Co sleeping - baby won’t nap alone!

[Babypoppyshark]

hello, looking for advice from experienced co sleepers. My 7 month year old has always slept really well at night and has really long three hour naps during the day. But only either in the sling or on my boob/ next to me in bed. If I try and sneak away she notices straight away! if I go to the loo in the night she cries and then goes straight back to sleep when i come back! So she’s never slept alone.

She also needs the boob to get to sleep unless In the sling so only I can get her to sleep in bed. She will sleep in the sling with granny or daddy but it’s quite tiring walking round for hours especially now she weighs 9.5kg. Just wondering if anyone else has been through this as I don’t know anyone else who breastfeeds and co sleeps so I don’t have anyone to talk to about it. I spend three hours a day in bed with her sleeping next to me. I also spend one or two hours walking around in the sling. I’m really happy doing this but worried If I have another child what I would do! All the other mothers I know put their baby down to sleep in a pram. I can’t go out to lunch or anything unless
I’m walking around! No one else I know has this problem so would be nice to talk to others in this situation as I’m going to try for another baby next year.

My daughter was very much the same up until around 7.5 months.
What I found helped was waiting until
she was in a deep sleep and then placing her into her cot. I also lie her on her side as she wakes if I put her on her back.
If you don’t already have one, I recommend getting a white noise machine as I found that really helps. She also doesn’t sleep in pure darkness, we have a red light for night times and keep the curtains open for day time naps.
We did have about a month of waking as soon as she went into her cot around the 9 month mark but I think that was due to separation anxiety.
We still co-sleep and feed to sleep now at 13 months but for a long time now I’ve been able to put her into her cot when she’s fallen asleep until she wakes up usually around 11ish and comes into bed with us.

My little one feeds to sleep and will not go down in a cot etc. It’s hard. I do a mixture of sitting with him on me on the sofa or lying on our bed for naps. But it means I get pretty much nothing done and I never really get a break.

I’ve definately been there! Things changed for me around the one year mark… just naturally really. I didn’t particularly do anything different. I just found I was able to sneak out when she was having a day nap, pop the monitor on and have 1 1/2 to myself! It was around the time she went down to one nap as well. Honestly I think they all just get there in their own time and I wouldn’t stress about it! She’s now 20 months and I’ve stopped breastfeeding. She is still a cosleeper at night but we are slowly working on her own bed! I’m expecting twins in the new year so hoping it all just falls into place before then with some gentle encouragement!
I know it’s hard… I worry about everything but really it does all work out and nothing lasts forever. Good luck xx

Totally the same - I used to enjoy afternoon naps when I could. As he got older I could sneak away. They are still young and a pregnancy is 9months - family life and your own normality evolves x

I was the same, but a long time ago. I think I used to prepare for nap times by having some admin/ sitting down tasks or whatever I could do sitting in bed e.g. online food shop, banking etc. I would also use the buggy to get her to sleep, I think they do that with only a little practice, I'd buggy run or walk, as like you the sling became too heavy. Also, I'd used the back carry for the sling which helps. It was draining, and a pain when we were away, but you will get through it and it really isn't forever (feels like it at the time, but trust me, it's so long ago now, and now they are older I feel so grateful that I enjoyed MAX cuddle time when they were little).