an hour.

Does anyone have any tips for how to deal with this? I just want to make things as easy for her as possible when she goes to nursery and it seems unfair to expect her to learn to sleep in a cot along with coping with the unfamiliar environment.

Sorry this is such a long one, but there are so many factors to consider!

Shameless self-bump! the gist of the message is how to get a pram only sleeper to sleep in her cot. I can only get her to sleep for 15 mins at a time in there and she's going to nursery soon - help!

My sympathies Lilysma - it sounds tough, but I think you're doing exactly the right thing in preparing her for nursery.

I've got no magic answers, only a few ideas.

Does she go down easily in the evening?? If so, can you replicate the wind down routine you use in the day time??

Start off by observing her really closely for a few days, so you can start to recognise her tired signs. As far as I know, most babies of her age have some sort of pattern, unless her nights are very random too.

Once you're confident that she is definitely ready for a nap, develop a wind down routine, that you stick to like glue for the next week or so.

It sounds like stroking her hair worked today - naps are often very short when you are changing a habit, but they will get longer again as she gets used to the new routine.

I think the key is to time it right when you put her down, and be utterly consistent with whatever method you use to get her to sleep, be it using a dummy, PU/PD stroking hair, lullaby tune etc, and that goes for anyone else who puts her down too, ie DH / DP etc.

It won't work overnight, it would well take a week or more of doing exactly the same thing at every nap, but it will work if you stick with it, and will make the transistion to nursery much easier for you both.

Good Luck

Thanks for the support Jojay! What you say makes sense. The only problem is that her bedtime routine is a massage then bath then bf, and I obviously can't use the last two as they won't be replicable in nursery . Will try to develop a little routine and stick to it though...

She does have tired signs that I recognise at reasonably predicatble times, but it's whether or not she naps when she's tired that seems to be unpredicable!

Hey ho, I'll keep at it...

whoops, I seem to be unable to type the word 'predictable'

If it's any consolation, my ds was (is) like this - he's always refused to sleep anywhere that doesn't involve a buggy or car during the day (although good as gold going to sleep in his cot at night).

He's now 19mo and has recently started going to nursery twice a week. I was terrified that he wouldn't nap during the day so I warned the nursery... only to be told that he cheerfully copied the other children and lies down and sleeps on a blanket for a couple of hours!

He still won't do this at home though!

Oh dear, Lilysma, I have exactly the same problem, only DD is 7.5 months and starts with a childminder in 2 weeks time. To make matters worse, DD has suddenly switched from 2 short naps to one long one, and I'm not sure when to expect her to sleep any more. I'm now blindly hoping that the childminder has so much more experience with this sort of problem that she will manage where I can't! Failing that, I guess I believe that DD will just have to sleep at some point, no matter how much she tries to resist it. So no answers, but much sympathy!

Thanks for the sympathy, this does seem to be a relatively common problem! Has anyone out there cracked it??

Well, I am still plugging away with it, and have made some progress in that this morning she went to sleep with the music mobile on and stroking hair (I figured what is the point in doing controlled crying if she will go to sleep with a little help from me). Less good was that she woke again after 15 mins or so and wouldn't settle again! Same story in the afternoon although I accidentally fed her to sleep then . Guess I'll just have to hope she eventually starts sleeping for longer...