Nap struggles

[SpringCrane]

We're having some nap struggles with my two month old. Like my older son, he really only wants to nap on me. I'm fine with that, but my toddler is constantly waking him with noise. He's actually pretty considerate, but baby is a light sleeper and routinely gets woken by normal playtime noises. If I put him down to nap in his pack n play, he doesn't nap long enough. His disrupted daytime sleep causes him to be overtired, and he does not handle it well! Any advice on how to help him get better naps? My older son won't be going to any extended care or school (nothing beyond two mornings a week) until he's 4. And I can't ask him to be silent so baby can sleep, as that's unfair to him. He's already good at being relatively quiet when I ask.

He sleeps great at night, so it's just daytime sleep I'm worried about.

 

[laura109]

I did white noise so it drowned out any disturbances. It worked for us. I found without it she heard us tip toeing about. She also would go in her cot etc eventually but was on me for first 6 months alot xx

 

[Laucu]

I have this problem too.

With all the school runs, baby usually naps in her pram. When we get home I'll park her up in a separate room.

I am trying to get her to take naps in her cot too, and find that white noise helps. I don't really like her being upstairs unsupervised but have got an angel care monitor which helps for peace of mind.

It's really hard though. I usually hold her until she's really sleepy and then pop her in her cot, but if I do it too early or too late it's impossible to settle her.

 

[DaisyDreamer]

Z is a light sleeper in the day. Usually putting him in a room with the door closed and fan running drowns out most of the noise.

Is there any way to do that, and while baby is napping your toddler could still have "quiet play time" with books, soft toys, or a quiet movie?

 

[ruby83]

My baby will also only sleep on me. I put him in the baby bjorn and put on a movie for my 2 yo for the first nap, then arrange for them to both sleep at the same time for the second nap ( even if it means putting my 2 yo down early), for the third nap I usually go out to the park/ shops etc and bun will sleep in baby bjorn. My DS1 is at childcare 2 days a week which makes it easier. I'm not a fan of too much screen time but figure I just have to manage the next few weeks/ months until baby will go in cot! Whenever that may be 😁

 

[jessmke]

Could you somehow plug baby's ears? My LO had a few months where she was so easily distracted that it was really hard to nurse her. If I could hear someone coming into the room or pulling into the driveway I would just plug her ears while she was nursing and it would keep her from getting distracted. Not sure how feasible it would be to plug baby's ears for an entire nap though, maybe use some cotton wool?

 

[Brienne]

My daughter is a very light sleeper but white noise helps a lot! The trick is that is has to be on quite loud so it can really absorb all the other sounds. We use myhummy, which is awesome as you can put on non-stop, unlike all the other toys: https://shop.myhummy.co.uk/

 

[JulieFlower]

I agree, white noise, as long as it's played loud enough, masks other sounds - so should help