13 month old nap/sleep issues - plan needed

[wastingmyeducation]

DS always feeds to sleep, apart from when in the buggy/car when he will nod off no problem.

There have been a handful of times when he's fallen asleep being cuddled and the other day he fell asleep in his playpen which is a travelcot.

The feeding to sleep is one thing, but for naps he sleeps on my lap, or up on my chest.

It's lovely and snuggly, but I really should be getting on with things when he's napping, even if it's having a lie-down myself.

It's a while since I tried putting him in his cot after he's fed to sleep during the day, as it feels like such a waste of time when he just wakes up again and we have to start all over again.

Because I use the nap time to watch tv and MN, I haven't worried about it too much but I need to not sit down so much and know I can leave him with other people.

I'm thinking of offering him milk in a beaker at different times a day, so he's used to it and separate the milk feed from the falling asleep, but don't really know how.

All suggestions welcome!

I separated the feeding from sleeping by feeding in a different room before bed - not a dark quiet room - and stopping the feed before she fell fully asleep - just when her eyes were closing but not closed. Then I would carry her through and put her down.
I think I started off sitting by her, but you may not want/need to do that.

That's a good idea rubles. Maybe bring him back downstairs once he's in his pyjamas after the bath, and feed on the sofa.

Bump for the morning crowd.

My DD goes to bed with a bottle. We still use a monitor for her so can hear if there are any problems. I know there are many people who think this is a terrible idea, but it works for us and we checked with the nurse, who said it was fine. I don't know if that could work for you?

We don't use bottles alice, but I'm going to start giving him cow's milk in a cup soon so he can still have milk if I'm not there.
You cant really drink from a beaker to sleep though, so that's what I need to work on I guess.

Thanks for having a think though.

I think sometimes when you have a failsafe crutch like feeding to sleep it seems a big step to ditch it, but sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns and do it and you may be surprised, he might be big and ready enough to deal with it without the slightest problem. That was the case with me, the feeding to sleep wasn't as essential as I had originally thought. Good luck

Thanks.
Did you do any patting or anything?

We've tried various things, and DS goes down in his cot now by himself without too much fuss.

We use a dummy at night but he mostly doesn't need it during the day now. I think the key is the break the feeding before sleep - is he BFing during the day?

The routine we've got into is that DS has either milk or a meal not long after waking up, either first thing in the morning or after a nap. Then we play, go out or whatever and then he naps after that. It was hard getting there, had to get really good at spotting when he was first tired, once he got too tired then he would want a BF before he would nap again.
Now once I see yawning and/or eye rubbing I put him straight in his cot, put his music on and just leave him. He chunters around a bit sometimes but does lie down and put his face against the sheet and then sleep.

When I first started doing it he would yell and get a bit upset. I would leave him for a minute or two because sometimes he would drop off, but if it was more than a couple of minutes then I would go in to him, put him the right way round in bed and cover him up again. Maybe stroke his hair or his face a little bit if he was really agitated. A few times when we first did it he would roll over and cuddle my hand and go to sleep with my hand against his face. [soppy mummy emoticon]
Gradually over a period of about 3/4 weeks he got used to going down into his cot during the day, and now he goes pretty much straight to sleep.
I use it as a playpen while I shower and sometimes while I'm hoovering upstairs. The other day I'd put him in it and when I came out of the shower he had lain himself down and picked up his little winnie the pooh and gone to sleep all of his own accord. Finally he's learning to self settle!!

God what a waffle - does any of that help? The music is pretty key for us, it really soothes him. We have an old ipod and a pair of little speakers in his room with a load of playlists on for him. PFB? Us? No!

Hi Ali!

Yes he bf during the day. Quite a lot at the mo, so it's not always connected with sleep.

That's all really helpful, thank you.

What music does your DS like?

All kinds of stuff really - Queen, Mozart, Jamiroquai! Classical is good for sleeping times we find, Handel is a favourite because it has a nice steady rythm.

Hope you find something that works!

Excellent varied taste, good to see!