Tell me what to do 6mo clueless mum!

[Stackycups]

DD sleeps well at night. She's bounced to sleep (around 7pm) with shushing after milk (sometimes not immediately before bed, depends on when she last fed, usually every 3hrs). She's then placed in the next to me and sleeps until 3 or 4 for a feed, sometimes have to rock and resettle until she wakes around 6/7.

She is a stoll contact napping but only does 30-40 mins, sticking to wake windows, again bounced and shushed.

She doesn't do dummies.... Have tried relentlessly.

How do I get her to go down on her own, I know I should teach her to self sooth but what does self soothing sound like?!

If you have a look at some old threads, I normally type my question in followed by putting mumsnet or fatedestiny at end of the question - I would look for fatedestiny she's got lots of tips and worked for my LO but was hard work x

@Fancyties thanks,I'm trying to find threads now. I don't have any routine for naps maybe that's where I'm going wrong? I just change my her nappy and we get bouncing on the birthing ball and that's it!

I don't want to draw the curtains etc as she naps on my arms /on my lap so I need daylight otherwise I get miserable 😂

Maybe I need to start putting her down for naps in her next to me... She can be left now she's 6 months, and can roll both ways. We've got a monitor to, which we already use in the evenings.

Maybe nappy change, sleeping bag the same Lullaby and a bounce upstairs? Andrew eventually getting rid of the bounce? Some how?!

Haha not my nappy as I don't have one 😂

It doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong! Kids have different needs for sleep and sometimes 30/40 mins is all she might need!

We never had a routine for naps in my house! We just go with the flow depending on what we've done in the morning or how early/late my daughter woke up that day.
Also almost all babies will need some comforting in order to go to sleep. You can learn how to layer up those comforts and take them away so you can find what works for you and your baby.

Heysleepybaby on Instagram has some good tips and explains much better than I can 😂 and helps you to see that this is super normal!
You can look through her highlights, I never bought the course myself and her page was still really helpful.

She doesn't do sleep training, no cry it out and instead helps you figure out what your baby needs from you in order to settle and normalises baby sleep! This can apply for naps too! She's really good to be honest 😂

https://instagram.com/heysleepybaby?utmmedium=copyy_link

@nousernamehere01 oh that's really good thank you will have a look! It's a typical that DD has now been napping for just over an hour and a half 😂 #rareasunicornpoop!

I implemented a routine at that age. Like 9am ish 1.5 hours. 1pm 1.5 to 2.15 naps. 430pm nap 45mins. But every baby is different

Nothing wrong with short naps. I found lo would have a bit of longer nap if I extended awake times. But not sure what your awake times are. At that age my LO was doing 2.5/3 hours max.

Getting rid of bounce I read that it's decrease overtime x

[quote Stackycups]@nousernamehere01 oh that's really good thank you will have a look! It's a typical that DD has now been napping for just over an hour and a half 😂 #rareasunicornpoop![/quote]
I'm sure they know when you're at the end of your tether and asking for help 😂 glad she's having a long one today!

Catnaps are developmentally normal for babies up to sometimes 8 months.
My boys have only just started getting longer this last week, my boys just over 7 months. You don’t have to teach babies to ‘self soothe’, if you don’t want to. If you do I’d suggest putting down in cot and leaving a hand on chest with slight pressure. Shush 3 times. Walk out of the room. Give baby a few minutes. Go back in and repeat until baby is asleep.
Also a pre nap routine that’s a shortened version of bedtime routine can signal baby to realise it’s nap time through the day .xx

Agree with PP - it sounds like you are doing great and your DD is happy.

My DS was similar but I went back to work when he was 6 months old so from about 5 months I did start bringing him up to the cot for his naps - curtains closed etc and trying to help him settle without me.

Like your DD, my DS doesnt take a dummy so I was worried about how he would self soothe. Luckily (after about 10 mins crying with me standing outside the bedroom door) he found his thumb and that was his comfort and he fell asleep. After about 2 days there was no crying at all. I would bring him up, get him ready, sing him a nursery rhyme and even before going into the cot, he would be sucking his thumb ready to go to sleep.