Trying to get 8wk old to start napping in cot- update & more questions!

[sunflower321]

Just wanted to say I think you're doing really well! I have 2 years between mine and yes it's really hard. Personally I believe do whatever works for sleep in the early days. My poor dd1 was desperately over tired and hardly ever slept until at 9 weeks I discovered a sling and that changed our lives! She started sleeping finally. Too much! I used to have to wake her after 4 hours for feeds! Everyone said it would be too hard a habit to break but she slept in her cot no problem when she was ready at about 14 weeks. My dd2 was a bad napper. The sling didn't work so well for her because of the noisy house with dd1 in it! She would only ever take 30 min naps and stayed up til about 11pm. But I just went with that and kept on top of the naps even though they were short to make sure ot didn't set in. I often had to sleep holding her in my arms in bed at night. Again there was no problem breaking that after 3 months.
I just wanted to tell you for both of mine sleep dramatically improved after 3 months so hang in there. And meanwhile don't worry too much about IS. It will happen.

[Scottishmummy]

Thank you, sunflower- only a few weeks to go until 12wks for us.

The sling is so helpful for us too. DD has at least one long nap in it everyday (mainly so we can leave house with DS) but I also use it if she's got OT & won't settle in cot, or for resettling or if she has had a succession of short naps & I need to get a long one in.

Sling saved today as we were out & about so I managed to get a couple of long catch up naps in it & then she settled in cot when we got home (another 1hr20 A time, but into cot at 1hr05) & slept 2hrs all by herself. I had to wake her so she didn't sleep into bedtime.

So I can see progress is there, just need to try not to miss those sleep cues! Xxx

[lily_layne]

I just wanted to tell you for both of mine sleep dramatically improved after 3 months so hang in there.

Things often do get easier then - it's the end of the "fourth trimester" and those tiny babies become more ready for the world.

[Scottishmummy]

So we're at the magic 12 weeks now.

DD is doing about 1.5hrs A time & starting to self-settle for naps but won't sleep longer than 40 mins in her cot. I've seen a few people talk about a short nap phase about this age. Is that a common thing?  I seem to remember DS not routinely taking long naps until he was 5 or 6months old.

I'm not too bothered as sometimes we APOP a long nap to prevent OT, or if we get a day of 4 short naps, we do an earlier bedtime & get a longer night, so she's getting enough sleep (14-15hrs) but a long nap in the house would be lovely to give DS some quality time & maybe me a rest too!

[Conniesmummy]

Hello again, they change all the time. Our naps are completely off again, the dreaded 4 month spurt!! Think I need to adjust awake times, but I'm struggling with pnd at the min so brain isn't at its best 
We're back to crappy short naps again. 45 min tops!
I wouldn't mind I half thought about it this morning. To push her another 15 mins. It gets hard to read sleepy cues as they now look like bored signals! We're is the instruction book?!!

[lily_layne]

That's the prime age for 40 minute naps. Both of mine had a big A time jump at that age (from 1.5 hrs to almost 2). You could try pushing the A time to see if it helps. If it doesn't change things, then I would keep on as you are.

[Conniesmummy]

I feel like giving it all up and hoping for the best!! The more u seem to try and get it right the more I geddit wrong!!!

[Scottishmummy]

Hugs to you Conniesmum, they do like to change things around, just as you think you got it sorted. Sorry you've got PND too, I hope you are getting some support. These early days are really hard.

With my first (DS) I used to worry a lot about getting nap length right but in the end went along with more short naps & eventually he extended his A time & started taking a long nap at lunchtime. I'm kind of expecting same will happen with DD eventually so am riding through more frequent short naps & waiting for A time jump & longer naps to come.

[lily_layne]

With my first (DS) I used to worry a lot about getting nap length right but in the end went along with more short naps & eventually he extended his A time & started taking a long nap at lunchtime. I'm kind of expecting same will happen with DD eventually so am riding through more frequent short naps & waiting for A time jump & longer naps to come.

This is a good plan. The long naps will come and I know it's easier said than done, but it's really not worth getting worked up over nap length. I spent way too much time tying myself into knots over DD's naps and I worked really hard to be more relaxed with DS and even when things get tough with him it never feels as tough as it did with DD because my attitude's changed.