I have a 3.5 month old and he sleeps in his cot at night but we contact nap during the day because naps in his cot are very short (20-45mins) and he’s prone to overtiredness. I’m ok with it for now but it doesn’t feel sustainable long term (I’d like to be able to sleep too or do some stretching, housework etc) so I’m wondering if there is
A) a particular age where babies might be more ready to nap independently for longer if nursed to sleep and transferred
B) a best nap/time of the day to attempt this
@eric2015 My baby contact napped exclusively till 9mo. Now I can transfer for his first nap it’s anywhere from 30-90min. He does another small 30 min contact nap in the arvo. He’s 11mo.
I can never really get anything major done in nap time as I sit and eat first then might do something. It’s better to learn ways to do things while they’re awake/when partner gets home
@eric2015 We also contact napped (nighttime sleep in the cot) until 9 months, when I went back to work. My husband had 3 months off, and mostly did cot naps, or at least the first part of the nap in the cot. But it was another month or two before my son would let me transfer him to the cot. He’s 16 months now and falls asleep on me but wants to toss and turn so contact naps aren’t so possible anymore - that phase goes so quickly!
@eric2015 Pleasure. My son has low sleep needs so I guess I’m saying don’t expect they’ll one day sleep more, I know how bloody hard it is though.
I used to ask people that same question and they’d say keep trying. It would cause me stress to try and transfer all the time and lose the nap though so I’d enjoy the cuddles a bit longer.
One day I had to work and left him on our bed with my husband and he slept so well I thought maybe he’s ready and he was. It’s been life changing to have at least 30 mins for a solo cuppa.
Also getting good at getting things done will help when solids come in. It’s a big job.
@srm332 Thankyou.
My son also has low sleep needs. It’s not so much that I want him to sleep more, just to make sure I’m not interrupting the naps he would have on me by trying to transfer him all the time before he’s ready.
@eric2015 We just started with ny 5 month old, we usually try for one nap a day and contact nap for the other 2/3. She usually has a false start and I have to go back and either rock her/nurse her back to sleep but then we can get 45-1.5 hour nap!
@eric2015 I wanted to be able to take a shower but I could only really do so if my husband was home, otherwise even I had her in the bathroom with me she would end up crying like 5 mins in so I would get out. I really wanted a full length shower not at 6 pm or a weekend lol. Her best nap is usually the first of the day (usually between 9-11ish) and I gave it a shot one day and she napped for an hour and a half. It doesn’t always work out but I needed just a little time to work on self care for my mental health!
@eric2015 We attempted transfers on the first nap of the day around 4 months, with like a 90% fail rate. Our dude was not a great independent sleeper so it kind of depended on where my mental health was that day, honestly, if I felt like I had it in me to have an unsuccessful transfer then we’d try but if not I’d just try to enjoy/accept the contact nap instead.
Daycare was a huge catalyst to when transfers started to work because he got used to it with people he didn’t want to cuddle as much as mom/dad. So then he’d be used to the transfer process when we started trying at home more consistently.
I’d say (arbitrarily) around 6 months we had a 60% chance of success for a transfer on the first nap, 8 months about 75%, 10 months was a 90% chance on the first nap (20% on the second), now at 12 months it’s 100% chance of success on the transfer for his nap. Successful nighttime crib transfers happened much more often than naps did starting around 6 months.
@triqquuee Can totally relate with it being dependent on your mental health as to whether or not you’ll try to transfer! Do you think it’s partly developmental as well as daycare helping?
@eric2015 1000% developmental and based on temperament. I asked a friend how old her baby was when he finally started to like the bassinet (I was probably 6 weeks postpartum and my baby HATED being on his back because of silent reflux) and she said “he liked it from the day we got home”. My mind was b l o w n.
@eric2015 I surprised myself, being a ftm happy to soak in all the snuggles. But I was curious… so I slowly attempted to put her down at 4.5 months. If she woke up, I picked her up and we tried again same time next day. Now I can contact nap or put her down.
