9 week old - daytime naps

[Coates1989]

Hi All,

Would love to hear some success stories or advice if possible.

We also arent overly concerned at the moment due to age.

Our 9 week old DS decided about 10 days ago daytime naps must always be on either me or DH.

What tends to happen is we get him to sleep in arms with dummy, then transfer to cot.

We get anything from 10 mins to 50 mins. But very rarely more than that, and we dont get many either (we really try!)

Happy to cuddle him too but to be honest thats also not hugely different. He also isnt a huge fan of the sling now.

Is there anything we can do to help? We are working fine with the situation but just want some reassurance, we are exhausted!

Make a sleeping spot near you and when he's asleep put him down. do it straight away wile he's still sleepy. I found the longer I held my two the less chance I had of putting them down.

Thanks for the advice. We have tried this but very much not a winner currently.

More than happy to cuddle for now, is it something we need to "train" or does it happen naturally where naps happen in cot etc?

He did used to nap in his cot well until 2 weeks ago.

He is 9 weeks old. Keep cuddling. Put down when you're able to. It's normal for them to want to be cuddled.

In my experience, with children under 1, if some advice or other works, it's because your baby was going to do it anyway.

I gave up trying to teach my baby to self soothe at 7 months. At 9 months he learnt to do it himself with no input from me. All babies are different, I wish I hadn't wasted time trying to get my baby to sleep differently to how he did.

Most babies this age won't do cot naps, and cot naps are a pain anyway as you need to stay with them.

The three things I'd try to do at this stage are:
Try to feed when they wake up rather than as they go to sleep so they don't become reliant on feeding to sleep

Try to vary how they nap - so sometimes cuddling and holding for the nap is fine, but have some naps walking in the pram too (or rock the pram in the hallway), some naps put them on the sofa next to you with a hand on them, so you don't get stuck napping in a particular way

Now is the time to add lots of sleep cues - dummy is great, add in a comforter or muslin every sleep time, play some sleep music or white noise, do a bottom pat when you cuddle to sleep.

These are all sleep cues that you can do while cuddling to sleep but also transfer to the cot when he's older - so in a few weeks when all these things = sleep for him, you'll be able to put white noise on, give him his dummy & comforter and put him in his cot and pat his bottom and he'll be able to go to sleep.

Didn't want to read and run - just posting to say I am going through the same thing now with my 9wo and have been now for a few weeks.

What I have read online has been quite confusing, ranging from 4th trimester (i.e. this is totally normal, embrace the cuddles) to sleep training (not something I want to do and obviously too young at this age, but some sleep coaches advocate routine and putting baby down in the cot at this age).

What I will say is on the days when I have practised putting baby down in the cot I have found myself (and baby) getting more stressed as he just seems confused and ends up crying. I've tried using a sleep bag, comforter and white noise as I would do at nighttime but I don't think he 'gets' that what I want him to do is nap. He'll only nap now through motion (rocking/in the carrier) or feeding.

It has been getting me down, so I've decided this week that I'll focus on just making sure he's getting enough sleep (and also mixing up how he gets to sleep, as @busyeatingbiscuits says) and when he's 12 weeks attempt the crib. In the meantime I'll try and get him used to a comforter. Have tried dummy with little to no success as he spits it out.

Good luck and let me know if you learn any new tricks.

Sorry just realised this post is a few months old!

@Coates1989 let me know if you did learn any new tricks 😊

My 6mo was like this until 3 or 4 months. She still falls asleep in our arms or feeding but transfers to the cot just fine for naps and overnight. Do what works.

Baby needs to have all sleep (day and night) in the same room as you/another adult until at least 6 months, so cot naps are actually a bit of a pain because then you have to stay there with them - though nice to have a rest! Friends who insisted on cot naps found themselves tied to the bedroom, and often those babies learned not to be able to sleep unless in a quiet dark place, which is a pain for going out and living life.

Most of DSs naps were on me until at last 9 months, when they’re that little just go with the flow. You don’t need to train any of their sleep, just follow their lead. Babies know what they need. Getting a good sling so you can move around when they sleep is the key. Or enjoy an excuse to sit still 🙂

Realised some posts on here from recent times!

Yes it sort of phased out around 3 months, just a natural progression really.

We are currently struggling with the 4 month regression and have been for around 6/7 weeks.

But naps in arms doesnt last, kind of miss them now!