Contact naps & nursery

For nursery they will manage to get them to sleep their own way. (From a nursery staff myself) they may rock them to sleep or the child will put them self off if the environment is right for them ☺️

Hey, me again haha my girl will only nap on the boob or in pram for me but at childminder she goes into cot and sleeps really well. Everyone kept telling me this would happen - I didn’t believe but it’s true. So up to you what you want to do. I’d love mine to sleep in cot for 2 h in the middle of the day on my days off so I can sleep too so might try that after we get through this horrid sleep regression x

I personally would try and get him weaned off contact naps. I spoke to my friend who works in a nursery as I was a bit concerned of this. He’s only going one day a week when he turns a year old purely for the socials of it. But she did say obviously they try to cater to them as much as possible, but it isn’t one staff for every one child. And sometimes if a child will only contact nap, or needs rocking to napped etc. they do sometimes have to let them cry to sleep as they are just busy with another child. This made me feel really sad 🥺

I work in a nursery, they'll find a way that works for them and your LB, it might be a case of crap naps at nursery for a little while until he settles in. I would say maybe layer some things in now that the nursery staff will also be able to continue so there's some familiarity, such as a cuddly toy/comforter and maybe a sleeping bag for every nap even contact for the association (maybe take a layer off or a low tog sleeping bag for contact naps but im sure you'd do that anyway). Have you sorted which nursery he'll be going to? Could you ask them how they do naps with contact nappers, is there anything they recommend? find out if he'll be in a cot or a floor bed (my nursery does cots up to 1yo then floor beds). Do they have a sound machine or play music for naps? Could you integrate this into naps at home? When you go in for his settle sessions, you'll be able to talk about everything and ask the staff in the room any questions you have.

Mine only would contact nap she started nursery few weeks ago first day she was fighting going down for a nap but got so tired in the afternoon she went down, she now goes down easily and will sleep sometimes for 2hrs in one nap, I still contact nap her at home cos I love the cuddles and she has no issue at nursery at all

Also a lot of babies nap around the same times so there will be some who go off by themselves and others that need a rock or a pat on the back. There will be times when there's 1 or 2 babies awake so the staff will be able to focus on getting contact nappers down, this might mean they get him to sleep first or maybe they'll try to hold him off until the majority of babies are asleep so they can give him what he needs. He may also shock you and sleep well at nursery but still want contact naps at home. My lo does a mix of cot and contact naps (always falls asleep with a cuddle and won't go off on his own then I might transfer him to his cot but he sleeps better with a contact nap and cot naps are max 40 min) and he'll be going to my nursery and I have complete trust that they'll get him to sleep in a way that works for him and them. I'd definitely recommend giving the nursery a call to ask your questions. Hopefully it will ease your mind 😊

My boy still only has contact/pram naps apart from the odd one or two when I feel brave 😂 I’m happy to do contact nappy too like you said and I’m just going to accept that when he’s at nursery, it’s a totally different environment and therefore expectations will be different. Do you notice any signs that he might prefer to be in his cot? Sometimes my LB wriggles on me and tries to get comfy on me as if I’m his cot and he gets into the weirdest positions 😂 then I get that voice in the back of my head thinking that he’d be better off in his cot but I don’t know…I told my health visitor this and she said there’s no rush and no harm in it at all!

My girl was a contact napper but because they were all over the place I started putting her in her crib for them, it was a pretty easy transition she got used to it really quickly. I wouldn’t stress, he’ll have a whole different routine at nursery and probably adjust pretty quick! Enjoy them for now ☺️

@Charlotte see we do often rock him to sleep but as soon as we place him in the cot he wakes screaming! That's good to know though, although he's never put self to sleep yet, he can't self settle at all.

@Kasia that's so encouraging to hear! Thank you! X

@Amelia totally understand why they can't with staffing, and tbh, I wouldn't feel comfortable with anyone else contact napping with him, I see it as our special thing as he won't even do it with his dad, just me. Oh god no I can't handle him being left to cry to sleep! I better check with the nursery what they do in that situation. Thank you for flagging that for me x

@Rachel thank you for such a thorough response. That's really reassuring to hear! His naps are generally crap anyway (even with contact napping) so I can handle that 🤣 We already use a lot of those things for night sleep, and used to use them when he would nap in his cot, didn't think about using them for contact naps too! Yes he has a place at our preferred nursery but we visited and signed up when he was 3 months and tbh I didn't think of this until now. I kinda thought he'd have grown out of contact naps by now 🤣 so I'll definitely ask what they do with contact nappers! They did have both cots and floor beds, and also bean bag type things and they said they use whichever baby prefers. I'll ask all those things, thank you!

@Luce that's so reassuring to hear, thank you! X

@Rachel thank you, even just reading your response has reassured me! I'll definitely speak with them though and find out exactly how they approach it x

@Polly that's what I'm thinking. I'm hoping because I won't be there he won't even have that association and accept naps will be different because it's all different. Well it's weird because he used to nap in his cot fine! Then one day just screamed when I transferred him in and then he's done that ever since! Sometimes he wriggles on me and I think exactly that, he's not comfortable, wants more space, I'll pop him in the cot, but he still wakes up screaming as soon as I put him in there! He was diagnosed with CMPA and I thought once that was resolved he might go back to cot naps as he was happier at night but no, still an issue with cot naps in the day for some reason!

@Megan see I have tried to get him back in the cot for day naps but it's never worked, as soon as I put him in it he wakes up screaming. That's what I'm hoping! Thank you x

Hey! The way I done it was I started to try and put him down on his first nap of the day. I’ll keep a little routine, like change his nappy, strip him down to his vest (if he’s in more clothes that is), pop him on his sleeping bag and rock him to sleep in his bedroom with blinds shut etc. then wait about 5/10 minutes once I know he’s solidly asleep and then place him in his cot. It took a few goes but it works. He does only nap like 30 minutes and sometimes longer, but he’s always been like that. Once I nailed the first nap, I just started on the next nap that he was having if we was at home and now just do that. Sometimes I can’t get the routine done because he just randomly goes “okay I need to sleep now!!!” But we still make it work 😊 Nurseries will do their thing and they will sleep differently to how they do at home 😊

Also mine does still love a contact nap which I have enjoyed!

@Nicola it's just never worked for us. He used to actually sleep in the cot for day naps fine, then one day just decided not to anymore. Since then I've never been able to get him back in there for them, he just screams as soon as I place him in the cot no matter what I do or how long he's been asleep for first x

I worried about this because my daughter started nursery at 5months. She will still only contact nap with me, I cannot get her to settle anywhere else through the day. However, she’s never had a problem at nursery, she’s more than happy to go for a nap in the cot and sleeps for just as long. I know it’s only one experience and it’s different for everyone but I think they just make the change x

@Hannah thank you so much for this. Quite a few people have said this so I feel hopeful this will happen for us! X

@Rebecca yeah our little one went through that phase too and I was just done in with it 😩 I dunno what happened when he suddenly wanted to nap in there again. Might be because I started using the pram and he was like “naaah” 😂

@Nicola I accepted it a while ago now 😅 mine does sometimes sleep in the pram but I have to be practically jogging 😂

@Rebecca Thank you for asking about this because I have the same worry and it's been very reassuring to read everyone's responses so thank you to everyone who responded too 😊

@Charlotte it's really put my mind at ease! Currently replying whilst nap trapped!