How do I get my baby to nap in her cot?

(9 Posts)
MissingGuiltyPleasures Fri 28-Jun-13 22:35:10

DD (25 months) has never, ever slept in her cot during the day, but has always been great at night so I figure that's ok. I went through a brief, but distraught, couple of weeks trying to get her to sleep in her cot but realised it was causing us both misery so gave up!
She's either napped in her pushchair - we bought a cheapy 2nd hand one to put in the lounge to save the carpet, or we'd nap together in bed (my fave as I got a rest too).
She doesn't nap every day anymore, but when she does it's either in pushchair or sofa in lounge.

philbee Fri 28-Jun-13 19:07:09

If she'll sleep on the sofa can you make a bed on a mat / blanket on the floor for her near the sofa and put her on that? No danger with rolling but maybe less disruptive than carrying upstairs? Fwiw DD2 (9 wks) won't sleep on a stationary surface in the day, only on us or in a moving pushchair, so I'd also like to achieve this, but I'd be napping! DD1 just did it one day and never looked back but it was after she started sucking her thumb so could self soothe better. As others have said, don't worry too much about it, it's lovely when they'll sleep on you.

teacher123 Thu 27-Jun-13 14:18:25

DS wouldn't nap in his cot at all until 6 months. I managed it by getting into a routine of nap times (Gina is good for timings) and walked/drove him at exactly the same times each day. This meant he got into the habit of being asleep at these times. At the same time I stopped feeding to sleep at bedtime and he found his thumb. Eventually I was able to put him in his cot at naptime and he'd drift off. Downsides are that now he will only sleep in the car if he's REALLY shattered and the car is constantly moving and he is a bit of a routine fiend. I also used blackout blinds, white noise and a grobag for daytime nights so his room is nice and boring!

plummyjam Thu 27-Jun-13 12:27:27

My 20 week old DD has just started to have cot naps in the past 2 weeks. She can last about a couple of hours awake during the day before she needs a nap. I take her into her bedroom, blinds drawn and feed her to sleep in the rocking chair then plonk her in the cot after she's been asleep a couple of minutes. I do use a dummy which seems to stop her from unsettling when I move her although it's not always necessary.

If she's not hungry we use the dummy and just rock and shush. At first it would take about 10 mins before she fell asleep, now a couple of minutes.

I think it's a developmental thing, as they get older they become a bit more independent and don't mind sleeping away from you. When DD was 13 weeks she wouldn't have napped in her cot either. She still has naps in the car, pushchair, lap, sofa (supervised obv) as I think it's good for them to be able to sleep anywhere.

Baby starts to get sleepy; chuck lunch together one handed while jiggling baby; eat lunch with baby snoozing on lap, drink, biscuits, Great British Bake Off on the telly. Happy days! grin Bugger the tidying. It'll barely last a few months, then you'll lose your excuse for putting your feet up regularly, and you can catch up on the tidying then, with help from a toddler (because socks from the dryer belong in the recycling bin...hmm)

Chocolateyclaire76 Wed 26-Jun-13 20:32:33

I had 4 months of having to walk my LO to sleep in the pram come rain or shine. As this was over winter I was thoroughly fed up, as you can imagine! I was desperate to get her to sleep in her cot and in the end turned to lullabies. I downloaded an album by the CRS Players called Baby Lullabies and played it whilst calming her down before her naps. I started by putting her in her pram in the house and she slept for 30 mins which was unheard of before as I always had to push it. After a couple of weeks I made the transition to the cot and left the lullabies playing very quietly during her nap. I used a dummy as well and as a result I have a 7 month old who will sleep for 2 hrs sometimes - I literally never thought I would see the day! Now all she needs to master is how not to wake up constantly through the night - joy of joys!!

ShinyBabyOfficialNosePicker Wed 26-Jun-13 20:25:50

Thanks! I've just got a baba sling off eBay so when that arrives will def be trying her in that as I couldn't get the hang of my wrap sling. I like to use her nap times to tidy up for half an hour or make my lunch but if she wakes up when I put her down it makes it harder!

At least I know not everybody has one of those perfect babies that goes down on demand!

13 month old DS wouldn't nap in his cot until the ripe old age of 11 months. He still only feeds to sleep for naps as well, unless he's in the pram, so he has yet to do that fabled trick of 'falling asleep' in his cot during the day. I stopped fighting it and just let him sleep on me for all naps from about five months onwards and I really started to enjoy the excuse for a sit down and quiet TV or MNing three times a day. He also got better quality, longer naps and started being much happier when awake, so I wish I'd taken that approach much earlier on. If you want to be more constructive while she's napping, maybe wear her in a sling or go for a walk in the pram if she'll sleep there?

ShinyBabyOfficialNosePicker Wed 26-Jun-13 16:15:11

At the minute my baby (13 weeks) falls asleep on me during the day, normally during a feed. If I then try to move her off my lap and onto the sofa, sometimes she wakes up and if she does, won't go back to sleep. (Or if someone interesting is over, she refuses to sleep for fear of missing anything!)

This results in an overtired baby who will cry for ages and after half an hour or so of rocking etc will finally fall asleep on my lap again, by which time I daren't move her.

She naps for around half an hour each time but I would love to know how to start putting her to sleep in her cot as I'm scared one day she will roll of the sofa!

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