Day time napping

[lumpymummy13]

HELP OR ADVISE NEEDED
Baby boy, 9 weeks old is sleeping okay during the night. Daytime naps are the issue. Baby falls asleep on me and as soon as I transfer him to his crib, he wakes up with 10 mins max crying. I have ended up holding him while he sleeps. Anyone else gone through or going through this? Is it something that he will grow out of and any ideas on how to encourage baby to sleep for longer stretches during the day

Hey, following as I have exactly the same situation.

I'm happy to hold little one while he naps but am aware it would be good practice for him to stay happily in his Moses basket.

I think perhaps as we swaddle him at night and not for day time naps that he wakes himself up? He also has silent reflux so think perhaps that might wake him too around 5 mins after we put him down...

My little one screams at the swaddle and I think this is because I didn't use it from the start, so now it's a bit too late. Also how did you get to find out about silent reflux with your bub? I suspect something like this may be at play too. For now, I am trying to embrace the opportunity to hold bubs however he is fast becoming heavier and it's going to be unrealistic soon

Hi,

With the reflux, usually we can hear him gulp/cough or make an odd 'neigh-ing' sort of noise and move his head/neck around. We tend to hold him upright after each feed for a little while where he will sometimes fall asleep and then when we lie him in his bed his eyes just ping open 5/10 mins later.

Usually I hear about babies who don't like the transfer of being put down but don't really hear of any who stay asleep during that part to wake up shortly after.

I know what you mean about the weight of holding them - I'm aching in all kinds of places!

DS only ever napped on us during the day until around 6 months when he was suddenly happy being put down to nap 🤷🏼‍♀️ Don't worry about forming "bad habits" when your baby is so little still, it all works itself out in the end

Where and what do you put lo to sleep in?

I find some mattresses are just too firm (I appreciate they have to be!) but Chicco themselves would advise to use a night breeze mattress protector to make the mattress more comfortable.

I'd also recommend investing in any safe overnight sleeping pod, the likes of a sleepyhead.

I swear by them.

Please look up the fourth trimester and try not to worry. It's natural for your baby to want to be near you, especially during the first 12 weeks. Consider getting a sling - you may have a local sling library who can help, my local one are currently offering online consultations.

Re: sleep pods, they're not recommended at all by The Lullaby Trust as they can increase SIDS risk.

Sorry, forgot to include link: www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/sleeping-products/

My baby slept beautifully during the day from 0-3 months - BUT only if I held her! She would never stay asleep if I put her down. I just gave up and had the most amazing three months of box sets (the whole of downton abbey twice, the walking dead) etc and rest and reading my kindle. I look back in those three months so fondly.

Same as Glenn. I had to hold/wear mine for naps in the early days. Nice excuse to sit still!

Totally normal. I took that time to nap also.

Thanks all for the responses
I use the snuzpod and do find that the mattress might just not be as comfortable for him.

I have had this with both of mine. Having read the entire internet (or that's what it feels like) I learned that this is really common at this stage.

It's also really common for them to only take short naps at this point, perhaps 30-45 minutes.

For me it got slightly better at three months both times and I was able to start putting them down for naps rather than just holding them/bouncing to sleep in the sling. With DC1 the naps also extended around 7 months and she started to take nice long naps in her cot. I'm not there yet to know if DC2 is going to do the same, but I really hope so!

I feel like that, constantly scouring the internet for miracle fixes! Thank you for sharing your experience. I have heard three months is the magic number

Just be aware that baby sleep isn't linear - it will get better but probably also worse at various points. Some babies respond well to certain things e.g. white noise but there is no miracle fix.

The 4 month regression was a killer for us, we ended up bed-sharing to get by and still do for part of the night at 1yr (look up Safe Sleep 7 to do this safely). We also still have DD nap on one of us - we probably could put her in bed to nap with some effort but as a PP said, good excuse to put your feet up and catch up on TV, read etc.