Is this making a bad habit?

[gwc1023]

My daughter is 9 weeks old and is actually sleeping really well so far (compared to my older one, lol).  She's on about a 3hr EASY schedule, and goes down for her naps awake and falls asleep on her own in her bassinet.  She will often wake up too early from her naps, after around an hour or so (although the timing is not at all consistent) and it's hard to get her settled again.  I've been putting her in the swing at that point which puts her back to sleep until it would be time to eat again.  On days we just stay home she's much better at her naps, and days that we were out in the morning and she didn't get a proper uninterrupted nap then, the rest of the day she's harder to settle and I usually end up doing the swing for part of her naps for the rest of the day.

Also it seems like after her early morning feeding (around 5ish) she gets really gassy and is very fussy in her bed, and I've ocassionally put her in the swing then as well.

Is this getting her into a bad habit I'm going to regret later or is it okay since she is always going to sleep by herself in her bed (and does resettle herself sometimes after these awakenings)?  We got into other bad habits with our son and he was an awful sleeper for quite a while and i want to do better this time.  I'm thinking she's still very young and doing what you gotta do is better than having her routine totally thrown off by short naps and just getting crankier and crankier as the day goes on.

[kate585]

I believe that could be considered using a prop.  IMO, if you only do it very rarely, it wouldn't be a big deal.  If you find yourself doing it often, I'd try something else.  Hopefully one of the mom with more experience can give you more info.  Good luck!!!

[Jaime]

i think you could go in either direction at this point.

the swing could definitely become a prop - and you'd have to break the habit later.  i would focus more on why she is waking early.  it sounds like she may be having the 45-minute problem - waking at that light phase of sleep.  if that is the case, there are tons of posts in the nap forum to help.  course, if she is waking happy... that's a whole other ball game!! 

also, you may want to consider limiting the errands you try & run during naptime until you've really got her sleeping patterns well ingrained.  as best as you can anyhow, since you have a toddler too!