7 month old, sleeps beatifully at night, only naps on lap during day

[sarajardim]

Hi,
When I was a kid, I remember watching the baby whisperer on tv. Tracy was great..
So now I´m a mommy, and I  need help here.
I have a 7 month old baby, a girl, Inęs (We´re Portuguese), and she is great!
She sleeps beautifully at night (from 20.00, to 07.00 then breastfead, then sleeps again until 10.00)It´s quite easy to put her to sleap. I just lay her in bed, turn on music and she stays quietly.

However during the day, its quite a diferent story, I can only get her to fall asleep in someone´s lap, and even then, when we try to put her in bed, she cryes. So basicaly she is used to falling to sleep for her naps in lhe lap.. How can I put this straight! I want to be able to put her in her bed when she is sleepy so she can have her nap... Because if she doesn´t nap she gets very irritated!

Can you give me a how to one on one..
thanks
Sara and Inęs

[sarajardim]

Oh yeah, her nap time has always been very small, 20-30 minutes tops, and that is what she still sleeps during the day! She makes 3, 20 min naps a day, but only on someone´s arms, granpa, daddy or mommy

[Kiwi_one]

Hi Sara,

Do you have Inęs on a routine? What does your day usually look like, in terms of the timing of feeds, play, and sleeping?
What signs do you go on in deciding it's naptime and what do you do to signal that it's sleep time to her (e.g. swaddling, music, dimming the room)?
Does she rely on anything else that you can think of other than lying in someone's lap to get to sleep at naptime?

20-30min naps usually signal that baby is overtired by the time they're getting to sleep. Since she already self-settles at bedtime, it may be largely a matter of getting her into a good routine and then just teaching her that naps also happen in her crib. Part of the routine changes required may be shortening her sleep overnight; 14 hours is a lot for a 7-month-old and could be cutting into her daysleep.

[Shiv52]

My LO used to only nap in our arms!  So by 5 months my back was breaking as she wanted to be walked too so I transferred naps to the cot.  There was a lot of crying the first day, less the second, none the third but I nearly gave up that first day but I  was so glad I persevered. 

I rocked my LO until she was nearly asleep and then put her in her cot and continued to ssh-pat.  She did cry and I left her in the cot (unless she got really upset as opposed to 'oh this all a bit new' upset) and sat right beside her stroking her head and patting her tummy while ssh-patting.  After a few days I was able to put her down awake and just rub her tummy and saying ssh and she'd go to sleep.  She needed some help getting past the 30 minute mark but after a few weeks was settling no bother and sleeping longer.

It might take a few more days as your LO is 7 months but it really is worth it to get her sleeping in her cot for naps.  If she settles well at night its probably just a matter of getting her used to the new way of things and she may get upset at the change but as long as you are there with her reassuring her she will get used to it!

{{{hugs}}}