Help with naps, please! Esp. from those who use NCSS.

Beth.1212 · May 2013

Okay, so I've inadvertently created a nursing association for sleep. LO is almost 5 months, and he'll only fall asleep if I've nursed him and keep holding him. Moving him to the crib for naps is hit or miss, and he'll only nap 2-3 times a day for 30-50 min, sometimes less. (At least he sleeps well at night. That's a true blessing. I don't do anything differently at night, but he seems to have a much stronger biological pull to sleep then or something.)

I'm trying to break the association, and I've started using the "Pantley pull off." It may come to CIO if I can't solve this in other ways, but I'd really like to avoid that, so I'm trying the "No cry nap solution" methods. I can get him to detach from the breast while VERY drowsy but not asleep, but then I have to let him fall asleep in my arms or he'll wake up. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try and break the nursing association first and then tackle the sleep-in-arms association. (Thought if you think that's a bad idea, I'm open to suggestions.)

LO will only nap for one cycle and then wakes up. If I run in a use a paci, I seem to be able to get him to stay asleep. That sort of goes against the whole "break-association-of-sucking-himself-completely-to-sleep" thing, though. Am I better off not letting him suck himself to sleep at all, hoping that he breaks his nursing association soon and sleeps better that way, or is it better to make sure he's getting decent napping sleep right now? Or I could try to give him the paci for less and less time and wean him off of it, though I'm not sure that'd work.

Also, any suggestions of "good" associations I can try and create? His pre-nap routine doesn't seem to do much, but maybe there's something I can use post-nursing that won't wake him up but will help signal sleep time. His mobile wakes him up more, and that's the only crib toy / music thingie we have right now. Maybe something like the sleep sheep?

Sorry this is so long. Thanks for any help you can give!

Theresa+Miguel · May 2013

My LO had the same problem. She fell to sleep easily at night, but wanted to nurse to sleep for naps. I was concerned about what the lack of sleep was doing to her, as well as wanting to teach her good sleeping skills. I tried a lot of things. What I felt worked the best was to but a white noise player. Her favorite is a forest that has birds, but it has the ocean, rain, etc. when I was ready for her to sleep I turned it on and it didn't take long for her to associate it with sleep. I tried CIO with her a few times, but I stayed in the room reading a book until she fell asleep. I think this helped some, but it wasn't until my husband got her down for a nap almost effortlessly that I realized that my attitude was causing problems. I found that if I didn't nurse her first to keep her from falling asleep in my arms and then waking up only to try to put her back to sleep mad, but instead put her in her crib, turned on the noise and confidentially walked out she fell asleep w/o too much fuss. I would also try giving him the paci. Babies need to suck and if it helps him sleep without waking him up then try it. Maybe if he falls asleep with the paci then he will sleep through his cycles.

momofmanyinthemitten · May 2013

Check out The Sleep Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. Whether you buy it or get it at the library, it's worth a read. I did the same thing with D. One day, around 5 mos as well, I started EASY. PU/PD also worked for us, but DH had to do it, as she always expected to bf with me.

littlebean4 · May 2013

My LO used to nurse for every single nap which was on me I might add as soon as we hit about 8 weeks I changed the routine up to an eat play sleep schedule, it was extremely difficult and she screamed in my arms for 10 mins while I rocked her for every nap. Now we consistently do eat play sleep, her naps are still terrible, 30 mins tops but at least I'm not nursing her to sleep. I'll tackle the rocking once we start sleep training at 5 months. I would also steer clear of the paci bc my pedi told me to break the habit by 6 months anyway but that's just my opinion. Personally I've never given DD one

ForeverEverAfter · May 2013

I've been using NCNS for naps (she's fine at bedtime to nurse then be put in her bed). I introduced white noise first (just an app on my phone) and then tackled things one at a time. A gradual transition seems more fair than changing everything at once. She started by falling asleep nursing and waking if I put her down-so I was holding her for all naps.

I turn on the white noise and wrap her in a blanket (nighttime a sleepsack) everytime to cue the start of naptime. I started by cutting her off after eating and rocking her instead of comfort sucking. Then I just held instead of rocked. Then I held her to sleep, but moved her to the swing (turned off, it just holds her more like a lap). When she was consistently going down in the swing asleep I started putting in some crib put downs. I don't plan to put her down drowsy until she does it consistently at bedtime.

DD doesn't take a paci so I can't advise. If she wakes and cries though, I will nurse her again and put her back down and she finishes the nap. So maybe give her the paci for now if it works and wean it out later once she's doing the other things you want.

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Help with naps, please! Esp. from those who use NCSS.

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