Nap Help!!

diamondtaurus

DD is still napping in her swing. My DH and the pedi are both on my case about getting her to nap in her crib. In the swing she'll regularly take a 2 hour morning nap. Crib? Maybe 10 minutes..and this is after rocking her almost to sleep before putting her in. I KNOW she needs to- she was 8 months on the 26th, but is getting way to big for the swing. But any tricks to transition her? Or just suck it up and get used to really short naps for a while? 

juniper75

I haven't dealt with this but I remember reading about it on a sleep site. They said to move the swing beside the crib. Then gradually over many nights you start reducing the amount of time that the swing is on so that they are sleeping in the swing without it moving and once they can sleep without the motion you remove the swing and put them in the crib. I have no idea if it works but i thought i would share.

zazu13

Where is she sleeping at night?

diamondtaurus

Crib at night, always. I just can't figure out how to make that transition for naps without it taking at least an hour to get her down. I like the idea of starting with moving the swing into her room, next to her crib though.

Suzanne237

No advice here. We had good naps in swing. Crib = 30 min. Sleeps fine at night in crib 5-7 hr stretch then another 2 after nursing. But is up for the day at 5 am with 1-2-3 30 min naps till bed around 6:30. Wakes up cranky and could use more sleep cause when he falls asleep on the couch or bed instead of crib he can sleep 45-1.5 hrs. Maybe someone can help us. From what I've read he needs to connect sleep cycles but I haven't figured out how...

cmatteis

I had this same issue and we transitioned her between 4-6 months. It took a few months for naps to extend. They were 30 -45 minutes for a Long time but they are now 1.5 hrs. It took about 2 months. Also, we gradually reduced the speed of the swing until there was no movement. Good luck

snowbound

Really short naps for awhile. I'm a big fan of doing things cold turkey. LO would only nap in my arms after we moved. I nipped that in the bud after a week. He now does all his sleeping in the crib and has since 4 months.

Suzanne237

@cmatteis‌ did you do anything over the 2 months? Do you go to them when they wake or leave them in the crib for a bit? My LO wakes up and cries so I nurse. I've seen him wake and put his head back down or roll over and go back to sleep. So I feel like he knows how to do it (on the bed with me there) but not in the crib.

zazu13

I also vote for cold turkey. When I transitioned to sleeping in the crib for naps and night sleep I had a few days of missed naps. It did suck. I read a lot of sleep consultant websites and blogs and most suggested trying for a nap for up to one hour (leaving them alone, let them cry, do stepped soothing if you want). Use the same sleep cues you do for nighttime sleep including blackout curtains, cool room, white noise, sing/book/rock/nurse then put them down drowsy, but awake. If you aren't doing this for bedtime, too, I would suggest you start.  If no nap happens in that 1 hour period then consider the nap a loss and move the next nap (or bedtime) up by 30ish minutes. Shoot for two naps in the crib at regular intervals (ie. 9 and 1:00). If these naps are unsuccessful and  baby needs a third nap then you can resort to a stroller/car seat/swing nap to help them catch up.

We did this for a few weeks. Some days were perfect and other days I admit that I gave up and resorted to using the swing for a nap because I was frustrated, but I am happy to say that it has been successful. We are doing drowsy, but awake for all naps and night sleep. Occasionlly there is a little crying before settling to sleep (5 min or less) and very infrequently I have to go in. We are only using the swing for play and have not used it for a nap in weeks. Good luck!!

cmatteis

@Suzanne237‌ hey...no, nothing really worked...it's like she wasn't ready or was in a sleep regression and then she just started extending her naps on her own and now they are almost always long. Idk if it was her age and development or because I had napped her in the swing. Patting shushing almost never works for my dd. Gl

yellowflower15

Both my kids have been pretty dependent swing nappers and both transitioned to their cribs. With both I just bit the bullet and accepted that it would suck for a while. That being said, I nurse to sleep which I know a lot would advise against. It has worked for me. My LO now naps in his crib most days 1-2 hours per nap. If he won't sleep from nursing, I put him down in his crib awake. Sometimes he puts himself to sleep and sometimes I come back in and rock him for a bit and sometimes I give up.