Car seat napping?

[MomInMaine]

Does anyone else out there have a baby who resists napping in her crib but who will nap happily in the car seat?

First, some background: My daughter just turned 7 mos. and we've recently begun following the Weissbluth method after having some problems with frequent night waking that started at 4 mos. I've been trying to get her into a 9 pm and 12 pm (give or take) nap schedule, but I have the hardest time getting her to nap in her crib.

It's been this way from the very beginning...as a newborn, she would nap in her car seat or while being held, but never in her crib. For a while, before we started trying to establish a regular nap schedule, she would simply fall asleep in the car seat while we were out doing errands, or if we were home, I'd put her in her car seat on the floor to help her fall asleep for naps.

When we started Weissbluth, I tried having her nap in her crib for the first few days, but she would cry and cry and cry from the second her back hit the mattress and would continue crying for the whole hour. Frustrated and on the verge of tears myself, I went back to putting her in her car set for naps. I put the car seat on the floor in her nursery and line it with fleecy blankets, to form a cozy little nest. I then put her down in the little nest, lay a soft blanket over her lap, and gently rock the car seat. She snuggles herself in, closes her eyes, turns her head to the side, and is asleep within minutes...usually with little to no crying (sometimes a whimper or two). It's really a sweet thing to behold. And she'll stay asleep there for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours.

The other day, feeling like this car seat habit really had to stop, I tried the crib again, and the same deal....she screams like her hair's on fire. After 30 minutes of crying, I couldn't take it anymore, so I put her in her little car seat nest on the floor, and she was sound asleep within 45 seconds...no kidding. My husband said, "Why are you torturing both of you by trying to get her to sleep in her crib? She falls asleep without crying in her car seat and is getting the naps that she needs....so why fight it? Does it really matter where she sleeps, as long as she's sleeping?"

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I should also mention that she doesn't have a problem falling asleep in her crib at night for some reason. She'll cry sometimes, but not for long.

Anyone have any thoughts on this??

[aps]

Personally, I see NOTHING wrong with what you're doing.  If you were saying she would sleep only in the car seat while the car was moving, I would be concerned, since that's not restorative sleep (according to Weissbluth).  But you are putting her in her room sounds like it would be excellent sleep for her.  Clearly, she feels very comfortable in her car seat.  As long as she is getting good sleep, I say you continue to do it.  The fact that she is able to sleep in her crib at night makes me feel like this issue with her crib is related only to naps. 

Now, if one of the head honchos of this message board disagrees, I hope she will speak up!  But putting a child in a non-moving car seat seems fine to me.   

[MomInMaine]

Thanks for weighing in, aps.

I feel the same way...I mean, she's getting sleep, and it's not motion sleep, so is it really so bad that it happens to be in her car seat? I guess I just felt compelled to have her sleep in her crib because it seemed like the most appropriate place for her to snooze.

Incidentally, once I started getting her to take two good naps in her car seat each day and started putting her to bed by 6:30 pm, her night waking improved almost immediately, to the point where she'll go until 4:30 am most nights. I've been singing Weissbluth's praises to whomever will listen to me!

[aps]

The more I have thought about this, the more confident I am that it's fine to let her sleep in her car seat.  I think eventually she will grow out of it, but don't stress if it's not sooner than later. 

I loved the book as well.  My son is a very happy little guy, and I know a lot of it is related to him being well rested.  I have recommended Weissbluth's book to all my friends, but am surprised at how many of them just think that poor sleep is something their child was born with.  Oh well.

[Founder]

Here's why: read this

http://familysleep.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/infant-car-seats-lower-oxygen-levels-in-blood-during-sleep-health-news-health-com-2/

[MomInMaine]

Well, darn it.

I am curious, though, as to whether these results would be different had the study been conducted on older infants. The study was conducted on newborns, and the chest compression (as I read it) was due to their little heads flopping over. I wonder if the results would be different in older babies who have gained head and neck control (my daughter's head doesn't flop when she sleeps in her car seat). Hmm.

As it happens, I've been trying anew to get my daughter to nap in the crib, but now I have a different problem. She'll now fall asleep after about 20-25 minutes of crying (yay!), but she'll only nap for around 28 minutes, and then she'll wake up crying and won't go back to sleep again (booo). Same deal for the afternoon nap---she'll sleep for 35 minutes (that seems to be the magic number) before waking up crying. I've tried leaving her there to see if she'll fall back asleep, but the crying only escalates the longer I leave her. So, she's napping for an hour a day total, which doesn't seem like nearly enough sleep.

The odd part, though, is that she's sleeping well at night. I put her to bed around 5:30 or 6 pm and she'll sleep for 10 hours, feed, and then sleep another 1.5 to 2 hours.

[Founder]

Hey I wasn't trying to be hard on your but even without the study it's just not good for her and I know you want to get her out of it eventually.  .   Once you ditch the carseat for sleeping and put them in the crib, it's not an easy transition but they do adapt to it as you do it consistently for every sleep time.  It's good that she is now sleeping in the crib, maybe still fighting it at first for those naps but then puts herself to sleep, that's the first big step. Always the next problem that occurs is that the naps are short which you are experiencing.  When you have to make a pretty big transition as you did it does mean that sometimes you have to push the transition much harder, meaning when they wake prematurely from a nap you will have to get into the habit of waiting , maybe even up to 30 minutes or more.  The longer you wait the better chance she will have the opportunity to put herself back to sleep.  Once she breaks this cycle then her naps will become more consolidated.  You just have to get on the other side of this hump.  Keep that bedtime extra early right now until those naps come together.  You are almost there

[MomInMaine]

Okay, I'm now cautiously optimistic. A few days ago, for the first time, my daughter took a 1.5-hour afternoon nap in her crib! Then, yesterday, her morning nap lasted for 50 minutes and her afternoon nap lasted for an hour and 15 minutes...and this morning, she napped for over an hour in her crib! Her naps are gradually getting longer, just as you said they would.

Yippee!

[aps]

That is great news!  I'm glad Deborah posted about the sleeping in the car seat article.  Yikes.  This is good to know. 

[Founder]