Struggling with daytime naps!

[RosyDreamer]

My baby is currently 16 weeks old, and I am really struggling to get him to nap independently during the day.

Thankfully he will sleep in his next to me crib without any issues at night time (I am incredibly grateful for this!) He does wake up every 3-4 hours for a feed during the night, but will usually go straight back to sleep in his crib afterwards. We have a night time routine (bed, pjs, bottle, white noise and swaddle) and have tried to mimic this routine for naps during the day (minus the bath) however as soon as we put him down he immediately wakes up crying. I have tried both rocking him to sleep and then putting him down asleep, and putting him down awake. Neither of which have been successful! He also requires quite a bit of help to get to sleep (rocking, white noise etc) and very rarely falls asleep naturally of his own accord.

This means that all of his daytime naps are contact naps, which I do love and am trying to make the most of as I know it won’t last forever, however I would ideally like him to have at least one independent nap a day if possible. I currently feel like I spend most of my day ‘nap trapped’ trying not to move or make too much noise so that I don’t wake him up! (He’s quite a light sleeper during the day). I also feel like I have to plan the entire day around his naps, which is limiting the amount we can go out/have visitors etc. I am hoping if I can get to a point where he will nap in his crib, he will then get better at napping on the go in his pram when we’re out and about.

I am just wondering if anyone has any tips or tricks that might help? Or do I just have to accept that he is still young, this is just a phase and he will nap independently when he is ready?

Following as I could have written this word for word!

I'm interested in this! Does he nap in a sling? Mine does and no longer naps in his pram (nearly 14w). We're bedsharing at night-I'm trying to get him to sleep in the crib.

@PoppingTomorrow To be honest it’s hit and miss with the sling but I’d say mostly not. He used to nap for hours in the sling, but for some reason this stopped a couple of months ago. Just like your little one he used to nap in his pram, but I think he finds the world far too interesting now so prefers to stay awake

Ah, that sounds really frustrating.

Agree they are so easily distracted. Mine also doesn't like being flat on his back, I'm having to make a slight incline in pram and bed

Most babies this age (and older) can’t get themselves to sleep on their own, it’s completely normal for them to need your support to get to sleep. I know it can be frustrating but it really won’t last forever.
Do you BF? Have you tried lying down and side feeding LO to sleep and then gradually moving away?

Naps in his pram with the 'rockit' on , or attach a rockit to the next to me crib

My first was like this, I worked out how to get her to nap in the sling and the pushchair which gave me quite a bit more freedom. When I say worked out really I just persisted in pushing/carrying till she fell asleep! She probably improved with naps quite a lot about 8/9 months and it got easier when she had a consistent 2 nap schedule. I remember though watching a friend with a same age baby easily transfering her sleeping baby from the car to a pushchair, which I'd no hope in hell of doing and that's it really clicked that they are all different and you can only go so far to change their natural sleep habits. Hopefully someone will give advice on the cot but I would suggest also persisting with pushchair/sling to try and have more than one possible solution.