Naps

I started doing “cribside comforting” with my little guy around 2.5 months old and it’s worked great! I usually feed him for 5 minutes or so, making sure he stays awake (so he won’t associate nursing with sleep), and then get him zipped into a sleep sack and turn the lights off. Then I turn on either brown noise or a soft (semi-repetitive) song to cue sleep to him and set him down in his crib. Once he’s in there, I pat his belly or bum (since he likes sleeping on his side sometimes), gently stroke his forehead/nose/eyebrows, and start shushing. Once I notice he’s calm and drowsy, I step out but keep watching on the monitor. If he gets fussy, I go back in and re-settle him while he’s still in his crib — I only pick him up if he’s crying, at which point I set him back in the crib once he’s calm again. When I first started, I’d do this for about 15-20 minutes, and if he wouldn’t fall/stay asleep then I’d contact nap him. But now he can fall asleep on his own— 10/10 recommend!!

Have you followed any sort of wake/ awake window sleep schedule?

We have been doing taking Cara babies since 2 weeks in. We wake to feed every 3 Hours- she gets sleepy close to her wake window ending at 2 Hours now.. and we just lay her down in crib awake ( but following cues ) and she fallsasleep… Now don’t get me wrong we don’t “just” do it.. we have been working hard at it from the beginning but at about 6-8 weeks it all clicked and she is consistent with 2 2 hour naps a day and her last one being about 1 , then she goes to bed from 7-7 no wakes at night… You do really have to work on naps. To get her used to nursury rather than swing or snuggle me we would start in the bassinet in nursery- in the morning I’d put her in the snuggle me in the crib- now for the past two months she consistently naps in crib and loves it.. it is something you have to work at. My baby doesn’t contact nap.. it’s very rare she would fall asleep on me- which sometimes makes me sad… however in the long run it’s better because I’m back to work and can actually do stuff

Lately I’ve been laying my baby on the bed and I’ll sit or lay next to him while he’s awake but drowsy. I’ll dim the lights for about ten minutes and then turn them off once I see him rubbing his eyes. If he gets fussy to fight sleep, I’ll give him the binky and the suckling usually coaxes him to sleep rather quickly. So far, the longest it’s taken him to go to sleep was an hour but it’s usually just 10-20 minutes. I use his nap time as my “me time”, so if he’s really wired up, I’ll read from my book or the Bible app which calms him down enough for a lullaby or white noise to put him out. I discovered this technique totally by accident but it works for us and I love that it’s teaching him to settle himself down and go to sleep without being held or nursed to sleep (although I will nurse to extend a nap when needed to keep up his total daytime sleep).

My baby won’t go to sleep without her touching me in some way shape or form & my boob in her mouth I can sneak away after maybe 15-20 minutes if she’s in a deep enough sleep