Baby naps in swing AKA Prisoner in my own home

[maggiemmm]

Hello!

This is my fiirst post. Yay!

So, I am the mother of a 7 week baby girl who will only take naps in her swing.  Last week, I started putting her down for a nap after about just over an hour of wakefulness (as suggested on http://www.troublesometots.com/), which is great because she has much fewer meltdowns now that she is getting more sleep (duh). However, my question/issue is this...

I feel tethered to this swing. How am I supposed to leave the house and do things and have a life (and by "life" I mean go to the grocery store, run to the bank, etc.) if she is only up and out of the swing for an hour and a half at most? She nurses half of that time, also. She is a very reluctant sleeper and doesn't fall asleep in the car or stroller reliably or for any real lenth of time AND she only lets her dad wear her, though I am still working on that with her. Do I just have to accept a meldown in order to get anything done?

Any advice would be very well appreciated. Thank you!

-Nicole

[lovemylab]

My dd only use to fall asleep in my arms nursing... But to do errands she was plenty happy to be the ergo carrier. Sometime she would fall asleep but usually she liked to look around. It's tough when they are nursing all the time and sleeping when you want to get some stuff done. Do you have a sling or carrier? You could try nursing in that at home first see if that would work for you.

[Quinalla]

My DD was like this, except she wanted to fall asleep in my lap/arms always and she also tended to nurse for long periods so I too felt like I couldn't get out of the house without a meltdown either. Finally, I just started doing it, keeping the trips short, close to home and unimportant so I could just go home if needed. She didn't like the carseat either so that didn't help! A few times I gave up and went home, but most of the time I could get 15-20 minutes of no crying as long as we were moving most of the time. So at least I could go get a few things at the grocery store or baby store or whatever. She was a winter baby, so we couldn't really go outside much, but if she hadn't been I would have tried brief walks outside with her too either in a stroller/carrier or just in arms.

[maggiemmm]

Thanks for the advice!

I guess I just need to stop being afraid of having my baby cry in public and just go for it.  I tried the Ergo and the Bjorn again. Both worked! She seemed to like the Ergo more, as did I, so I think I'll keep working with that one. I'll have to look up how to feed her while wearing it, because she seems a bit high up for that. She is huge, however, and is growning like crazy after coming out 11 pounds! Hopefully she isn't too big to nurse in it, because that is something she is almost ALWAYS happy to do :)

[lovemylab]

Glad to hear the carrier is working. There are a few u tube videos that help with nursing positioning.

[maggiemmm]

yes, i did check out those videos. thanks! i actually ended up meeting a friend at a restaurant today... right when DD was due for a nap. gasp! everything went perfectly well and she ended up passing on my chest once she got fussy. unheard of! amazing!
 

[lovemylab]

So happy for you!!!