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12-16-2012 at 8:49 PM
abadab
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Joined on 12-24-2010
514 Points
abadab is not online. Last active: 04-20-2013, 9:44 PMNewbie

nap in crib without drama

I have a 10 month old daughter, with whom I cosleep (I'm a single mama by choice).  I love cosleeping and don't plan to change that till she seems ready.  I would, however, like her to nap in her crib.  She sleeps in a pack-n-play at daycare twice a day with minimal drama (actually, there were ZERO tears regarding that until recently).  However, for me it's entirely different.  Even if she falls asleep nursing and I move her to the crib, the moment she touches the mattress she's awake and pissed!  I don't want to let her cry, but I usually end up being the one crying when she won't nap anywhere but on me or in the car.  Suggestions?  (I will be the first to admit that I haven't read ANY of the books on this subject.  Seriously - I don't know when people find the time to read!)
 
12-16-2012 at 11:44 PM
StellaMake...
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Joined on 12-07-2011
4,637 Points
StellaMakes3 is not online. Last active: 06-18-2013, 9:41 PMNewbie

We don't cosleep anymore, but when we started making the transition it took us awhile to get naps right!! A few things I found helpful initially were white noise machines, and good light-blocking drapes. Her room is dark, comfy, and we have the gentle giraffe. Sometimes we use our iPods as well.

One thing that we still do at 16 months is rocking DD to sleep- completely, totally, zonked out asleep before we put her down.  Then we just ease her into the bed. We never got down with the "drowsy but still awake". If she wakes up, we stay in the room with her, but leave her in her crib.

We usually lay on the floor by her crib & pretend to be asleep ourselves, and she'll play a bit, then lay down & go back to sleep. At first, she would call to me, so I would calmly talk to her & explain, "this is nap/bedtime, and we need to rest now. So Mommy's going to lay here, and you can lay in your bed. Good Night." Sometimes we'd sing to her, or give her a little toy to play with. It doesn't always work- but with some practice you can find what works for you! I know some mommas just put their heads down on the side of the crib, or sit back in the rocker, so baby knows they're not alone.

 

Now she happily sleeps in her crib & seems to prefer it to our old cosleeping routine- and we still rock her every nap & every bed time.

 

If she's in daycare though, I might be curious what they're doing to put her down for a nap while she's there- because perhaps the environment is different & that's why she's struggling at home?


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12-17-2012 at 11:11 AM
aglenn
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Joined on 07-01-2003
Bellevue, WA
10,899 Points
aglenn is not online. Last active: 06-18-2013, 6:37 PMSilver

Both of my kids have done the exact same thing.  It is SOOOO frustrating!  They will put themselves to sleep in a crib at daycare and nap for 1.5 - 2 hours.  At home they barely nap 30 minutes if I manage to get them into the crib at all.  Apparently they expect a different level of service from mama....

I obviously do not have a solution to the crib thing, except that I keep trying in hopes that it will become routine and DS will start napping better in there.  For times when I absolutely can't take it any more and need him to have an independent nap, what works best is for me to nurse him to sleep on a mattress on the floor and then sneak away.  


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