Am I letting my 6 month old cry too much? Feeling neglectful

[Anonymous]

Just curious, how did you approach the nap training, like did you just do a quick routine before putting her down drowsy but awake? Baby takes all naps in swing or in carrier so dreading having to train her down the road, but I know we will have to. (She’s only 2 months so that’s not for awhile) great job on getting baby to sleep through till 6 !

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just curious, how did you approach the nap training, like did you just do a quick routine before putting her down drowsy but awake? Baby takes all naps in swing or in carrier so dreading having to train her down the road, but I know we will have to. (She’s only 2 months so that’s not for awhile) great job on getting baby to sleep through till 6 !

I just did it all (night/naps) at once...I honestly was expecting a nightmare scenario because she had been breastfed to sleep for every nap/bedtime (that wasnt in the car or stroller) since she was born. However, the first night I made sure she stayed awake through the feed. I didn’t move it or change our routine that much except to keep the lights on and sing while she fed (usually would have done that with lights off and sound machine on). She cried for 5 minutes, hard, when I put her in the crib but eventually started chewing on her sleep sack and got comfy.

Then next day at nap times I did the same thing, fed her until drowsy, but turned on the sound machine after she finished eating and before I put her in the crib. She cried a little bit but it was not at all as bad as I had imagined it would be and she got comfy on her belly and chewed her sleepsack/sucked the back of her hand.

Now she doesn’t cry when I put her down at all, just gets comfy and goes to sleep. Our issue was a clear feed-to-sleep association though so I’m not sure how it would have gone if there was something else inhibiting her from falling asleep independently.

[Anonymous]

Six months is very young. Listen to your gut, you know your baby best.

[Anonymous]

Why does your baby only take 2 naps during the day? It should be 3 at this age. at least, lots of kids take 3 naps until about 9 months. Remember, the more they sleep the better, and more sleep during the day does not mean less sleep during the night, and sometimes it's the opposite. It's like they learn how to sleep. Try to reduce play/wake time to 2,5 hrs during the day (the time between naps), and make sure her solids intake is good for lunch and maybe have her eat some solids for dinner as well so she would feel full till morning. Also, keep her active/take outside during the day to make her physically tired.

[Anonymous]

This was the age when I started bringing the kid into the adult bed at that 4 am wakeup. He would snack side-lying and usually fall back asleep latched on. It lasted for a few months. We got better sleep and so did he.

[Anonymous]

Try bedtime at 630 (3.5 hrs after nap ends). What you describe sounds like 4 hours maybe a touch too long (overtired).