Gentle wake-up from solo napping--How???

[red and lulu]

FINALLY dd is starting to allow me to put her down for naps (finally she's napping at all). She's taking at least one solid 1.5 hr nap a day, sometimes two! But, this means that I'm putting her down on the bed and then leaving the room, so even though I check on her constantly, a lot of the time I don't catch her waking up until she's screaming.

Should I try to stay with her in the same room? Would a baby monitor
help? I don't know how sensitive they are, if I'd hear her rustling. She's such a happy, content baby that I hate for her to wake up so upset... I feel like it's counterproductive to what I'm trying to do by bedsharing...

Also, anyone else put their lo's down to nap on their tummies? It's ok once they're older, right (dd is 5 mo)

[Italiamom]

I can't really offer much advice here. DS is a TERRIBLE napper. I'm always so happy to hear that other mamas have success. It gives me hope...

But as for tummy sleep, I'll sometimes put DS to sleep on his belly and I'm perfectly okay with doing that. He seems to sleep a little longer that way, as it's a harder position for him to try and rub his eyes/face in. He's 8 months now, and I believe we started trying tummy sleeping sometimes around 4 months. More or less, if your LO seems to sleep well that way, I'd say go for it!

[aet.tea]

Congratulations on getting DD to nap!

I would say that yes, a baby monitor would probably help. My DD naps by herself; we have a monitor so I can hear her when she makes her quiet squeaky sounds that signal to me that she's awake, and I go right in and nurse her while she's still a little drowsy (otherwise she won't nurse until the next time she's sleepy). Then she wakes up fully and we play.

Enjoy your newly found "you" time!

[YayJennie]

I would definitely buy a baby monitor. We have a really cheap one (I think it was 20 bucks), but we can still hear even minor rustling and I can tell when my son is about to wake up by the noises his movement makes. The cheap one we have sometimes picks up weird static and isn't the greatest quality, but for the time we use it it's great, and was cheap, so it works for us!

Oh and I was comfortable putting my son to sleep on his tummy when he could easily roll from front to back and back to front. I think that was closer to 6 months for him, but it depends on the baby.