Has anyone had any luck getting baby to nap on their own?

My 5 week old takes so long to get to sleep and wakes shortly after I put her down. I had the same with my son (now 4) and he never ever napped in a cot. With him I tried everything… strict routines, less strict routines, working on self settling, putting him down drowsy, following wake windows, courses, books etc etc. I got him sleeping independently at night but never in the day.

I don’t let her feed to sleep. The only thing I can do to get her off is a dummy/sling/pacing combo, even then it can take 2 hours.

Is this just how my babies are made? Or does anyone have anything I could try to change this? I can’t face another one that will only nap on me! There’s too much to do!!

Also in my head all these parents are just putting their baby in the cot and they are drifting off to sleep. Does anyone actually have that experience?

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Mine is only 2 weeks old so I'm waiting for it all to change but he does go off in his cot or moses on his own. I put white noise on my phone and leave next to the cot and he drifts off. I have done this from day 1, he also had to he left in cot in hospital as he had blue light treatment for jaundice so I think he was used to it from the start 😪 Could just be lucky as my mum said I only use to sleep and eat but I'm also very aware this could all change in a couple weeks 😅 x

Mine was 6 weeks yesterday and you’re making me feel lucky because yes, I can put her down and she’ll nap in the day. Not sure I have an answer but I do think her starting her life in NICU makes a huge difference as I believe they get used to being on their own in the incubator, and actually having background noise is key as if it’s too quiet she tends to wake up.

My 4 week old is exactly the same, needs cuddled/shugged/rocked to sleep unless in the car seat or pram. Often takes over an hour but is *touch wood* better over night (still wakes up every 2-3 hours for boob though). Also he won’t sleep in his next to me and we are co sleeping to get some kind of sleep. Very normal for their age from what I can gather. Hoping things kinda just click but that’s perhaps me being naive 🤪

My baby didnt nap on his own until we brought one of those swing chairs! Life saver!! Would recommend

amazing!

lol - my son started in NICU and I thought that’s why he always wanted to be on me when we got him home. Maybe it’s just luck of the draw

I’m finding this currently! My 5 week old is so active and alert during the day. She will have a nap but she fights it so much! She does prefer to have snuggles but I’m trying so hard to get her to sleep in her cot or what works for her is she falls asleep in her bouncer and once she’s in a deep sleep moving her to the cot. At night she takes a while to settle but when she’s gone she’s gone. She slept 6-7 hours last night for the first time and it made me feel sick! But she would have woke for a feed if she wanted one. It’s such a hard journey to go on!! xx

Ah damn! There’s a TikTok about how NICU babies need background noise too.

The love to dream swaddle saved my life at this stage! Might help x

in our community

circumcision

are we circumcising our boys? or leaving that to dad?

Routines?

When did you start to introduce your baby’s routine? Do they just have a night routine or full day routine? Wondering when I should start this e.g naps at the same time everyday.

Any routines you have that work for you, please let me know them with timestamps. my baby is 6 weeks and just wondering when we should start them?

I think Motherhood has made me more bitter than I realized…

This is such a ramble but I don’t know where else to put it all.

I’m four months in and I don’t really have hobbies right now. I don’t do anything for myself except maybe doomscrolling or listening to a podcast while I breastfeed my baby. I used to craft and have game nights with friends. Activities that usually are at least 2 hour stretches. Now if I have an hour free my mind immediately goes to baby, or doing something in the house for baby.

And I thought I didn’t mind. Like I knew postpartum could be very mentally consuming. But I think it’s altering how I view people around me and it’s prodding at my relationship with my husband.

He spends most of his time making food for us, looking after our dogs, playing with the baby, ect. But he still has time for his hobby. Spends maybe an hour a night on it. Even adapted to using a bot for shopping for his hobby after a certain incident where we had to have a heart to heart after he left me home alone with the baby for hours during a busy workday (I work from home) to shop for his hobby.

And yet there’s like this little green eyed monster in me that rages every time I know he’s running off to start up the bot. Even though I’m the reason he does it this way.

We took a family trip last weekend to see his best friend and their kids and let them meet the baby. He brought the laptop. He’s always brought a laptop on trips and it’s never been a problem to me before. But one night we both woke up while the baby was still asleep, and he wandered out of the room. I tried to fall back asleep but couldn’t. So I went to the kitchen to try having something warm to drink to settle me. And he was there at the table running the bot from his laptop. I flipped out at him. But there really wasn’t reason to. It’s not like I needed help with the baby and he was ignoring me. He wasn’t avoiding our friends. He was just awake and unable to sleep and found something to do with his time. Yet my snap reaction was “why the hell would you do this on a family trip?”

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s the less complete sleep from baby’s middle of the night feed? My brain being just consumed by baby? Maybe I’m not as over that shopping incident as I thought? But I’m just so annoyed at his hobby right now. The green eyed monster thinks “you could be using that time differently” but realistically to do what exactly??? Stare at our baby in the dark???

I spent probably an hour apologizing to him after I snapped. And he’s of course hurt and frustrated because I said some very mean things in the moment.

I don’t want to be this jealous, angry person. But I also don’t know how to find time for myself in this right now outside of basic hygiene. It’s like I’ve forgotten how to be myself, even if just for an hour.

Maybe I need a therapist.

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I’m 4 weeks pp; am I the only one that has a uti and clit kinda went inward?? I’m waiting the 6 weeks but I have used a vibrator and I have a hard time feeling anything

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Hey,

Baby is getting slightly too heavy for his travel system now.

I was just wondering want strollers people recommended. Thank you

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I’m really looking for advice and opinions on vaccines for my baby. I’m not against getting them but also just don’t feel like I know enough about them to make a decision just yet as I’ve had people say to me they don’t agree with them and they can cause issues etc… so I just want as much info as possible. What are everyone’s thoughts and experiences of vaccinating your child? I’m just interested to see everybody’s views (no judgement as I just want to know I’m doing the right thing) thank you x