Am I helping by doing this or not?

[SamJohnsMum]

My DS (now nearly 6mo) used to only sleep for 40 mins at a time. He would occasionally take longer naps - but usually only if I was cuddling him.

He will still only sleep for about 40mins (if that) in his cot, but if I put him on a beanbag in the living room he can sleep for up to two hours for a post-lunchtime nap. I hasten to add that I am in the same room if he's sleeping in the beanbag before you all tell me what a nutter I am!!

I think one of the reasons I continue to do this is that if he falls asleep while being cuddled or fed, then he'll often jerk awake if laid down in his cot but feel comforted by the beanbag and go back to sleep.

If he wakes up and seems happy, I'll get him up. If he wakes up and cries or otherwise seems unhappy, I'll cuddle and/or feed him and he'll go back to sleep for another hour.

My question is really this: am I helping him to develop the habit of a longer nap during the day by doing these things or just giving myself problems further down the road?

I used to let mine sleep wherever they wanted during the day-sofa,pram and believe it or not my dd loved the bean bag too. But i always made sure they slept in their cot at night and mine are now 5 and 2 and have always been excellent sleepers so i dont think it will affect him at all.

If he will sleep for longer i would do it. The more sleep they have during the day the better they sleep at night apparently as they are not overtired.

It is probably that he's not horizontal that the beanbag works. It might also start to fail when he gets more mobile in his sleep. However, if it works, it works, and it's not going to hurt anything, no, so be very, very careful about SIDS/suffocation and enjoy the peace.

I think you are helping by doing this. My dd had rubbish naps till I moved her to two naps a day rather than three and made sure by any means necessary (like you, cuddling, feeding back to sleep etc) that she had a long sleep at lunchtime. she has now started having one long nap (may be morning or afternoon) of 1.5 hours all on her own (hurrah!). good luck!

IMO whatever it takes. No habit can't be broken and not all behaviour becomes a habit. Really wouldn't worry, you have to take what you can.

Thanks for these comments.

I'll continue with this as long as it works, then!! Of course, I will be very careful.

Quick question though - Ches - why does being horizontal or not matter? Do you think if I propped up one end of his cot, that might help?

Hmm I read 6 weeks, now I see 6 months. If he were 6 weeks not being horizontal would help with reflux/spitting up.