Naptime routines

[Deleted]

So LO is getting too big for the Rock n Play, and we are trying to transition to the crib for naps (she already sleeps like a champ at night in the crib).  So far - utter failure.  The ladies at daycare have had some success, but at home we can't make it happen.  What are you dressing LO in for naps? If I put a blanket or a sleepsack on her that automatically becomes a toy. 

[cdseno]

I don't put Max in anything special for naps, but he doesn't usually sleep in a sleepsack at night either. It took a while for him to start napping well in the crib or pack and play, but sometimes he goes 2 hours now. He has easier to read tired cues now, so I look for him to start getting fussier and rubbing his eyes and then I know he is ready. If I put him down before, he will scream for a long time and not give in, but if I wait for his cues, he still cries, but I know it is just his way of getting to sleep. He nurses first usually, then I sing him a song, put him down, and leave the room. Honestly, he has always cried a lot to get to sleep, but when we transitioned him, it was slightly more crying and his naps were pretty short at first, but they have slowly started to get longer. I bet we have been working on this for a month.

[sosayweall]

This answer may not be helpful both because I put him in a sleeveless Halo sleepsack over his clothes(usually long sleeve onesie and sweatpants) and he is not a good napper. Lately I have been doing my own version of pick up/put down(where I put him down drowsy and let him fuss until it starts to turn into crying and then pick him up and sway him and put him back down when his eyes get heavy again) which has resulted in him falling asleep on his own but not necessarily lengthened any naps yet. I am hopeful though. I know a lot of people like that Merlin sleepsuit but I don't have any experience with it personally.

[acorn99]

I am following this... DS  is very similar, sleeps well in his crib at night but his naps kind of suck. He usually only goes about 30 mins and sleeps on me, and on the weekend, this ends up being about 5 naps a day. At daycare he will sleep in his crib but still only 30 minutes. I really want to get him napping in his crib at home in hopes of getting him to sleep longer. I just spent the last hour trying  with the crib, and here he is in my lap. Fail.

[IvyMagic]

We're still working on transitioning him to the crib from the rock 'n play. I've actually only been doing it for daytime naps so far, and have him in the rock 'n play at night still. Nights have been rough in terms of getting him to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but he's been getting better about that lately so I will hopefully try the crib transition at night soon. If I don't, he may find a way out of his rock 'n play sooner than later!

So when I first put him in the crib for naps about a week ago, he hated it and would cry the instant he touched the mattress. I had to rock him into a deeper sleep to be able to set him down in there. Either that, or I'd have to hold down his arms and legs and shhh him until he'd stay asleep. However, even after one day of that he started to get better about it. It's been a week now and his first nap of the day in the crib is at least an hour and ten minutes.. right now he's still going and it's been about 1.5 hours - longest nap in the crib so far! Unfortunately the rest of his day naps in the crib tend to be the short 30-45 minute naps. I'm hopeful that if I just keep at it, eventually we'll get to two longer naps and a third cat nap which would be appropriate for his age.

Disclaimer: I do rock him to a light sleep (so about 5 minutes usually of rocking) before I put him in there.. sometimes he opens his eyes and I shush him and/or put my hands on him until he goes back to sleep. Sometimes he won't soothe that way and I pick him up again. I haven't been doing the whole "put them down awake" thing so he doesn't play with anything until he wakes up from a sleep cycle. He sleeps in whatever clothes he's wearing (usually fleece PJs) plus a halo sleepsack.

[Deleted]

Feb 1, 2015 10:32:17 GMT -5 sosayweall said:

This answer may not be helpful both because I put him in a sleeveless Halo sleepsack over his clothes(usually long sleeve onesie and sweatpants) and he is not a good napper. Lately I have been doing my own version of pick up/put down(where I put him down drowsy and let him fuss until it starts to turn into crying and then pick him up and sway him and put him back down when his eyes get heavy again) which has resulted in him falling asleep on his own but not necessarily lengthened any naps yet. I am hopeful though. I know a lot of people like that Merlin sleepsuit but I don't have any experience with it personally.

So we actually use Merlin at night and it's amazing. She sleeps through the night. I was unsure about using it for naps but at this point I might try it.

[princessconsuela]

We just transitioned out of the RnP for naps last week. She hated the crib at first, but I made a little nest with a rolled up towel under the crib sheet and that really seems to help her feel cozy like in the RnP. She's taking about 30 minute crap naps instead of the 1-2 hour naps she used to, but we're making progress. I think. I don't know.