will it confuse her?

[mogwai]

my 5 week old daughter sleeps well at night. She is in her own room (moses basket in cot) and, although she wakes to feed, she goes straight back to sleep afterwards. She wakes once or twice during the night.

However, she cannot settle easily for daytime naps. I know this may be the reason she sleeps well at night.

So far, I haven't tried settling her upstairs in her moses basket during the day. I'm concerned it will undo all the good work we did to get her to sleep during the night (that she will come to associate the moses basket with getting up and playing after a sleep)

Should I try it? Will it mess up the sleeping at night?

[tiffini]

It might be exactly the right thing to do, she is obviously contented enough at night.

I found all my children would only sleep in their room, and it had to be quite dark, so dark curtains.

[beckym]

I have exactly the same problem. My DS is happy to sleep right through from 7pm to 7am, waking only for feeds. However, like you, the days are a different thing altogether. I try and get him to sleep for at least an hour in every 3. Sometimes it works, sometimes he just crys. But at least you've tried, and as long as they're sleeping through the night, i don't you've got too much to worry about! Good luck!

[fredly]

My daughter was like his at that age, would sleep through the night with 1 or 2 feeds but would hardly manage a 1/2h nap during the day. I put up with it, so glad I did get my sleep ! She started to nap well at about 3mths, without shortening her nights. She's now 10mths and sleeps 12h/night and between 3 and 4h during the day ! Good luck.

[PrettyCandles]

I don't think trying to get her to nap in her nightsleep place will make much difference at this stage. I think it's far more likely that she is one of the babies who to longer to get routiney than others. 5 weeks is still very young! I would continue trying to settle her for naps in the location that is most convenient for you, but not worry about for how long and when she sleeps. My two both went into napping routines at about 3-4 months.

[jambot]

I battled to get my dd (now 5 months) to nap in the morning and late afternoon. She would do a longish nap during the middle of the day and that was it. She used to get very tired and would go off but only for maybe 10/15 mins. I didn't have any joy until she started going through the night at 3 months. Suddenly she was sleeping up to two hours in the morning and up to an hour late afternoon. Also started to put her only in her bed. She now sleeps there and nowhere else - unless we are out and it can't be helped. Tend to not go out during her early and mid day naps as they are quite long and she never sleeps properly in the pram, car etc. As her later afternoon nap (approx 4:30) is short (45 mins) I don't mind if she takes it in the car, on a walk etc. I know it's not always easy to be at home for naps, but found that's where they sleep best.
I it does take them some time to get into some kind of pattern with their day naps. It should come right. Just hang in there until she's a little bit older, or take lots of walks. That always put dd to sleep when nothing else would.

[purpleturtle]

I think I put both mine to nap in their crib/cot in their room pretty much from the off. Both have always been good sleepers.

[busywizzy]

Mogwai, I read a book (Marc Weissbluth Healthly Sleep Habits Happy Child) that said exactly what Jambot has said that it takes the baby a while to settle into daytime naps as their brain has to mature and that regular and consistent naps often come once they are sleeping well at night. The morning nap becomes regular first followed by the afternoon nap(s).

My DS (20 weeks) has only recently settled into some kind of consistent routine and even now it's still a bit hit and miss as sometimes his lunchtime nap lasts an hour, sometimes two and if it's short, he needs another one later in the day.

I started putting him into his cot for naps quite early ad haven't found this affected his night sleep at all. And like Jambot, I now find he doesn't like to sleep anywhere else and will shut his eyes and go to sleep as soon as hes in his cot no matter what kind of fuss he was kicking up before.

Hope this helps but basically, don't worry, it will come together eventually.

[mogwai]

thanks for all your replies.

I didn't know that they only settle to naps after a few weeks/months. I feel a LOT better now. It was just all that advice, you know "sleep when your baby sleeps" - impossible with a newborn who will only sleep out on a walk!!

I'm going to try putting her in her room during the day and keep fingers crossed things improve soon!