How do I teach my baby to nap /sleep without CC

[wahwah1270]

Hello

My dd is 26 weeks. She's a happy sociable little thing who loves to play and chat to people. holwever one thing i've done all wrong i think is the sleep thing - i keep hearing of people who's babies nap for set periods - 1-3 keeps ropping up - any reason? - but if I put her down awake she'll either play for a bit or shriek and if i put her down sleepy she'll often wake up when she goes into her cot. We do co-sleep a lot now - but dh is def ready for the bed back and i'm getting well and truly sick of hearing about miraculous sleeping babies. Does anyone have any advice please on how i can teach her to sleep without cc which i dont feel is righgt for us. I have ordered no cry but it's not due to arrive for a bit - Amazon super saver.

Many thanks

For us, it was a routine that helped. We started with bedtime and DS goes to bed very well now. Then I realised that perhaps that was also the problem with naps, so I introduced a nap routine as well - before that, I was just putting him in the cot when he seemed tired, but it didn't really work. Now, I take him up to his room, read a story, then hold him and sing a lullaby, then put him into the cot. To start with I rocked him to sleep at this point, just till just before his eyes closed, till he got the idea, now I just put him in and leave him. He does shout for a minute or two but that just seems to be his method of going to sleep.

However... can't help on the set periods as I CANNOT get him to sleep past 40 minutes at naptime in the cot. So every day we go on a long walk before lunch to get him to take a 2 hour nap - good exercise!

Thanks. We have bath and story at the same time each day but she hasnt yet got the association going. Long walk sounds good - could do with loosin g weiht!

We do the whole bath, massage, story, feed bedtime routine. We sit with DD and shush her to sleep. As long as she isn't over tired she falls asleep very quickly, otherwise can take a lot of shushing. Lately have been able to leave the room whilst she is still awake and she will drop off by herself on most occasions so I think she is learning (we started this about 4-6 weeks ago as she was being fed/rocked to sleep).

I have also just started doing this for daytime naps with some success.

Also - if your DD thrashes about might help to gently put your hands on her to minimise the wiggling.

Hi,

The reason why a lot of parents do 1-3 is because after lunchtime is meant to be a good time to get them down as they would have been tired from the morning activities and lunch. They nap best at that time as well and if they do a good nap then, they should be able to go through till their bedtime happily...

My DS is 10.5 months and still does two naps - about an hour-plus in the morning and then another hour-plus after lunchtime. I held him and rocked him to sleep for ages before putting him down. At around 6-7 months, I was able to put him down sleepy instead of asleep without having to rocked him too much. By about 8 months, I could put him down awake and he would just turn over and go to sleep. His naps got much better around the 8 month mark as well. He did go through a period of sleeping 40-45 minutes and waking up. I then went in to shush pat him back to sleep but if he doesn't, I just got him up. He eventually started to sleep longer without any help, I think that will come with time.

Does your DD have a blankie/comforter? I introduced one when DS was about 7 months and now he knows he is going to sleep when he gets put in his grobag and then I give him his blankie to hold while he is in bed. He holds it right to his face and it's very sweet. I would encourage the whole bedtime routine thing... I take DS up to the room when it is time for his bottle, he has his bottle with only the night light on. Once he finishes his bottle, he gets put in his grobag, goes in the cot, I give him his blankie, say night night and he just turns over to go to sleep straightaway. Just keep it calm and quiet with little fuss. Good luck!

Ax

I do the same with his naptime (but without the bottle of course...). I take him upstairs, close the curtains so it's dark, put him in his grobag, goes into cot, gets blankie and goes to sleep. You need to encourage the sleep associations (whether it's dimming the room, a blankie, grobag etc) and hopefully your DD will get it soon. She's still little though, just keep going with what you are doing and I promise things will get much better in a couple of months!