Need help getting co-sleeping baby to nap independently

[mom2e]

Any ideas on this? My 5 month old dd and I co-sleep at night. For naps, she's been sleeping for 45-60 minutes in the Moby Wrap (on me) in the morning, and I sleep with her for an afternoon nap. Evening nap is just a catnap on me or dh, although I'm guessing that nap will disappear soon. The problem is I can't keep up the morning nap in the Moby (my back won't take it much longer). I'm already plopping my 4 y.o. dd in front of Sesame Street and Clifford for the afternoon nap (which I really hate doing-- she watched no tv at all until the baby was born). If I lay the 5 month old down by herself, she's up within 10-20 minutes. Any ideas would be appreciated!

[Louisep]

The only thing that worked for us was the Amby Hammock. DS used it from about 3.5 months and would take naps in it. He stopped using the hammock at 5.5. months - sadly, because it was great! But he somehow managed to roll over in it to lie on his stomach. Anyway, since the Amby he will nap on his own, but only catnap for 40 minutes (I know, better than 20!). Have you tried swings etc? My DS hated them but some love them.

[Maluhia]

Maybe a hammock like Louise suggests or a swing? My DD slept longer in a swing than without me.

[jmo]

Originally Posted by mom2e

Any ideas on this? My 5 month old dd and I co-sleep at night. For naps, she's been sleeping for 45-60 minutes in the Moby Wrap (on me) in the morning, and I sleep with her for an afternoon nap. Evening nap is just a catnap on me or dh, although I'm guessing that nap will disappear soon. The problem is I can't keep up the morning nap in the Moby (my back won't take it much longer). I'm already plopping my 4 y.o. dd in front of Sesame Street and Clifford for the afternoon nap (which I really hate doing-- she watched no tv at all until the baby was born). If I lay the 5 month old down by herself, she's up within 10-20 minutes. Any ideas would be appreciated!

This is exactly my issue too. My ds is 7 mos and never taken a solo nap longer than 20 mins or so. I wear him in the ergo for naps now. It's easier on the back than a moby. I also have a 4 yo dd and I totally feel like I'm neglecting her spending so much time trying to get ds to go to and stay asleep. It's frustrating.

[mom2e]

I tried the Amby (a friend had given me one-- thank goodness I didn't pay for it myself and then not really use it!) as well as a bouncy chair. Nothing really works. Maybe it is something she just has to get older to be able to do. THat was how it was with my older dd. Thanks for your thoughts!

[snt88]

dd1 was like this, and I tried staying really nearby when I thought she would wake up (at 10 minutes and 30 minutes) so I could help her get back to sleep before she fully woke up. It wasn't a magic fix - but it helped. It got gradually easier to get her back to sleep until sometimes she would sleep longer by herself.

By the way, I got the idea from "The No Cry Sleep Solution." There's a section on short nappers.

[starling&diesel]

What snt88 said ... we do something like that too.
We have a double foam mattress on the floor in DD's room that we use for naps. I nurse her to sleep, and then I hang out while she naps. Read, work on the computer, nap myself. This wouldn't necessarily work if you have another child though. Does she sleep on you at night? If so, is she beside you then, but not on you? If so, then she can learn to nap in the same fashion, right? This was my thinking with my DD, and it's worked. She will wake up after a while, but if I'm there to notice her stirring, then I can nurse/cuddle her back to sleep. Good luck, mama!

[Shanny2032]

My dd - 11 months now naps during the day in a car seat swing. It's a frame -made by graco - that you drop the car seat into and it swings it away. I take her to work with me so I really can't nap with her (no one would care but I have to get stuff done!). On the weekends I lay down with her but can leave once she is asleep and she sleeps pretty well. Less than an hour and I can usually nurse her back to sleep. She sleeps MUCH better in the car seat swing than anything else and I have no idea what I am going to do when she outgrows it. She has already moved up to a toddler car seat so I just leave the whole thing at work now. It originally started because she had reflux as a newborn but it has worked wonders for us. They are about $60 but I bought 2 on craigslist for about $15-20 each. It was so great for all those months when she would fall asleep in the car and I would just bring her in and drop the seat in the frame and she would stay asleep. So far today she is entering her 5th hour of napping (not straight, 3 this morning over 1 this afternoon). Can't recommend it enough and since it's not a safety issue I plan to keep her in it past the "22 pound" limit it has when used as a car seat. Hoping it will get us to a point when she can sleep on a mattress by herself.

[jennmiller]

My DD slept only on me until she was over a year old. I tried everything I could think of and quickly realized that trying to get her to sleep by herself at such a young age just wasn't worth the trouble for me. She was my first so I rented myself every old movie I could find and made a permanent dent in my couch. Obviously, realizing that this period in our lives was going to be very brief in the grand spectrum of things really helped a lot. What also helped was an Ergo baby carrier. I used that thing every single day until DD reached 50 lbs. It took the weight off my back so that I could do something besides sit down while DD napped. Also, I did purchase an Amby baby hammock when DD was about 4 mos. I wasn't able to transfer her to it and keep her asleep until she was about a year old, but boy! When I was able to put her in it....she would sleep for 3 hours straight!!!! I felt like the universe was rewarding me for all the time I put in with her. She kept that up until she was 3 years old and finally outgrew the weight limit on the heavy spring. I finally got the hang of transferring her to the Amby when I nursed her in a lightweight sling (like the mama baby wrap), loosened it almost all the way when she fell asleep then transfered her to the Amby with her still in the sling. When she got older I didn't have a problem transferring her from nursing without the sling to the Amby. I'm really interested in hearing what works for you, as I am expecting DC#2 in June and am having fears about how we'll be able to handle naps with my 5yo and a NB.

[justice'smom]

I love this forum so much because I can come on here and always find exactly what I'm dealing with. Thank you to the poster for starting this thread.
I have two older sons and my 6 month old. He takes 3 naps on me during the day. The first is right after ds 1 goes to school. Ds2 and 3 and I come home and sit down to a cartoon while ds 3 takes a nap. Then a few hours later we all go take a nap together. Then after ds1 gets home from school it's another cartoon or movie and another nap on me. I also have the hammock, but it doesn't work except for a few hours at night. I love the time I get with ds3 and use the time to read a good book. However like most of you have said, I hate that my older two are watching tv and I'm spending no time with them. I keep telling myself that this will only last for so long, but if there are any suggestions I am up for taking them.

[mamazee]

Around 5 to 6 months, I started putting dd to bed by herself, in my big bed where we cosleep, and then setting up a monitor so I could hear as soon as she woke up, so she wouldn't crawl off the bed or something. At first, she'd only sleep for a short while there, like 20 or 30 minutes, but now (9 months) she'll sleep for an hour and a half to two hours there. I never left her to cry and always went in immediately when she woke up, before she even started to cry, so there was no CIO. But it did take a while of consistently putting her down there alone and putting up with a short nap in bed. When she'd wake up, I'd either nurse her back to sleep in bed and leave again, or take her out to the family room and nurse her and let her sleep on me here. It depended on how she was when she woke up. Tired but not distressed = nurse back to sleep in bed. Distressed = sleep the rest of nap time on my lap.


Edited to add: this would never have worked with #1, but maybe it's a possibility in your situation.