Carrier nap exhaustion

[70percentcocoa]

Hello MNers

Long time lurker, first time poster.

Looking for some advice for my 12 week old DS2. The only way we can get him to nap is using the carrier BUT it has to be outside and on the move constantly. If we walk for an hour then we can come in and he'll happily continue to nap on us strapped in. It's completely exhausting and he's a big boy - 98th centile - so my back is a wreck and I feel so physically wiped out, it's been this way since about 5 weeks when he 'woke up' to the world. So currently clocking up 20,000 steps daily with a 8/9kg baby strapped to me and as soon as he wakes up he wants out and starts crying so I'm just walking circles near our house. Worth noting that as soon as we put his pram suit on to go out he starts crying but we give him his dummy and he's normally asleep within 5-10mins. Feeding to sleep doesn't work, he'll doze but wake up 5 mins later, even if i give him the dummy and pat his bum and we're in a dark room. He tolerates the pram but he doesn't drop off and eventually gets cranky before eventually dropping off about 40mins in when I vigorously push-pull the pram. He'll then wake 30-40mins after, again as long as it's moving the whole time, have also tried white noise in the pram with no joy.

Thankfully night times have been really good and he was waking once or twice for a feed however he's been waking A LOT this week for his dummy so I'm considering stopping it.

Has anyone been here before and managed to migrate to the pram or any other means? Is it just a case of time or do I need to go cold turkey and make the pram the primary means for naps. Obviously cot naps would be lovely but just need to save my back right now!

Thanks!

You could try a Rockit for the pram?

Instead of walking you can also stick them in the sling and bounce on an exercise ball. When DS2 was cranky I used to stick him in the sling and then bounce on the ball in front of the TV. You can keep it up for hours no problem and it sent him out like a light.

Also, have you tried a firm swaddle? My cranky high-strung babies were always refusing sleep due to overtiredness and overstimulation and they loved a firm swaddle. When they were kicking off from tiredness I would swaddle them firmly and hold them tightly in a dark room with white noise playing. Neither of them ever lasted more than five minutes before passing out, whereon I would sit down with them resting on my chest and read a book.

I feel for you @70percentcocoa, my DS was exactly the same! He started napping better in the pram around 4 months, so do persist with it. Following wake windows and taking him out in the pram at the "right" times helped I think. I recommend the Huckleberry app. Also, using a snoozeshade to keep it darker for him. We then gradually introduced cot naps from around 5 months starting with his first morning nap. Hang in there, it will get better! I second @thehorsesareallidiots 's suggestion re bouncing on an exercise ball. I did that when it was bad weather or I just didn't have the energy for a walk.
Also, will he sleep in the car? My DS would often fall asleep in the car at that age so if I planned a trip out for when he was due a sleep he'd just fall asleep on the way and then I could bring him in the house in the car seat and he would usually stay asleep a bit longer.

Hi both,

Thank you so much for your replies, really good advice and just nice to have the support. We have put in more effort with the pram this week and it seems to be paying off as he's currently having a nice long sleep in it! Yes we had to pull out all the stops incl. white noise, blackout, push pull, dummy and yes he did wake after 30mins but we ignored him and he went back and is now having a really long stretch. Just the boost we needed, hooray! Next up, cot 😂

That's great to hear @70percentcocoa 😊