20 week baby only sleeps in pram

[PastaFasool]

Hi all, apologies if this has been posted before, but could really use some advice.

My little boy is 20 weeks old, and I am a FTM. He's generally healthy and happy, EBF and tracking the 50th percentile for weight. His night sleep is okay - can be a bit fussy to settle, but usually asleep by 8.30pm, one or two night feeds, wakes between 6.30am and 7.30am.

My problem is that he will only settle to sleep in his pram in the daytime. He used to nap OK in his moses basket, but since he moved to a cot he cries as soon as I put him down in the daytime. I have tried patting, shushing, putting down drowsy, leaving him a few minutes to see if he will settle... All with no luck! Even if he goes down quietly, he will start grizzling then work himself up into a frenzy.

He will, however, nap beautifully in his pram. I have a Bugaboo Bee, I put the hood right up to make a little cocoon, and he drops off to sleep within moments. Sometimes I need to wheel him for a few minutes outside, other times I can just rock him a bit inside the house. Once asleep, I can generally get one 90 minute nap and one 2 hour nap from him in the stationary pram.

I am trying to wean him onto napping in the stationary pram, rather than wheeling to sleep. But I would really love to eventually get him sleeping in his cot again - any ideas? As I said, I think he loves being in the little cozy cocoon of the pram with hood up...

My little boy is 6 months and still regularly naps in his pram during the day. He is too big for Moses basket and I prefer to have him in the same room as me still. Have you got blackout blinds?

@username198817 - no, I don't have blackout blinds - as he used to be OK in the moses basket without them, I had hoped he would be okay without the need. I have got some blackout fabric now to try putting over the windows. I have tried cot naps at my parents' house with blackout blinds, so a very dark room, still tears but that is a strange environment too.

What's the problem with napping in the pram?

I wouldn’t worry about it. I would be perfectly happy with that. My DD went through a phase of only napping in the pram but it had to be kept moving at all times. I’d have been over the moon if a few minutes rocking or walking meant I could park her back up and have a long sleep! Much better than pounding the streets for those three hours.

DS is a similar age. He needs feeding or pushing to sleep. He naps either in our bed after being fed to sleep or in the pram after rocking it. With my DD, cot naps were much easier once she started being able to get herself to sleep which was a fair bit older.

My daughter was the same (same pram too!)

It was instantly solved by buying a Sleepyhead. Amazing for daytime naps.

@AbbeyHammond I know it's not the end of the world, but:

1. My understanding is that if he's napping in the pram I should be watching him at all times, and sometimes I would like to be able to leave him safely with monitors and do things in other parts of the house
2. He'll soon be too big for the newborn cocoon on his pram

Ah, thanks all. Maybe I am worrying over nothing....

I really wouldn’t worry about it, my son only napped in his pram from birth to when he dropped his nap aged two! We lived in a tiny flat in London for the first 16 months so just wasn’t exactly convenient!

Under 6 months they're supposed to be in the same room as you regardless of what they're sleeping in. I doubt you need to observe more closely in a pram than in a cot though.

@LulusMiniEgg also living in a small home in London!

@AbbyHammond you're quite right, I wouldn't leave him at the moment but it's only 6 weeks or so til he will be old enough for his own room, so I was thinking ahead! But yes, you are right.

Pram is fine at the moment. Perhaps he associates cot (or being carried upstairs) with night (when he is going to be there forever a long time) which is fine when he is night tired but not when (as far as he is concerned) he isn't tired. Or he just doesn't want to be away from you.

DS used to do this around the same age (same pram too!) I used to push the pram into his room with the monitor on and leave him, felt fine about it, but appreciate that's not for everyone.

Once I was ready (as the pram naps were a BIG improvement on his previous 30min cot stints, I didn't want to ruin anything!) I put him back into the cot for one nap a day. Even if it was only a short one, it wasn't the end of the world as I knew he'd do a decent one in the pram later. And eventually (like, after a few weeks) they began to lengthen. And then I moved him into the cot for his other naps (this coincided with moving him into the sitting-up version of the Bee) and now he does two solid naps a day in the cot. Won't sleep in the pram for long any more, that's another story...

Anyway, point is that if you give him a chance to try he will definitely get there in his own time, if it turns out he's not ready yet then stick him back in the pram until he is.

Hi all - thanks for the good advice, and also the reassurance that it's not the end of the world at this age!

I got some blackout material and hung it over the windows - and today I have managed to settle him for a lunchtime nap! It's not pitch black in there, but probably as dark as in his pram cocoon now. He went down awake and fell asleep in his cot with a bit of rocking and singing, he's had about 20 minutes so far.

Thank you everyone, even an occasional cot nap is a great improvement ❤