my baby will only nap ON me...anyone else??

[Mrs.Chappy]

DS2 (colicky) will only nap on me and sleep in the bed beside me.. at noght he sleeps so its fine for now... I know they say to put them to nap where they sleep and try new things during daytime only.. BUT he will 'sense' i'm not there and get up. 7 wks is a bit early to sleep train. I'm exhausted. The routine this week has been

was up around 6; feed; happy time; try nap in crib..swaddled.. he gets so hysterical i have to calm him by swaying..then put him in a peanut sling where he will lsleep for 1-2 hrs..

my back hurts which is why i ordered a new sling.. when that fails the bjorn works... thats it...no swing, car seat (screams too much and cant settle)...do i just have to wait this fussy/colic pd out??

[mcgwigan]

Yep, sounds familiar! I just went ahead and took naps with my baby every afternoon from about 1-4 if I could! I was able to get him to take short naps in the swing or pac-n-play for a little while, but he really needed that long nap in the afternoon - and so did I! I'm working now, so he goes to the baby sitter's now. He was napping in the car seat and now I would like to get him out of that and this week he has taken a few naps in the swing for her. On the weekends though, I have a hard time getting him to nap lately (he's 4 months) so I don't really know what advise to give you since I'm basically having the same problem still. I like my weekend naps!

[PookiePrincess]

The naps will come.

My DD was the same way. She would hardly ever nap during the day unless she slept on me or unless we napped together in bed. It was a nice way for me to get some extra sleep, but she eventually grew out of it (maybe between 8-10 weeks) and started to nap on her own. Now she takes lots of short cat naps during the day and has started a one hour nap in the afternoon, but she will nap on her own. I just think it comes with age. He was so used to being with you all the time that being on the outside is an adjustment.

[Mrs.Chappy]

how did you go about it?? where did u put her? was she awake when put down?

[Asha]

My dd would only sleep/nap on top of me during the first five months of her life. Since I wasn't working out of the house or had another child to take care of, I let her sleep that way. I tried a few times to get her to sleep on her own and she was clearly traumatized by it. I would either nap myself, watch t.v., or read a book. It wasn't really that bad when I look back on it bc I got a chance to take a break myself. Sleep is really imp't to a baby, so as long as they are sleeping, it doesn't really matter where.

There's hope it won't always be like that. Dd is now ten months and takes two consistent naps on her own. She still has trouble sleeping at night on her own, but at least she's not on top of me anymore. I'd suggest getting one of those husband pillows for your bed, so its more comfortable for you when she is sleeping on your chest.

[PookiePrincess]

how did you go about it?? where did u put her? was she awake when put down?

Honestly, she would sit in her bouncy seat and just put herself to sleep when she got tired. It just kind of happened. Sometimes she would sleep in her pack and play or her crib and usually for those naps I could tell she was sleepy and would rock her a bit and then put her down. There were times that I would put her down and she'd wake right up, so the bouncy seat was a godsend for me! Though, she did go through a very fussy stage from about week 6 to about 10-12 weeks, so I was glad for the naps during the day. Starting around 4 she'd cry off and on until she went to bed at 8:30.

[Niner]

Me, me, me! My DD is 4 months old and has gotten into the habit of only napping on me. It's all a blur of how we got here, but here we are and I would really like to transition her to napping in her crib. She usually take 3 naps a day - a 2 hour one in the morning and two 1 hour naps in the afternoon. To make matters worse, she only nurses to sleep (although she will fall asleep in her stroller or in the car). So she falls asleep on me and when I put her down in the crib she startles right away, starts crying, and wakes right up. I used to be able to get her into the crib at night for the first few stretches (she's up every two hours at this point), but I started trying to put her in the crib for naps and it ruined the night time routine so now she wakes up immediately then as well! So at night she'll just sleep next to me in bed. Help please! Asha, how did you get your daughter to nap on her own???

[Asha]

Me, me, me! My DD is 4 months old and has gotten into the habit of only napping on me. It's all a blur of how we got here, but here we are and I would really like to transition her to napping in her crib. She usually take 3 naps a day - a 2 hour one in the morning and two 1 hour naps in the afternoon. To make matters worse, she only nurses to sleep (although she will fall asleep in her stroller or in the car). So she falls asleep on me and when I put her down in the crib she startles right away, starts crying, and wakes right up. I used to be able to get her into the crib at night for the first few stretches (she's up every two hours at this point), but I started trying to put her in the crib for naps and it ruined the night time routine so now she wakes up immediately then as well! So at night she'll just sleep next to me in bed. Help please! Asha, how did you get your daughter to nap on her own???
She just started doing it on her own. I think having slept on me the whole time allowed her to feel a sense of trust in me, and I think that sense of trust just built up over time where she was comfortable sleeping on her own. I didn't train her to sleep on her own. One day she just started making herself fall off me bc I suppose she just wasn't comfortable anymore on top of me. Once she would fall off me, she could sleep next to me. Once she started consistently sleeping next to me not on me. I would leave the bed so she could sleep on her own. At first, she would scream hysterically when she woke up from her naps and I wasn't there, but now she is all smiles when she wakes up from her nap bc she knows I will be in very shortly after she starts "talking." She started consistently sleeping on her own for naps after about 5 months. It wasn't until about 9 mos that she had a consistent nap time, and that she just did on her own too. Now at 10 mos, she sleeps on her own in her own room in her own bed for about half the night. When she wakes up for her nighttime feeding, I go in the room and sleep the rest of the night with her.

I had to let a lot of things go on how I planned on raising dd when she came along. I had no plans on cosleeping and I am very into having a set schedule. Dd is quite high needs, and it just wasn't possible to do things the way I had planned. I am so glad that I wasn't rigid about sticking to my plans bc dd is such a happy and bright baby. Such a difference from the newborn who screamed most of the day. Yes, I was so touched out from it all, but I wouldn't change a thing on how I handled dd in her early infancy. I literally held her 24/7, nursed her almost ever hour, and it was really what she needed.

[Ericka_Jarett]

How about putting a shirt near the baby that you wore so that your scent is there, maybe that will help.

[Niner]

Thank you both for your replies. I've started nursing her in our bed and transferring her to sleep next to me for naps. She's not napping for very long, but she's not waking instantly like when I transfer her to the crib. I think she does like having my scent near her when she sleeps. I'll keep this up for about a week and then gradually try to transfer her to the crib (with a mommy scented cuddly) once she's more comfortable sleeping freely. Wish me luck!

[bensgirl1222]

DS would only nap on me the first few months of life. He didnt start taking regular naps in his crib until he was 6 months old. Just do what you have to do to survive!

[Angie]

Mrs. Chappy, here is a link to a post I had created 2.5 months ago, your story is almost identical to mine:
http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40957

Please know that I'm not posting that trying to say 'you should have searched' or anything like that!!! I just wanted to link to it so you could read my experience first hand from when it was happening (not my recollection of it several months later) plus there is some great advice in there that I received.

Also, I am happy to report that I am replying to your message as my now 5 month old DD is happily napping in her crib! :D I don't have a whole lot of advice for you because our turning point was when DD found her thumb at around 3 months old. She then learned to self soothe and put herself to sleep on her own. She no longer 'needed' me to soothe her by being next to her.

Hang in there! I know it's hard but know that before you know it this will be a distant memory.