Am I doing the right thing by intervening?

[fibeee]

At nap time DD 5 months will often look like she’s starting to fall asleep. She’ll look peaceful, have her eyes closed, and be soothing herself with her thumb in her mouth and her other hand on her cheek. But then she’ll start crying for about 30 seconds and then settle herself again. This can go on for 45 mins or so before I intervene and put it down as a nap fail.

I’m a FTM so sorry if I sound so clueless and I’m doing the wrong thing. What should I do when she does this?

It sounds like she just needs a little more help to sleep. Definately not a nap fail - this is baby trying to self sooth but not managing it, not baby not needing the nap.

Try putting your hand on baby's chest and bending close to her face. Stay there, not moving (aside from a shushhhhhhh if she cries) until you've had a good 5-10 minutes of quiet stillness from baby.