Naps- help a v tired mama out

I sleep trained my baby at 4.5 months using a mix of chair method and pick up put down method. No longer contact naps I just put him down in his cot when he starts getting tired but still awake and then he puts himself to sleep. He's 5 months now and he puts himself to bed for every nap, he sucks his finger as comfort so that definitely helps. I never let him cry it out I helped create a secure attachment with those methods of sleep training so he knows he's safe to sleep and if he needs me I will come gwt him if he cries. Took a few days of consistency but it worked x

But to get him to sleep through the night I co slept with him for a few weeks n then started transitioning him into his own cot in the night n he's slept through the night since 7 weeks x

First of all, she’s adorable.
Secondly, I feel like every (or at least most) babies and mamas go through this. It’s soooo normal and developmentally appropriate.

Does that make it any easier? Of course not.

We used to feed our LO to bed. And then I replaced it by rocking or bouncing him to bed, and now we put him down awake and with some light encouraging he goes to sleep on his own lol.

What we found helped, and you’ll hear it from a lot of people, is a routine. Around this age babies can start piecing things together (ex: I get put in this chair, we go in the car). So if you have some sort of pattern you do before sleep/bedtime, it helps trigger their minds “we did the routine, time to sleep”.

For naps, I change his diaper, put his sleep sack on, place in crib, turn off light, he listens to a classical song from a toy, I say good night and turn on the sound machine. If he fusses or cries, I pat his back, replace soother, make shushing noises, rub his back, etc.

But I stay with him until he’s asleep. And if he ever cries I run back to pat and shush. Bed time is the same but we had bath and book into our routine.

The first week was hard. Some fussing and consoling. But the second week was easier. And we do less patting and shushing. He puts himself to sleep most of the time. Not all the time. But even with shush pat, it’s less than 5-7 minutes. And now he sleeps 45 minutes to two hours. Where before was 20-30 minutes for naps.

But I found his wake windows have to be perfect for him to put himself to bed.

I stopped contact napping at 8 months but his nana was the one who got him to nap in his cot to start with but wasn’t awake. He’s only just started going for naps and bedtime awake as we sleep trained past few weeks x

I’ve also heard daycare is good for that sort of thing. Not the cry it out. But kids adapt to know “at this place I sleep here and not on mommy”.

I went insane over sleep. It consumed my life for a few weeks. I read precious little sleep and the no cry sleep method books. As well as joined like 3 different Facebook groups (pro sleep training, against sleep training and gentle sleep training) and followed like 25 sleep consultants on IG/asked them questions when they did things like Q&A. But I got most of my soothing ideas from Kendra worth on TikTok and instagram. I just sorta picked pieces of different things I liked and put them together. Found something that worked for us. That wasn’t letting him cry it out.

I might have an easy baby so maybe my advice won't matter but we started putting our baby down awake in his crib for naps about a month ago. I think it just takes time. And he doesn't fall asleep all the time. He also sometimes sleeps 30 minutes and other times 2 hours. Mine used to feed to sleep every time too, I think paying attention to wake windows is what has helped. I don't have a set nap schedule for him yet. I paid for the huckleberry app for 2 months for the "sweet spot" nap time and it worked about 75 percent of the time. My mom also sings the same song every time for sleep and when he doesn't want to sleep I'll give him some tummy time, or lay him in his pack and play while I cook or talk to my mom and he usually falls asleep like that too. Other times he's just still hungry or he needs a tummy rub to poop so that he can fall away. I think my baby naps best when he sleeps at night, when he has a tough night he is grumpy most of the day and has trouble self soothing. Sending you good vibes!

I feel you mama, it’s exhausting. We sleep trained at 5 months and it worked incredibly, now lo puts herself to sleep for every nap and bedtime. We did Ferber, it’s the hardest thing to do initially, but she will soon learn and you’ll be reaping the rewards. My DMs are always open if you have any questions x

My daughter will take her self to sleep with just her dummy 90% of the time she has done this from about 10 weeks when she would become tired I would take her into a dark room and lay her in her crib to start with I would hold her hand or rub her tummy if she was unsettled. For her she needed the room dark or she would pull a cover over her face. Some babies like a light or music however. Once she was calm I would sit in the room and when she needed it I would leave her for around 30 seconds to 1 minute and then comfort her slowly she eventually took herself to sleep I would only do this for 20 minutes and if she was not asleep I would bring her out until she became tired again and repeat

We did the Ferber method with my baby around 7 months. It was really hard. But my little one and I were exhausted. Neither of us were sleeping she was waking up every hour or so, wouldn’t let me put her down, and I was sleeping maybe an hour at night and not at all during the day.

It took a week and my baby had been a rock star sleeper ever since.

can I ask if you started with one nap or did bedtime first or just started doing for all sleep at the same time?

I started off with bedtime n then just did all his naps following day n then night. So I guess I just did it all at once, I wanted to be consistent

I have no advice but I am distracted by HOW CUTE HE IS
Thats a dang precious baby!!

They won’t just let her cry and if they do, find a new daycare.
Have you tried lying down with her during naps and popping out when she’s asleep?

Just practice honestly. I’m sorry but it sounds like you will have to learn to tolerate some crying in order to get her to sleep on her own. Look up the Ferber method.

We got our little boy to start sleeping independently from 4-5 months. No crying method. There is a difference between fussing (which is okay) and crying.

can I ask what you did-which method?

it was all transitional really but it didn’t take long. We would do atleast 1 nap a day in his Moses/cot, then increased it. I think after a week of this we stopped contact naps altogether.
I’d feed him, put him down and rock him (the Moses basket rocked) but you could just rock him, or I’d put my hand on his chest and sing to him.
Knowing the difference between fussing and crying is really key. If he was just fussing I’d leave the room and watch him on the monitor. It would take a while but he would begin to self settle.
Remember, self settling is a skill that needs to be learnt. If you are there until they fall asleep they aren’t learning it.
If he showed signs of being upset and not settling, I’d go back in and rock him until he was calm/just fussing.
Another key is putting baby down at the right time - follow wake windows and sleepy cues.

even now that’s he’s 11 months he does down fussy. He’s fussy because he’s tired… once I leave the room he calms down and is asleep within 5 mins. It’s been like this for months and it’s down to how we started out. It also gives you an extra 5/10 mins on top of their sleep time to get stuff done ☺️
Let me know if I can help anymore xxx

I used to get him to sleep, find the sweet spot to put him down without waking him and then he would stay asleep. Sometimes I would get 10 minutes other times half hour