Contact Napping - How To Move Away From it Gently!
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How to move away from contact napping
1. Is it a problem for you? Is contact napping really a problem for you or are you wanting to stop because of pressure from others. You might have been lead to believe contact napping will lead to bad habits or a dependence on it however If you enjoy contact napping there’s really no need to stop.
2. Plan & prepare. If contact napping is something you enjoy but eventully wish to move away from, plan to move away from it in phases. If your baby had gotten used to napping on you trying to make them nap elsewhere may not happen easily so work in phases to move away from it.
3. Habit stack to prepare. You are your baby’s main and favoured sleep association when contact napping so try adding some other associations in too so that when you finally stop contact t napping your baby has lots of other things still in place that they associate with sleeping rather than just you alone. You could use white noise, a comfort object or blanket, maybe a dummy as added associations.
4. Try having your baby nap without you at just one of the days naps and leave the rest as contact naps to begin with. This helps avoid every nap becoming a battle ground if moving away from contact napping takes a bit of time & effort.
5. Don’t worry! You haven’t failed if the first time you try to put baby down they wake up. Think of it as a practice run and try again next nap time. You might need lots of practice runs to begin with and that’s ok.
6. Consider settling your baby by moving them sideways rather than lowering them. Some babies have strong flailing reflex or may be anticipating you lowering them.