Help - need a plan to get DD to nap in cot before she starts nursery

[thomasina1]

DD starts nursery in 2 wks time. She is 9m. She was a brilliant sleeper, I could put her in her cot awake and she's happily go to sleep on her own. That all changed a few weeks ago to the point where I now have to feed her to sleep at night and take her out in her buggy for naps. (No idea why this changed but I have come to terms with the fact that change is the one thing we can be sure of with these pesky babies!)

I'd love her to go back to settling well in her cot for naps. At the moment she just screams, standing, in her cot and I'm not a fan of the cc route so can't bear the crying for more than a couple of minutes.

Does anyone have a tried-and-tested method for transitioning naps from buggy to cot?

I am going to call nursery tomorrow to see if they have any ideas. I realise that they may be happy to put her in her buggy for naps, but at the moment it is taking a 5 minutes walk round the block to send her off so am not sure they'd be able to do that!

Having thought this through I think I may start by trying her in the buggy but in her room and just rocking it rather than pushing round the streets. Does this sound like a reasonable start or does anyone have any other ideas?

She used to suck her thumb by the way but that stopped when her teeth came through a few weeks ago and this clearly hasn't helped her sleeping patterns!

Yes try pushing her in the buggy in the house. (Maybe in an area of the house with "normal living" noise levels) I did this with DS and can now put him in the buggy, rock it until he is sleepy and leave the room/do something elsewhere in room and he will drop off by himself (no crying) - his problem is he wants to be up and crawling/trying to walk all the time! So being strapped in seems to get him to relax enough to go to sleep. Otherwise he just gets overtired.

Thanks Bertie, yes I think the wanting-be-on-the-move thing is definitely a factor here too! Will try the rocking buggy this morning and will report back.

What is frustrating is that this tactic used to work brilliantly... but am taking deep breaths and just resigning myself to the fact that nothing stays the same!

My DS flat refused to go down awake in cot during the day for a nap and I really stressed about how nursery would manage - but he did it for them like clockwork within a few days of starting. You will probably find they are very used to this and babies will often fall in with the routine imposed, especially as all the other babies will be doing it.

IIRC the nursery rocked DS in a car seat type contraption to get him off to sleep before transfering to cot for nap for the first few days, and then he was OK.

at my nursery they used an automatic swing to get babies off to sleep
or just cuddled them until they dropped off

I think children are different at nursery too - I know lots of kids that are hard work for parents, but are fine at nursery so I wouldn't worry too much.
I used to rock my eldest to sleep in my arms if we weren't out with the buggy, when he was 18mths I thought I can't do this forever and put him in his cot and he went straight to sleep-I did think how many hoursd have I spent doing this!
I think 9mths is the classic age for separation anxiety so that could explain the change and I'm sure she'll change again.

DD at 19 months still refuses to nap anywhere but in the car or on me. She's been at nursery one day a week since she was 12 months and she has always slept like a dream there. Not once have they ever said they've had an issue with her napping. She also eats loads of things there that she turns her nose up at here. So try not to stress too much, they are very different at nursery! Little monkeys

I only ever fed DD to sleep, or else she would drop off in the car or in her pushchair. But at nursery (she started at 9 mo too) they got her to sleep every day without doing either. I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks for all the reassurance! After hearing all the tales of babies who behave differently at nursery I am not so woried now. To be honest I am hoping they crack it then she'll be better at home (she'll only be there 3 days a week). But we'll see!

Anyway, we have had some progress today - I put her in the buggy in her room and she went to sleep after just a bit of rocking! So this is great as it means I can at least get things done at home and will no longer feel obliged to pace the streets to get her to sleep. I may try tranferring her to cot after a few days of this, but certainly won't be stressing about it anymore!