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5 month only naps on me

4 replies

Cowboyphantom · 16/04/2020 14:04

Looking for some advice please in relation to my five month old baby girl. She has always napped on me from birth as she wouldn't settle anywhere else. As she was young, my partner and I shared holding her. At night she began to sleep in her pram carrycot after a month. I knew this to be typical fourth trimester behaviour and only wished I'd started using a sling from the start - you live and learn!

Now, at five months, my daughter still naps on me. She has about 4/5 naps each day as her awake time is generally 1.5 hours. She will sometimes nap with her dad in the baby carrier but these naps only last 30 mins and she is tired again quickly. She is not on a schedule as such - I just try to avoid overtiredness and watch her for sleepy cues. I try and do a short nap routine (book, sleeping bag, dark room, white noise) each time. She has a good bedtime routine (bath, pjs, book, bottle, fed/held to sleep). She will generally go to bed between 6.30-7.30. She sleeps until 5.30am (ish). She was starting to sleep through recently - 7/8 hours straight - but this week has been waking multiple times (sometimes 45 mins after going down). Her naps are really variable - can be as short as 30 mins, sometimes 45 mins and sometimes she'll nap for almost 2 hours if I'm there to bridge the gap and breastfeed her again. She generally naps about 3/3.5 hours each day and sleeps at night for 9/10 hours.

I'm back at work next month (from home) and feel a bit anxious about how she'll adapt re sleep with her dad being her primary carer. Does anyone have advice for getting a baby down, or even so she'll sleep with my partner? She sleeps in her pram carrycot at night (swaddled, not yet rolling). She is rapidly outgrowing it so will need to transition to next-to-me. She was ebf for first three months, now she has about 1 or 2 bottles of formula each day. I feed her to sleep most of the time because I genuinely don't know how else to get her to sleep (she has FOMO!). She likes to be cuddled in. She will take a dummy sometimes. I don't want to cio etc but just looking for any gentle methods that may have worked previously.

Thanks in advance.

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Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Kcoffecakebubs · 17/04/2020 22:02

Following as my 11month DS is still being fed to sleep and naps on me, and I have no idea how to change it! 🙈 Although it is only for one nap a day now.

LMac502 · 18/04/2020 15:25

My 5.5 month old is similar, although we’ve not had the luxury of 8 hours previously..!! Wanted to say though, we had her in the next to me from around 5/6 weeks, which she didn’t like initially. Once we got swaddle bags, she slept much better in it. We’ve recently moved her to a cot in her own room as she was touching the sides of the N2M and wasn’t sleeping well. She doesn’t sleep brilliantly now, but better than latterly in the N2M.
Just wanted to mention re: N2M as you might find you don’t get long in it at all if she’s not in it yet. In saying that, I know of people who have had their babies in them for 7-8 months x

Lynda07 · 18/04/2020 15:28

Can't say I ever thought about it. Mine always slept with me and husb, not necessarily ON me. When I was at home and he wanted to have a daytime sleep I too had one with him. That seemed natural. I realise not everyone feels that way and believe babies should be put in their cot or whatever but we have to do what comes naturally to us and our children who are individuals.

Cowboyphantom · 18/04/2020 16:28

Thank you for the messages. We have been lucky with the night sleep so far (with the exception of the four month regression!). I have tried co-sleeping but she doesn't settle and I don't sleep out of paranoia. She feeds in cradle pose, so falls asleep that way. I have tried feeding her lying down but without much success. I would like some freedom during the day without sitting in a dark bedroom with a white noise machine playing continuously as she naps. As I mentioned, happy to do it for first few months but I'm back at work soon plus it can take 30/40 mins to settle her for naps so most of my day is spent either settling her or with her sleeping on me.

Thanks for the advice re next-to-me. I've contacted a gentle sleep consultant for her input as I don't want to make big changes that will be hard for my daughter x

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