DD only naps on my chest!

DD is 8 weeks now and doing great. BF seems to be going well, any food
allergy issues have been overcome (ie don't think she has any), she now
weighs 10lbs 8oz.

She sleeps ok at night, we've finally managed to swaddle her and that's
helped a lot with her early morning thrashing. But napping is another
story. She won't nap! When she does it's for like 30 mins max, so by
about 5pm she's cranky as can be. She *will* nap ON me though. As long
as she stays laying on me she can sleep for 2 hrs, but that requires me
to stay still...
she will also sleep in her sling, so I use that a lot, but I have to
keep moving for that or she wakes up (and tho I love the sling and it
does give me mobility, it's still quite limiting). I love holding her,
and for the most part I've accepted this, but my worry comes with
daycare, which she'll be starting in 4 weeks.

She'll be at an inhome daycare with 3 other kids - 5 mos old, 19mos, 24
mos. and her at 3 mos. The provider seems pretty competent to handle
that #,so I'm not worried, but how she's going to handle a baby that
will only nap when being held? I'll talk to her about it, but am
looking for suggestions on getting her to nap w/o me now.

"cjra" wrote and I snipped:
DD is 8 weeks now and doing great.

She sleeps ok at night, we've finally managed to swaddle her and that's
helped a lot with her early morning thrashing. But napping is another
story. She won't nap! When she does it's for like 30 mins max, so by
about 5pm she's cranky as can be. She *will* nap ON me though. As long
as she stays laying on me she can sleep for 2 hrs, but that requires me
to stay still...
She'll be at an inhome daycare with 3 other kids - 5 mos old, 19mos, 24
mos. and her at 3 mos.

Her napping sounds a lot like my DD, my first, although she didn't sleep at
night either. It's most likely that the daycare provider will be able to
get her sleep in her own way. There will be an adjustment period, but with
an experienced provider and a daily routine, I'm guessing your DD will
figure out what she needs to do to sleep. The excitement of being with the
other kids might actually help her to go down. It sounds counter-intuitive,
but babies have a way of shutting down with too much stimulation.

Others here might have more specific ideas for you, but I think that in the
end she'll nap at daycare no matter what you work out at home.

-Patty, mom of 1+2

On 1 Sep 2006 12:21:14 -0700, "cjra" wrote:

She sleeps ok at night, we've finally managed to swaddle her and that's
helped a lot with her early morning thrashing. But napping is another
story. She won't nap! When she does it's for like 30 mins max, so by
about 5pm she's cranky as can be. She *will* nap ON me though. As long
as she stays laying on me she can sleep for 2 hrs, but that requires me
to stay still...

Do you have a swing? It is the only place, beside the sling, where my
daughter can nap for more than 30 min. If you don't have one, it's
worth the expense.
Anne

She'll be at an inhome daycare with 3 other kids - 5 mos old, 19mos, 24
mos. and her at 3 mos. The provider seems pretty competent to handle
that #,so I'm not worried, but how she's going to handle a baby that
will only nap when being held? I'll talk to her about it, but am
looking for suggestions on getting her to nap w/o me now.

children are often so different when away from there parents, I could never
put my first down to nap, he wouldn't even sleep on me and it was all very
counter productive, without enough sleep they don't grow well however much
you feed them, so I was quite worried when he went to daycare (also in home
care), but it worked out fine, mostly because they went out a lot, so he had
the chance when he was in the buggy (they mostly used one where he was
facing the carer, so I didn't have concerns about too much time in a buggy),
even when for whatever reason they didn't go out, he was quite happy to go
down in the buggy in a different room, something he would also not do for me
at that age. I found in home daycare to be fantastic, I understand it is a
lot more regulated in the UK than it is in the US, which means, at least
locally there is a shortage. She'll work out her own way of handling things,
with moving, we're now on our third in home carer, and she does things
differently from each of the other two, but is again fantastic and my older
child thinks going there is a special treat.

Cheers

Anne

DS is now 7 weeks, and DD 2 yrs. DD had terrible colic, and so when DS
started to get fussy at two weeks, my husband purchased a small motor
designed to screw into the bottom of the bassinet and simulate a moving
car. Turns out DS is not colicky, but he loves it. I nurse him to
sleep, then put him in his "car" turn on the motor and he vibrates away
for an hour or so. Can't remember how much it was, around $100 I
think but I've already saved that in gas by not having to drive around
like I did for DD. Love it, love it, love it.

JJ

This is our concern as well. LA is just brand new (1 week old) and is
happily breastfeeding. However it's almost all she does. If mom gets
her to sleep, and either one of us puts the baby down in her bassinet,
she wakes up almost immediately.

She will happily sleep with her mouth just fallen off the nipple, but mom
is nervous about sleeping herself like this, in case the breast covers
LA's
mouth. Baby will sleep with mom in a chair or in bed also, which is
somewhat better.

Will this change over time? Are we just worried about nothing?

Roger

cjra wrote:
She sleeps ok at night, we've finally managed to swaddle her and that's
helped a lot with her early morning thrashing. But napping is another
story. She won't nap! When she does it's for like 30 mins max, so by
about 5pm she's cranky as can be. She *will* nap ON me though. As long
as she stays laying on me she can sleep for 2 hrs, but that requires me
to stay still...
[snip]
looking for suggestions on getting her to nap w/o me now.