Contact nap

I started putting my LO in her cot when she was awake and happy, but close to her nap time (ie she had been awake for 60-90 mins) and slowly reduce the number six things that were engaging her - remove b/w muslin, close curtains, turn on soft lullabies - and she has a few times fallen asleep on her own. Sometimes a dummy helps, sometimes it really doesn’t! Most of the time though, she wants to sleep next to me, and had even started holding my hand close to her chest/face 🤷🏼‍♀️ babies just want to be held and feel safe, so don’t worry too much if contact naps continue for a while!

We co-sleep thro the night and when I was ready to start transitioning away from contact naps, I would nurse the baby to sleep on the bed. Once he was in a deep sleep (about 15mins) I was able to roll away and off. In the beginning he'd only sleep 20 mins. He's 5mnths now and he'll sleep 30mins in the am, 1.5 hours in the afternoon and another 45mins in the evening. But TBH - I know love the contact naps and snuggles. One day he won't need naps or want to snuggle so I try to enjoy the when possible!

The usual things like swaddle, white noise, and something with your scent can help. But almost every new parent deals with this. That’s how newborns are. I wasn’t able to break contact naps until mine was five months old.

My boy contact napped during the day for 6 months. Night time he was perfect you could put him down and walk away and he would sleep all night but in daytime I have no idea he would not let me put him down. It feels annoying and like you should be doing other things but enjoy it! I miss my contact naps now that he’s nearly 1 such sweet moments

My son is almost four months and still primarily contact naps. We put him in a wrap or carrier so we can still move around while he is napping. If we put him in the car seat sleepy he will fall asleep and normally take a full nap in there. Otherwise we are beginning to feed to nap the. Put him next to us or in his crib. Yesterday he took a 30 min nap on his own. So it’s baby steps and may still be a while before he is on his own.

So at 8 weeks my baby swing was a lifesaver. I know they're not supposed to nap there, but I would let her settle and FALL asleep, then move her. I think that plus the occasional ride in a carseat (and subsequent inevitable nap) helped break the association of naps with being held. I always transferred her to a bed as soon as I was able and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't, but now at 6.5 months she pretty much naps like a dream.

Will she nap in the car/pram? That's a good stepping stone towards independently in the cot

Most babies grow out of it

One thing I learnt is that babies don’t realise they are separate from their mums until 4-6 months, until then they think they are part of you and that’s why they want you so much. Which is so sweet but also can be overwhelming 🫶 if I’m being really honest, she will decide on her own terms when she’s ready to nap alone. And you may find she has shorter, less quality naps when napping alone. Or that’s at least was my experience!

But if it’s closeness she likes, these things could work - swaddling, white noise, red light, put in crib drowsy but awake and rub belly till asleep and then slowly stop rubbing belly till she puts herself to sleep

For the first 3 months babies don’t understand that they are separate beings that is why they need constant touch/ presence of their mother. That is why it is called the 4th trimester. I know that it is hard, you can try putting her in a sling or a carrier. But honestly, they really need this. She will start becoming more independent after she turns 3 months.