Nap Advice please

My 16 week old little boy will only nap on me during the day or his pram. I really want to transition him to his crib for day time naps, however each time I’ve tried it’s only lasted 10 minutes. He is also a very very alert little boy, so will only fall asleep if rocked for a very long time or breastfed. “Sleepy but awake” in the crib is also rediculous and only results in tears. As of recently his pram naps are for some reason shortening to only 30 minutes at a time since he just wakes up, and his once 7-8 hour stretches at night have turned into him waking up every 2.5 hours. Any help appreciated! How do I get him to sleep in his crib during the day? Is this a sleep regression? How do I solve it? 😶😶😶

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Most likely a sleep regression. I started sleep training at 4.5months it’s the only way I would get him to sleep in his crib. I also had to stop trying to feed to sleep as he was just using me for comfort. It does get easier my son is now almost 9 months and goes down really nicely

@Jenn oh wonderful! Do you have any advices or resources you used?

I did the cry it out method. I know lots of mom’s aren’t a fan of it but it worked for us. I’ve heard lots of good things about taking Cara babies as well.

It sounds like your baby has hit the typical 4 month sleep regression! It's all very normal unfortunately, but it is a phase and most babies come out the other side eventually.... With regards to getting to sleep, it's also biologically normal for baby to fall asleep breastfeeding and only sleep on you, it's a safety mechanism, evolution made babies this way! Are contact naps not working for you any more or are you feeling pressured, like it is something you "should" do, to get him sleeping in the cot? Maybe there's an alternative that will work for you, like baby wearing for naps to allow you to do some chores, or naps in the pram maybe? Walk him to sleep and then you can gently rock every now and then to keep him asleep.

I didn’t even bother with cot naps until 8 months

Yes I should have added that my now 3 yr old didn't nap in his bed until over a year old, by which point he also had a double bed and not a cot 😂

My little girl was like this and unfortunately for us nothing worked. One day I just tried it after about 7 months of contact naps and it just worked one day. Sometimes I think they do these things when they are ready

I went to cot naps at 5 months, just did pushchair naps during the sleep regression and then day by day I eventually got her to go in the crib just picked her up and put down and kept doing till she stayed asleep x

@Charlotte contact naps work for us sometimes (and by all means I know I will miss the cuddles soon enough!). But yes sometimes it just doesn’t work for us anymore depending on the day. I also don’t want to get him dependent on this because it does limit us as a family sometimes. Pram walks used to work to a certain extent, but now he is so alert it takes a lot longer for him to drift off and when he does it’s only 30 minutes 🤦🏼‍♀️ He managed half an hour in his cot today, so I have a feeling it will be a process….

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