Mums who let their babies contact nap from birth - what are they like now?

10 months and we still contact nap. Honestly , I regret it. It’s lovely but I don’t get to do any work while she is napping. If I could do anything different , I would push for naps in the crib. Just my experience

My girl is now 6 months and she does not like to be held anymore and wants to sleep on the sofa or in her bed.

We had to start daytime contact naps when she became more alert/aware around 6/8 weeks and fought sleep - and still here at 12 weeks. Trying to ‘enjoy it while it lasts’, but sometimes wish she’d go back to a sleepy newborn in her Moses basket and when could achieve something in the day 😭 trying one nap a day in her crib - todays lasted 16 mins! Nighttime’s are fine in her crib though. Interesting to hear what older babies are like!

We did a mix but she ended up preferring no contact napping. She’s 6 months now and she sleeps better if she contact nap then I transfer her or I just held her but she can sleep either way. I liked the closeness plus it was a good reason to chill on the couch watching TV or something.

We are 15 months, we managed to get naps in buggy and now i can put him down for naps in his bed. He takes himself off for naps at nursery which he never does at home. Honestly it’s fine to let them contact nap! Try and enjoy the time because it does go. Sometimes we still get short contact naps but they are becoming less and I miss the excuse to sit and binge watch tv whilst having snuggles!

after she turned 1 the contact naps slowed down a lot, now she’s 2 and it’s been months since she’s done it 🥹 and she’s a very good sleeper, sometimes just needs some cuddles before bed

2.5 years old and we still contact nap when we can. He now just lays down and goes to sleep when he is sleepy. He doesn’t want to sleep together as much as he did before so it’s definitely bittersweet.

@Katherine I’m thinking I might try to do a crib daytime nap around 3-4 months and not force it too much right now. At the moment, I’m waiting until she gets a decent length nap and then I try and make the transfer into the crib, and if she wakes up then it’s whatever but if she sleeps more it’s a bonus (she always wakes up 😬)

Thanks all, baby will sleep in the pram and car as well - unsure if that counts the same as a crib nap, but I suppose it’s good she can fall asleep in other places

He starts to stop around 11 months old. We contact nap for every single nap since he was born before that and we cosleep. It just worked naturally when he was ready ❤️

My baby only contact napped till I think about 10 months, from 6 months she slept in a cot at night and we had no problem with her settling herself if she woke. Then napped in her cot from about 10 months, due my second and I’d have no fear this time about contact napping!

Enjoy it! We started sleep training at 6 months and he slept in his cot for daytime naps after 48 hours of training

18 months now and we still used to exclusively contact nap. We still have the occasional contact nap - more because I like it! But he can sleep independently too. Most nights he sleeps in his cot, sometimes he comes in with me because if he wakes I don’t even try to settle him back in his own bed.

We do contact naps if we aren't going anywhere but she will fall asleep in the car and her pram

Still contact napping at 13 months but nights all good in her own bed so I’ll take it, only issue it causes is not sleeping at nursery or out in the buggy

My child is 2.5 and contact napped for the first 6 months because he had severe reflux and I couldn’t lye him down. He sleeps fine now, sleeps 11 hours unbroken in his cot. Honestly you do what you have to do to get through, it’s tough!

16m and still needs contact nap. Finding it difficult to train him sleep without me

Contact napped till my daughter was about 6-7 months and then she was napping on her own in her bed

0-3mo napped anywhere 3-6mo only car, baby carrier, or on the boob 6+mo I started trying to get her to sleep in the cot in the daytime. This meant arranging my travel so I was driving just after she woke from a nap to avoid car sleeping. It involved some sleep training but didn't take very long and I have no idea how I woud've managed it otherwise. She had stopped falling asleep in the pram or carrier by this point. We've had varying success at the cot sleeping at different times but even at 12mo we still have occasional contact naps (ie fed to sleep on the boob) if cot nap fails. It's annoying I can't get stuff done but now she's started nursery and I'm going back to work...I kinda love this special time with her 🤷‍♀️ if she needs it, she needs it.

My baby is 4 months and has only ever contact napped. He goes down at night and will sleep for a nap in a baby carrier or pram but wakes if we put him down. I’m just making the most of those cuddles although i’ll admit it makes getting anything done hard!!

Mine did until 13 months, when he was getting ready to drop to one nap and too big for me to hold for 2+ hours at a time 😂 It was a tough transition to napping in his cotbed but luckily didn't last too long and he managed much better in there after. He's 2 now and we still contact nap on the odd occasion, like at a family gathering or if he's struggling getting off to sleep. He's so heavy and I don't get anything done in those instances, but it is still lovely

My baby is 5 months old. Every single nap from birth to 3 months was contact nap with me. He would not nap for anyone else anywhere else until one day I went out for lunch and left him with his dad. Came home and much to my surprise, he was napping in his play pen. Since then, only contact naps when he isn’t feeling great! We have even recently moved from downstairs playpen to upstairs in his crib for all his naps!

My son contact napped every single nap up until he was 12 months and then he just decided one day he was gonna sleep in his cot for naps 🤷‍♀️he was fine going down for naps in his cot but he’s 2.5 now and he still needs me to fall asleep at night , and often when he wakes in the night I need to sleep with him. I don’t know if that’s because of the contact naps or just how he is , but I don’t regret the contact naps they were lovely when I think back to them 😍

Mine only either contact napped or napped whilst I was in walking with him in the pram until he was about 4/5 months old. He is now 8 months old and takes himself to sleep in his own cot fairly frequently and always sleeps independently. Have all the cuddles you want and need xxx

11 months, still contact napping or napping in the pushchair. I don’t get much housework done but enjoy the excuse to relax for a bit while she’s napping. She sleeps through overnight (and has done since 6 months) which is the most important thing for us.

My daughter is 18 months and still contact naps during the day 🙃 suits us though! I’m not bothered by what other people think

My son contact napped from birth until he was 6 months old, we had the odd one between 6 months and a year but he mainly went down in a cot for a nap after 6 months. I don’t regret the contact naps at all!

My eldest is 2 but she would only contact nap for her day sleep for the longest time! She stopped contact napping at around 14 months and started to prefer to lay down to sleep, she now sleeps all night and has one decent nap a day.. i loved contact naps, I didn’t get anything done but don’t regret it one bit- i miss the contact naps! My baby is 6 months and she has never liked to sleep anywhere but on her own, if she sleeps on us she has very short naps but in her next to me she will have good hour long naps! I want her to want to nap on me but she won’t 😂

Despite what my MiL says, you can't spoil or over coddle a young baby with contact 😜

My daughter contact napped and co slept till 6 months then went in her fit for night sleep and continued to contact nap until around 7/8 months and moved to the cot! She’s a fantastic sleeper now and loves her own cot, even if she’s poorly she will have a little cuddle and want her own sleep space. X

Hey, little man is 9 months, we still contact nap almost completely. He does sometimes sleep in the pram or car but that didn't happen until 4 months + and has slowly got better over time (he used to scream in both). Sleep wise things arnt amazing, we co-sleep and have a lot of wakes. Emotionally I think he's amazing. He shows all the behaviours of a very securely attached baby. Our bond is incredible, besties. He's very happy, smiley, sociable and meeting all the milestones.

They grow out of it my LG stopped wanting it at around five Months

Contact nap now at 8 months but she will fall asleep in the pushchair. To be honest I haven't stopped as the routine works for us and I'm too wimpy to try the cot!! She falls asleep in the cot at night with some assistance and mostly self settles. All her own doing I never sleep trained just followed her lead

I know this may sound silly but my LO only contact napped. I’ve found that putting him in the same room he sleeps in and on our big bed wrapped in my robe has helped a lot! Maybe try putting him down with something that smells like you! It just works for us and then slowly we’ll figure out what to do next 😭

Honestly every child is so different. I did this with all my children, my oldest boy has never had a problem going to sleep at any other time or at all after outgrowing it which was at about 6 months. My second oldest however, he went from daytime naps as a newborn to screaming and crying himself to sleep as a toddler unless we let him fall asleep with us and then transfer him to finally now at 4 years old he can lay down by himself but it’s still a huge issue to deal with every night. It’s all just depends on the specific child

Contact napped for the first year. He’s 1.5 now and he sleeps on a floor bed so I “fall asleep” with him And then sneak out. Best thing ever .

My baby is 7 months, we did mostly contact naps. For about the last 6 weeks she has a big nap in her cot most days. We still often do a contact nap in the afternoon but I'm usually chilling on the sofa with my 4 year old so I don't mind. I was worried like you, but she does sleep fine without me. After quite a lot of cosleelping we have just moved her into her room this week and night sleep is better too

We contact napped every single time, then she grew out of it all by herself around age 1. They all get there eventually, enjoy the snuggles and the downtime.