Naps in the sling - is this a bad habit, has anybody broken it?

[claireh29]

So my lo (4 weeks) has stopped falling asleep feeding for the most part. She doesn't have much awake time yet, feeding seems to tire her out.

If she falls asleep feeding after a 10 minute cuddle I can put her down and she sleep happily for a couple of hours but if she doesn't I have to put her in the sling and she is asleep with 10 minutes.

I wanted to her to self settle but after much reading and chatting it's seems babies this young can't self settle. I can't leave her to cry, I can't stand rock her for an hour (have a 3.5yr) so I have resorted to the sling, I can get all jobs done and play with my son.

What age is it acceptable to teach them to self settle? Not to let them cry but let them winge and give a cuddle when needed?

For some reason she won't transfer from sling to basket will transfer from arms.

Thanks

[trimbler]

Hey there, slings are wonderful Ok so I know that Tracy said to start as you mean to go on, and it's certainly not too early to start laying some good foundations, but in order to get things done and spend time with your older LO, slings really can be invaluable. What we did with DD was to let her have all naps in the sling at that age, except for just one - for us it was her third nap, since that didn't clash with preschool drop-off or collection. I'd let DS have screen time then (not that you have to do that, of course, but don't feel guilty if you do end up resorting to that - it's not for ever and plenty of us have done it!), whilst I worked on getting DD to sleep in her cot using shh pat. I also used shh pat at BT, since DH was generally home by then so I wasn't leaving DS alone. Shh pat can be used right from the start, you can even use it as LO falls asleep and even into deep sleep if necessary at first, but I'd start by seeing how little you can get away with, you might be surprised And don't worry if progress seems to be slow, eventually you will be able to do less and less shh pat until she's falling asleep without your help.

What we did is that around 4mo, when the A time was a bit longer and it actually became practical to have more naps at home, we switched things around and she only had one nap in the sling (so DS could go to the park) and that allowed us to be more consistent with sleep training, that's when she started making much more progress and I didn't have to help her so much.

Have a read of this, if you haven't already: Shush-pat - How to

[lily_layne]

I did much the same as trimbler with LO2 and really had no trouble getting DS to sleep independently when he was ready.

[claireh29]

Thanks. It makes me feel better about it knowing others have done the same.

It's just a shame that at the moment she sleeps so contently the sling but when it comes to bed time she grunts, whines and stirs - she is only little and her tummy is still developing.

[lily_layne]

she is only little and her tummy is still developing.

Exactly. It's just tough when you're low on energy and LO is having trouble settling at the end of the day. I sometimes used the swing at bedtime when DS was unsettled.

[Fifilottie]

I put my DS in a sling often when he was that age. I also had a school run to contend with and It helped establish a pattern for his sleep and to make sure he got the sleep he needed when he started to fight it. 4 weeks is tiny though, there is still  so so much time yet. Mine now won't sleep in his sling, just his cot so it won't be forever. I started shh pat at about 7 or 8 weeks. It took me months of this until I could just leave him. Started to SS at about 5.5 months. .ha he now only SS for BT and morning nap. .but I wouldn't worry too much about using a sling. It is a habit that can go. .enjoy the closeness and convenience x