My daughter and I have been co-sleeping since she was born and we both love it! Naps can be challenging at times. She prefers to sleep in my arms of course but is starting to wak easier and not get as restful of sleep in my arms. She will occasionally nap in her swing but never for longer than 30 or 45 minutes. She falls to sleep easily in her moby wrap or the Ergo but will not sleep for more than 15 minutes in these. She doesn't even nap well when I lay down with her exactly as I do at night. She will sleep in her pack and play for her morning nap if swaddled (for 45 minutes), I assume because it is close to night and we are diurnal. The rest of the day she does not want to be put down and she wakes up very easily when she sleeps on me. I am just curious as to how other co-sleepers do naps and how successfully your little one naps on/off you and their age. Thanks!
Greetings S.,
what worked well for my daughter was a "Heart Beat" bear.
http://www.amazon.com/Hartley-the-Heart-Beat-Bear/dp/B001...
http://www.amazon.com/DEX-Products-Inc-Sounds-Mommy/dp/B0...
We co-slept until she was 4... (now she is almost 14).
Good Luck,
Heather (friend of C.)
We co-slept with our boys until our youngest was 2yrs. We never took naps with them. If they seemed tired, we would try putting them in the car seat and rock it. Sometimes we put them in the crib with the seat and sometimes without.
Our youngest slept best in my husband's arms. When my husband wanted to put him down, we would snuggle him in blankets cushioning around him on the couch.(We were still in the room though)
You might try putting her in a Bjorn or some type of sling and go about your daily business as usual; unless you are looking for a nap.
Be glad she sleeps at night. :)
ja, I agree with Sarah ... it might not be your technique, she might just not be a heavy napper (right now or ever). I think around 4 months was when all of mine started not-napping more. The thing with babies--you just think you know what they are doing and then they change!!
(Luckily, that applies to the hard phases, like learning to yell, as well as the things we parents wish wouldn't change so fast, like taking lots of naps at regular times ;). )
My three month old seems to do okay in her sling... until I try to pick her up out of it. We use a Hotsling and it is really good for those clingy days.
Most of the time my daughter naps twice during the day. The easiest way to get her to go down is by nursing her until she falls asleep. But if I wrap her in her Kiddopatomus sleep sack, she does pretty well after a few minutes of fussing. Best case scenario, she naps for two hours in the morning and four hours in the afternoon.
At night, we feed her after she is wrapped in her Kiddopatomus and let her drift off. She goes to sleep in her swing. When she wakes up (4 - 7 hours later), I nurse her and then bring her to bed with us. She'll sleep another few hours with us in bed and eat once or twice before she's really up for the day.
Happiest Baby on the Block was our "Baby Bible" when we first brought our daughter home. Between that and the swing, she's become a good sleeper.
One thing you might want to try is to use a comfy, large t-shirt that you have worn (maybe as PJs) a few nights. Turn it inside out, lay her on it or wrap it around her, and place her in something confined. I had a friend who took a favorite receiving blanket and wrapped it around her after nursing (bare chested) so it would smell more like her...
My 3 month old loves the Fisher Price "infant to toddler rocker" seat that we have. It has a kickstand on it, so it doesn't rock, but it cradles her body in a very cozy manner so she can snuggle in it.
We don't co-sleep (I'm MUCH too light of a sleeper), but she is the same way. Does all night just fine in her crib, but for naps, she likes to be more snuggled (fetal position).
Hi -
I had to respond because our situation is very similar. I have co-slept w/both kids and have similar issue w/my 3 mo old right now. When my oldest (now almost 3) was a baby I slept w/ her or held her for all naps and she had a similar pattern of waking up after 30 min of being put in the crib... I needed the rest too so laying w/her or reading a book wasn't too big of a deal. She is now a great night sleeper in her own bed w/no nap during the day.
My baby now is the same, but I can't lay down w/her because my older one is up. She will also sleep in a carrier/sling for 30-45 min at a time & crib the same. If she is on me she sleeps 1-1.5 hrs at time just being held. I am working on consistently putting her down in the crib at the same time(s) of day even though she wakes often in hopes that she will get accustomed to the routine and learn to put herself back to sleep. It deosn't seem like we are making much progress, but I keep trying! Maybe you've tried this already?? She does go to bed at about 8pm and we lay her in our bed and she will almost sleep through the night- usually waking up just once. I don't know why neither one of my kids could not sleep very hard during the day w/o my help!! I know none this probably helps you, but sometimes it just helps to know you're not the only one! Keep putting her down. One thing that sometimes helps is white noise, like fan.
Good luck!
I have a 5 month old boy he would only take short little nap in the daytime and would sleep very well at night. I started him on rice cerael(made runny)about 2oz 2x a day. His will take 2 naps a day and will sleep for a couple of hours each time and sleeps through the night. I hope that is some help good luck. I have 3 boys all different.
Welcome to the cat napping phase. It stinks.
I did not cosleep with my first boy, and he only took 20-minute cap naps. I have and continue to cosleep with my second boy, and guess what? Same thing. The Ped says it's about neurological development and it they will outgrow it. I hated that outgrow part of the equation. My first boy did it from 2 mos to 6 mos. The second did it from 3.5 mos to 5.5 mos. He still always sleeps better if I'm laying down with him, but with a toddler running around, that's just not an option. And I read all the books! Ferber, Pantly, the 12-hour sleep solution, the 18-hour, you name it, I read it. Nothing helped.
Do lay down with her if you can and catch some zzz if at all possible! Good luck.
I only coslept at night with my son. With my daughter, I nursed her to sleep most of the time, but she was a whole different ball game.
With my son, I started putting him down for naps during the day when he was awake at around 2 or 3 days old. I know this is way early by most standards, but newborns are so sleepy that he adjusted to sleeping by himself very quickly. I slept with him at night, because nursing is easier that way. Now when his eczema isn't making him too itchy, he goes down for naps with hardly a whimper.
With my daughter, I started her going down for naps awake at 3 months. This involved crying it out. You might not want to do that, and some people will argue that 3 or 4 months is way too early. Maybe, but at some point life must go on, and you can't keep revolving life around the baby forever. For me, that age was 3 months with my daughter. My son never had to cry it out because I started him so early. If he isn't asleep in a couple of minutes, he most likely isn't tired, so I just get him up. It took my daughter a half hour the first time, and never more than 15 minutes after that (usually 5). And suddenly I was able to sew and cook and do things that normal mothers do! She didn't like the adjustment, but she adjusted. She's almost 3 now and the only issues we're having are a little bit of jealousy, because her brother is taking a lot of my time with his eczema. But that's normal. Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but that's all I can say based on my experience. Hope it helps.
I am a co-sleeper with 22 month old twins and a 4 month old and i hate to say it but it is an age thing. She may be getting teeth or getting ready to hit a developmental milestone. The only child out of all three that has been the heaviest sleep was my daughter who spent a week in the hospital right after she was born. The other two have never been away from me like that. My 4 month is currently working on crawling and so he is not being the sleeper that he was.
Good luck
S.
My son was the same way until we got the Amby baby hammock. It worked wonders! Some babies just really need closeness and movement. My son did. He used to nap for maybe 20min at a time but when we got him the Amby baby hammock he started napping for 2-3 hours! It snuggles babies like the womb and if they move at all it's attached to a spring that gently bounces them to sleep. Not to mention it swings, so you can gently rock your baby to sleep as well. I highly recommend it. Plus, my little one was literally sleeping 10 hours at night straight through at 2.5 months of age (and I was breastfeeding too!). Hope this helps and congrats on your little one! :)
It's an age thing. Lots of new development, both physically and mentally going on at 4 months.
My son was an awful sleeper during the day from birth until about 1 year. He would take 20 minute naps, no more and often less. It drove me nuts. He slept better if he was in the Moby and I went about my day with my daughter, but I needed a break once in awhile and would try to put him down. He'd be awake in about 5 minutes. He also wouldn't transfer out of his car seat if he fell asleep. He even woke if I just brought the infant seat in. It only took a little disturbance to wake him.
He is a great sleeper now, through the night and good during naps. Although, he is going through some development now at 2 and sometime only naps for an hour instead of 2.
It is constantly changing. My daughter stopped naps altogether at 2.5 years. She takes one now every third or fourth week. But needs one at least once a week in my opinion. It just isn't worth the battle.
Good luck to you and try to go with the ever changing flow.
D.
Hello S.,
Today I am a Parent Coach, helping parents and families like you answer parenting questions, but I started life as a Certified Professional Nanny, and one of my first charges would not nap more than a few minutes a day too. He was a 10 month old who had just moved to Portland, so I think he was having a lot of security issues at the time. I knew this baby needed sleep to be healthy, and I also knew I couldn’t allow him to sleep on the living room floor anymore, (the only place I could get him to sleep). So this is what I did.
At naptime the first day, I laid him in his crib and rubbed his back until he was asleep, reassuring him all was ok. After a few days of this, I laid him in his crib then sat in the rocker talking to him until he went to sleep. After several days, stayed in the rocker, but stopped talking to him, but stayed until he was asleep. Next I sat in the rocker for a while, but left before he was asleep.
Over the course of about a month he went from an infant who would only sleep in the living room to an infant who happily slept in their crib.
Sleep is so important for babies, this is when they recharge their batteries, process things they learned during the day and physically grow. So much occurs during the naptimes, it’s important to make sure those naptimes are long enough. I hope this process helps you and your baby create a naptime which will meet both of your co sleeping needs and her sleep needs.
Lastly, if you’re looking for a book on the subject, I love Marc Weissbluth Healthy Sleep Habit, Happy Child. I buy this book for every expectant mother I know.
Good luck with Co Sleeping, it’s a wonderful way to bond with your baby and provide your baby with the security she needs.
Sincerely,
R.
R. Magby
Parent Coach
Everything Baby, llc
www.everythingbabyllc.com
Both my girls (ages 3 and 13 months) are/were cosleepers, and both of them only took short naps by themselves (never more than 45 mins) until about 6 months or so. Then they suddenly started napping longer- an hour and a half to 2 hours. From about 6 to 8 months they would both do short naps about half the time, but by about 8 months each was mostly doing longer naps. For the first few months they would each nap in the Moby wrap, but as they got older they couldn't sleep as long in it. I started putting them down in the bed for naps around 4 months, and like I said, they only did about 45 mins until around 6 mos. I don't really think it was anything I did, I think they each just matured into longer naps. I hope that happens for you too, it can be so hard when they just won't sleep!!
Good luck!
