How do you soothe your baby for naps, and how long does it typically take?

[Blanca78]

Just curious what methods work for others. DD is 12 weeks and right now I mostly just rock/sing to her. It's hard on my back because she will only let me rock/bounce her standing up, but doesn't take too long--15-20 minutes, usually.

[Marissamom]

I usually just nurse my baby to sleep

[WifeofAnt]

Swing, nursing, and rarely he'll go to sleep on his own.  His favorite by far is nursing but its getting harder to get him to take naps.  I miss the newborn stage where he slept all day, lol.

[mamapigeon]

Nursing and rocking here. I'm having same problems with back pain from rocking.

[JTA Mom]

Nursing while side lying.

It can take up to 30 min. If it takes longer, he's not sleepy, so I pick him up and we go back to playing. It's definitely getting harder now that he's older--all those new things to see and do! lol

Ami

[Jayray]

Mine typically won't nurse or rock to sleep.  I can't really believe it since that's all I did with my first.  So we pat/shush to sleep after rocking and singing a little.  (So I lay him down and pat his butt while shushing until he's calm--he usually fusses for about a minute--then pat until he's asleep.) 

For naps it usually doesn't take more than 5-10 minutes if I've read his cues well.  For nighttime it takes a bit longer...10-15 minutes, maybe.  Not including the rocking/singing.

[Blanca78]

Yeah, I'm really working at getting better at reading her cues, and trying not to be frustrated when it doesn't always work out. For three days last week it was a dream--I would think, "She seems tired," swaddle and rock her, and bam, she was out. But the last couple days she's fighting it. I think at this age (12 weeks today) there are so many changes happening consistency isn't realistic, but would be nice!

[gumshoegirl007]

We're trying to keep our sleep routines as varied as possible.  Sometimes she naps in her carrier (ergo or maya wrap), sometimes she nurses to sleep and naps in my arms, in the past few weeks we've started to put her in her pack 'n play, crib or bassinet to sleep.  I can sing her to sleep or she's even gone to sleep on her own when she's out of arms.  She also will sleep if I lay her down beside me on the couch or in our bed. 

The only set sleep routine we have is at night.  She gets a bath, then we change her into a nighttime diaper and burrito wrap her, and then she falls asleep in my arms with her binky in her mouth.  Sometimes she nurses first, sometimes not, but she always needs to comfort suck, and then we set her in between us for the night. 

[Blanca78]

That sounds really nice, Gumshoegirl. We aren't quite there with a bedtime routine yet. Well, DH reads to her and then I give her a massage if she's not too frantically hungry, then generally nurse her to sleep, swaddle her (lately with one arm out because she likes to suck her fist) and then rock her a bit more, then put her in the crib.

For naps it's been fairly varied, I guess, though not necessarily by design. She sleeps on me sometimes, sometimes in swing (though she's not a huge fan), sometimes in the car if that's how it works out, but for the morning nap she's generally been in the crib and if we're home I'm trying to get her used to sleeping in there more during the day. Part of it is just that the crib is the only place I feel safe leaving her if I have to run down to the basement to get the laundry or something, and it's quieter than the rest of the apartment.

As I write this she is very calm and sleepy and swaddled, and DH is trying to soothe her to sleep for the night--it seemed like a good night to get her more used to him rocking her sometimes. But that's another story.

[tzs]

ugh....i feel like i'm messing her up for bad habits but i just stick the newborn in the swing while i deal with the toddler and then transfer her to the crib once i get a chance and she's good and asleep. otherwise i pop her i the sling and do the same thing. only at night if it's pretty late and she's good and tired and i have a chunk of time to dedicate to it can i nurse her side-lying and have her sleep. 

i'm hoping things fall into a better routine as she gets older but for now it works.

[sunwise]

We always nurse (side-lying) to sleep (for nighttime and naps). I would like to vary the routine a little more, but at DS's age (11 months) he is so mobile and easily distracted that the only time I can get him to nurse well is when he is tired. At his age I rely loosely on a "schedule" for naps, in addition to reading his cues - I know he needs two naps a day and I put him down for the first one about 2.5-3 hours after waking regardless of how he is acting. And then another one roughly three hours after he wakes up (again, regardless of how he acts). It is actually easiest for me to get him down for naps if I decide to put him down before I see any of his sleep cues.

I would say it takes me about 5-10 minutes to nurse him down for a nap if I catch the timing right.

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by tzs 

ugh....i feel like i'm messing her up for bad habits but i just stick the newborn in the swing while i deal with the toddler and then transfer her to the crib once i get a chance and she's good and asleep. otherwise i pop her i the sling and do the same thing. only at night if it's pretty late and she's good and tired and i have a chunk of time to dedicate to it can i nurse her side-lying and have her sleep. 

i'm hoping things fall into a better routine as she gets older but for now it works.

I don't think you are messing her up at all! If she is happy with it, it's okay. Some babies need lots of movement to wind down. Plus you have another little one to take care of. Having 2 has its own learning curve. I'm still figuring it out a bit and I have a 10 month old.

[TheDivineMrsM]

Originally Posted by Marissamom 

I usually just nurse my baby to sleep

Same. I nurse her and rock her in a glider, and she's (usually) down for the count. If we get really ambitious, I'll put on some soft music (DD is a big Beatles fan). 

[ahimsamom]

I also nursed my daughter in the sidelying position at 12 weeks...sometimes it would take a while (about 30-45 minutes). Now at 8.5 months, she hardly ever wants to nurse to sleep. We generally now just walk/sway her to sleep in our ergo carrier to some nice calm music.

[CookAMH]

This may not fit at all and may only be something that works for us, but my DD (14 weeks) had a lot of tension built up and was hard to settle at times. We also had a lot of nursing issues surrounding tongue-tie. I implemented crying-in-arms for her to release a lot of tension and frustration from the fast birth and early weeks of life. I felt like for *her*, the bouncing, shushing, offering paci, wasn't helping her. Like how we all need a good cry sometimes to let go of stress. While the first two times were the longest (30 min) and specific to releasing built up tension,  I have noticed that at least once a day, when I rock her for a nap, I need to let her just fuss and cry for maybe 10-30 sec in my relaxed arms and then she'll readily take paci and settle to sleep. Otherwise, I'm bouncing and shushing and patting to get her to take paci and fall asleep. It's like she needs to vent and complain, then she can be at rest.

[remymom]

Lately I usually nurse my 6 mo old son to sleep. It's the way that takes the least effort and is the fastest. I'm just concerned it might be a bad habit.... I'll be starting some evening classes this Fall so my husband will be putting him to sleep twice a week. Usually he can put him to sleep with a bottle and some singing. I'm hoping all goes well otherwise I'll be feeling a lot of motherly guilt...

[Blanca78]

I think the path of least resistance is a wise one. I nurse to sleep not all the time but much of the time for naps, and pretty much all the time for nights. However, I get your worries--right now I'm trying to let DH put her to sleep and writing this in order to keep myself from rushing in there and taking over. If your DH is already successful at putting him to sleep, though, I'm sure things will be fine!
 

Originally Posted by remymom 

Lately I usually nurse my 6 mo old son to sleep. It's the way that takes the least effort and is the fastest. I'm just concerned it might be a bad habit.... I'll be starting some evening classes this Fall so my husband will be putting him to sleep twice a week. Usually he can put him to sleep with a bottle and some singing. I'm hoping all goes well otherwise I'll be feeling a lot of motherly guilt...

[~Amy~]

If he happens to be hungry at the same time he's tired, we nurse.  Usually takes 5-10 minutes and I can get up or put him in the playpen if we were nursing in the rocking chair.  If he's not hungry, he prefers a paci to nursing.  If I catch the sleepy-but-not-overtired window, I can lay him down in the playpen with the paci and he'll be out in 5 minutes or so.

[Blanca78]

Our babies are almost the same age (mine was born 4/24/11)! She nurses down really quickly, too, but is not a huge fan of the paci. Sometimes she'll take it but mostly seems confused/indifferent. I'm still working on catching the sleepy-but-not-overtired window (it's so fleeting!). Occasionally she'll fall asleep if I lay her down awake but not very often for naps.
 

Originally Posted by ~Amy~ 

If he happens to be hungry at the same time he's tired, we nurse.  Usually takes 5-10 minutes and I can get up or put him in the playpen if we were nursing in the rocking chair.  If he's not hungry, he prefers a paci to nursing.  If I catch the sleepy-but-not-overtired window, I can lay him down in the playpen with the paci and he'll be out in 5 minutes or so.