14 week old only sleeps on me

[Xio]

As the title says my 14 week baby will only sleep on me. I know this is normal behaviour to want to be close, so I use the sling/baby carrier. The problem is that now he wont just fall asleep in the carrier, he needs to be bounced on an exercise ball with the hairdryer sound playing. So I do this while wearing him in the carrier but if I start moving around to do household things once he's asleep he wakes up almost immediately. The only way to get him a good nap is to lie still on the couch or bed. If I move a bit or use the toilet he wakes.

I would love to have him nap in his cot but he just wakes immediately if I place him down. I've even tried placing him down on my bed, never breaking body contact at all and he still wakes immediately. I'm not willing to do CC and I'm just not sure if there's anything I can do at this age but I'm feeling very housebound.

i have no real advice as I’m in the same situation with my 12 week old but I just wanted to show some solidarity! I’ve actually just come onto here to look for some advice / guidance on the same issue.

She will only happily nap when on someone / in the sling, however I also have a toddler so cannot just sit around whilst she naps. Although I use the sling a lot it’s not always practical and I can’t find it difficult to do some things with her attached to me.

I know I need to start getting her to fall asleep in her crib but it’s easier said than done, especially with another little one to keep entertain / quiet whilst trying to do so!

I'm on my 2nd and learnt a lot with my first and what i would say is don't be scared of CC, you don't need to leave your baby screaming roof off day and night, you can do it very very gradually, I started by putting her down in her crib and sitting next to her patting her continuously so she knew I was there, just for a short nap, then a longer nap, then just sit next to her so she knows I'm there giving her the ocassional stroke on the nose and shhhing her, then gradually move a bit further away, all very very gradual so she never went from sleeping on me to being left alone to cry herself to sleep, not anything close, there was a bit of crying but I was constantly there in some capacity to soothe and reassure her. She's 11 weeks now and will happily sleep in her crib, swing, car, wherever really! Good luck, it's such a hard stage but you will get your freedom back sooner than you think 💓

Will he fall asleep in the buggy or the carseat when in the car?

I used to manage to get mine to fall asleep in the buggy and then I could wheel it into the house and they'd stay asleep for a while. On nice days I put the buggy in the back garden and they slept even better out there.

No way you should be doing CC at 14 weeks anyway. Far too young.

Sleep is kind of up in the air at this point anyway. I would personally persevere with just getting on with my day as he won't stay awake forever! You might have a grumpy couple of days, but I have another child so we are out and about and DD2's naps just have to kind of fit around stuff like nursery runs, activities I do with my 3yo, etc. They do adapt.

Sadly I never managed the whole let a baby sleep else where. I was stuck on sofa with TV. Only way I could get my lo to sleep for naps.

I was where you are two weeks ago. My baby only fell asleep in sling whilst rocking and shushing in dark with white noise. She won't sleep in pushchair or car seat so was stuck at home. The heatwave forced me to put her in cot and start some training because I couldn't cope anymore! She's 7 months old. It went better than expected! Self settled and had a few long naps in cot. Don't think I'd have done it so young though

So I’ve made some progress on this today, 12 week old DD has fallen asleep in her crib for all 3 of her naps so far with no crying at all. She was in her swaddle bag, white noise and I patted and shushed her until she was asleep, she’s slept for 50ish minutes at a time but it’s been wonderful to be able to do things whilst she’s slept.

This morning I just decided that I would try and get her to sleep in the crib to avoid waking her up when she is put down and will continue this over the next few days.

@forevercurious how long did it take you to get her to sleep each time?

What age did you start doing that? I'm currently trying this with my 8 week old (as per Childhealth nurse advice) but I feel like it's just fruitless and not sure if he's even learning anything

Wish mine did it's nice weather most days (in Aus), I leave the pram on the front porch and mine still wakes up 5 mins after I stop pushing or rocking the pram 😔

I tired this (to think he'll just sleep when he's tired) and in the end my 8 week old would only have two short naps a day and got so badly overtired that he would just cry all day :(

@laurenGame you can get those pram jiggy things. To motion the pram moving. I don't know official name, and never used one but heard great reviews

@laurenGame I have 2 with a small gap so not through choice but pretty much from the get go tbh as I don't have much time to sit and hold her to sleep. I have an excellent swing chair that she will nap in if we're home during the day but she's had to adapt. Now in the evening I put them both to bed at 7pm, she has white noise on and goes down awake after a bottle, I just keep going in and giving her cheek a little stroke so she knows I'm around (generally sorting washing and emptying bath etc) so she does get upset and cry herself to sleep on her own or anything, she takes a little while to go off maybe 30 mins some nights but I never hold her to sleep now x

@laurenGame doesn't get upset that should say!! 😭

The first time took the longest of 15ish minutes I’d say, not helped by the fact my noisy toddler was also in the room wanting my attention.

I know the SIDS guidance is that she naps in the same room we’re in but I do think she’d nap better if she was in a separate, darker room.