2 month old naps

[marathongirl]

Just wondering how some of you put your 2 month old down for his/her naps? Do you feed to sleep? If so when can this stop? I don't want to be starting bad habits but he doesn't seem to go to sleep during the day any other way? Thanks for you advice.

I don't feed my 2 month old to sleep. I've taken some tips from the Baby Whisperer books, but without being quite as strict as the book suggests. So basically we just do the same things in the same order when its nap time - close the curtains, pop in the grobag, have a cuddle, go down for a nap. She has a cuddly toy in the cot which I have slept with so it smells of me. The other thing we do in the afternoons when she is fussy and does not want to go into her bedroom is just lay her down on a folded up duvet on the living room floor, lay her on her side with a cushion behind her back, dummy in, cuddly toy in arms and she just zones out. She likes to be in the middle of the action at that time of day. Obviously we don't have any other children or pets as the middle of the living room floor would not make a good bed if we did!

bubbabiscuit - Thanks. I have tried not nursing my 2 month old to sleep for naps, but he screams bloody murder for what seems forever. What do you suggest?

Marathongirl - he's still really tiny so needs the comfort. Have you tried swaddling? I swear by it with my 2 month old - every nap at home is cuddle, swaddle, cuddle, pop in cot. It makes them feel like they're still being held.

I had to feed my DS1 to sleep for naps for ages and its really hard to break (especially when they're so young) - when they're older (4 months plus) you could nurse before a nap, then do a routine where by you wake them up a bit by reading a short story to them (So they're concious but drowsy) then cuddle and put them down for a nap. Hopefully they will then not always associate nursing with sleep time - but at 2 months its quite hard to do this.

Does your little one use a dummy? My DD finds hers very comforting and always uses this at sleep time.

P.S. she's currently playing a game of spitting the dummy out to keep me nearby though! They all have their own little characters and likes/dislikes so I guess you have to go with the flow to some extent unless its causing upset for baby or you?

Marathongirl - I have a 9wk old and she isn't fed to sleep either, I didn't want her to associate the two. For naps I always stick to the exact same routine, swaddled, cuddle on the chair in her room with lights out. Cuddle until she is very nearly asleep (but not quite - I'm hoping that one day she'll learn to self settle) and then I put her into the cot. She always has her dummy for daytime naps, it really soothes her and as she only has it at nap time I think its now acting as a bit of a sleep cue.

For me, naps can't be taken as and when, I'm the type of person that needs a routine and I think that DD is thriving on it too.

If you need a quick fix then feed him to sleep but otherwise persevere, trying different things to find what will work. With my DD I'm hoping the effort will pay off in the end.

digimama- so glad to hear someone else doesn't feed to sleep. I really don't want that association either. I want to know that he can go down w/out me there.

What do you do if you put her down and she starts fighting it?

I too am a very structured/routine person. I need it to thrive and I know babies do to.

I would love it if I could feed DD to sleep! I am all about the easy life right now - if it forms habits then I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

When DD used to nurse to sleep nothing would have woken her. Now I have to get her to sleep before she gets overtired. Rocking in my arms with a dummy was the most reliable method but still involved tears. Shush/pat (Baby Whisperer) has been working much better for us for the last 2 days.

marathongirl - If she really fights it, I stay with her until she calms - whilst I want her to learn to self settle I don't want her to feel abandoned. I lean over the cot and shush/pat her, stroke her forehead etc to get her calm. If I can, I then leave her when she is very nearly asleep otherwise I stay with her til she is asleep.
She is getting better at being left still a little awake so whilst we haven't got things cracked yet I think we're making headway IYSWIM.
Mind you, I don't know if what I'm doing is right but it is working for us.

Thats what I suspect about my DD so it was interesting to read this. She used to hate shush/pat but now it works well. Perhaps thats why these things have minimum ages?

Let us know how it goes if you use it!

Read this with interest as our 8 week old just doesn't seem to nap and/or sleep without serious user intervention on our part. He also feeds incredibly slowly and frequently (every 2 hours during the day, for about an hour), but doesn't fall asleep afterwards (during sometimes, but move and he usually wakes up!). I've been trying to read Marc Weissbluth's book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, which seems to be really comprehensive (but not so easy to read when you're sleep deprived and it's too heavy to hold in one hand!). There is a useful summary here which you might find interesting. There definitely is a minimum age for different techniques so far as he is concerned. He's all about establishing lifelong healthy sleep habits, and not just a single approach for every child, which I personally find very reassuring.