DAYTIME NAPS - i've read the other threads but just need advice on one thing!

[lovemyrose]

my lo almost 7 months only sleeps during the day if we go out in buggy/car or sometimes if fed to sleep. if i try and transfer her to cot she wakes up immediately and goes crazy but will sleep for hours if i just hold - the usual story!!

i'm at my wits end so have finally decided to do CC and have been trying to get her to have a nap in her cot at lunchtime with me going in every 10-15 mins to check she's ok and calm her down - what i don't get though is that if i go down that route what should i do if she just keeps going for 2 hours and then its time to get her up again or give her a feed? as soon as i get her up she stops crying but then the next time i feed her or we go in car/out in buggy she goes to sleep.

I read somewhere that you need to keep going until they go to sleep otherwise they know you will pick them up eventually - but i reckon i would have to keep going for 3 or 4 hours to do that which seems a bit harsh - it breaks my heart doing 2 hours as i feel like an evil witch even though i know she's fine cos i've been in and checked her.

10-15 months is a longggggggggggg time to leave her. I'd feed her (but not to sleep) put her in the cot & do pick up put down with her if you are desperate for her to nap in the cot.

Otherwise I would just let her sleep in her pushchair - in the garden or lounge or wherever, it can be very useful to not be stuck at home whilst they nap every day.

My 2.10yo still naps in his pushchair and always has. Cot is for night time imo. If dd sleeps in her pushchair i can't see a problem with leaving her in there.

I would just let her sleep in buggy.

sorry I meant she will only sleep in her pushchair if i go out with her in it and pound the pavements till she falls asleep. If she just slept in her pushchair in the house that would be absolutely fine

have only been trying cc for a couple of days but dosent seem to be working as she gets so upset.

forgot to say also she goes to bed beautifully at 7pm by herself in her cot, so i know she can do it but we have a really good bedtime routine so she knows what happening.

Will she sleep in it if you push/rock her in it. I still have to do that with ds.

i havent tried that for ages but that might be a good compromise, will try that tomorrow - thanks phoenix

I get ds to sleep in the kitchen. Away from the noise of the tv. I close the blind to make it a little bit dark and stand and push him backwards and forwards for a bit. The longest i've had to push him is 30-40 mins. Good Luck

CC seems a pretty harsh when she does sleep in the buggy and does so well in the evening. Is there a clue when you say "we have a really good bedtime routine so she knows what happening". My 6month DD naps when we do the same routine - so she knows that after school drop off we come in at 9:10 and she goes straight in her cot for an hour and after we do lunch its time to go by 12.30/1pm. I can't ever get her down peacefully in the later afternoon as we are always all over the place and I am rushing about. Do you know what times she gets sleepy? Baby Whisperer is good for identifying clues to sleepiness and catching them when they are ready and if you choose a time for naps and stick to it with some routine signals before you might find it works? Also I wouldn't keep trying for more than an hour, whatever method you chose to get her down, otherwise you will be doing it all day.

hi badgerqueen - i have been trying to get a routine where she has her lunch, then we go upstairs and clean her up, change nappy (and clothes if necessary), then she has a breast feed (but i take her off when she gets drowsy and not really feeding but just having a suck, then put her in cot and put CD on stereo quietly - but a different one to the one I use in the evening - so I think I have a good set of cues, but possibly not different enough from her bedtime routine 'cos I putting her in cot in her room, so maybe she thinks I'm putting her to bed for the night when its not the right time?

Hi,myrose - any better today? Your routine sounds great, so I am baffled as to what to suggest, but they are all different and I am generally easily baffled! Sometimes when they are really overtired they just can't settle so maybe there is an earlier point in the day where you could have a go? Try a 30-40 min nap two hours after she gets up (in the buggy if necessary - just so she is a bit more rested) and then try the after lunch one too, would that be possible? The logic is that they go beyond tired and then are to frazzled to relax and nap, I think, so if less tired they sleep better.

hi badgerqueen - well yesterday she woke at 415amso i fed her and put her back in her cot and she slept till 7.50am, so i thought i wouldnt give her a morning nap and see what happened and it sort of worked. only problem is she was exhausted by 11am so i gave her her lunch early but she was too tired reaaly to eat anything, then did usual lunchtime nap routine and she was so sleepy after bf that i could put her in her cot without any fuss and she slept for 2 hours!

however today she woke up at 6am so i think she will need a nap this morn. but i do think you're right they get so overtired they cant settle themselves. hmmmm!

I read on a nice website (somehting like FAmilysleep.com)that 9, 12 and 3 are good times around this age, and its sort of what DD does - though 3 is impossible as we have to go and get my big girl from school, so its totally hit and miss in the afternoon. Actually 12 too early too, so we aim at 12.30/1ish. 2 hrs is great though - now you know she can do it! Stick at it and you'll have a little GF angel before you know it . Did I really say that? Don't tell anyone on here!