For the last few weeks my three month old has slept about ten hours straight at night - I realise I’m lucky and that it might not last. But daytimes are a different story. Around the same time she started sleeping well at night, she stopped napping in her pram bassinet, and I’ve been wearing her in a carrier for naps ever since.
It’s hard work having to stand up rocking and bouncing for hours every day while she naps, and it means I don’t get any time to sit down or do other things while she sleeps. She’s also getting harder to settle in the carrier.
The advice online is all so conflicting. Some sites say you can’t change a baby’s sleep habits before 4-6 months. Others say you have to get them into a good pattern early on. For the last few days I’ve been trying to follow the bedtime routine for naps, going into the bedroom with lights off and blinds shut, putting her in her sleeping bag, breastfeeding, then putting her in the crib when she’s drowsy. But she either lies there kicking around and shouting, or starts screaming inconsolably.
All the ‘tips and tricks’ like routines, white noise, darkness and dummies don’t seem to do anything for a baby who simply doesn’t want to sleep. So do I need to be persistent and do some sort of sleep training, or do I just follow her lead and assume it’ll all change at some point? Her night time sleep went from terrible to wonderful on its own. I just don't understand why she can't put herself to sleep during the day when she can do it at night.
Also, where should she be napping? There’s also a lot of conflicting advice. The Lullaby Trust guidelines say not to leave a baby to sleep on their own until six months, but all other advice is to have the baby napping in the same place as at night, and in the dark. So to follow the guidelines, must you sit there in the dark next to your baby the whole time they’re napping? What do people actually do?