Franklen's no cry nap solution for an intense baby

Franklen's no cry nap solution for an intense baby (copyleft ) (based on the ideas from Pantley's NCSS and Sears's Nightime Parenting)

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0. When he (she) is tired (mine is every 2 hours if his last nap lasted only 1 hour or if it is the morning first nap) - watch closely for signs of tireness (e.g. red eyes, yawning, rubbing eyes, etc.)

1. Rock (or swing etc.) him until he is almost asleep;

2. During rocking, pat him and sing a lullaby (or say something soothing), repeatedly;

3. When he is almost asleep, put him on the desired place very slowly, during the process continue to pat him and sing the song;

4. If he wakes up when touching the bed, without picking him up, continue to pat him and sing the song, until he closes his eyes. Continue to pat and sing for a while. You may place your palm on his head or back (experiment with different positions) to provide extra security.

5. If he fusses too much in step 4 (which may make him unable to sleep altogether) (e.g. more than 30 seconds - you judge), you may pick him up and repeat step 1 - 4 one or two more times.

6. If you really can't put him down this time, try again next time, or the following day, or several days later when you are not tired.

My intention is to help him replace the previous rocking-sleep association (which is one and only one) with patting/lullaby-sleep associations (which is variable). If you succeed, when he wakes up during the deep sleep- REM sleep transitions (mine is the 30th-45th minutes interval), you may just pat him and/or sing the lullaby (but your action has to be quick and preventive) to make him go back to sleep again. Eventually you may not need to do this too. (I have arrived this in a month's time)

I had tried this successfully with my intense and sensitive DS (I wear him to naps since the 2nd month every day) and it worked brilliantly between month 5 - month 8, before he was painfully teething and started to develop separation anxiety in the 9th month (poor DS...).

Prior to the 5th month, I wore him continously for 1 hour for each nap but he always woke up when being put on the bed. I was so tired and this caused me to think about ways of change.

My current method is slightly different, still wearing him in a sling when nap routine (reading 1 book, singing 3 lullabies, and putting to sling) begins, but I only wear him for 200 more seconds after he has closed his eyes (I guess his sleeping pattern has become more mature however high-need and so he enters deep sleep more quickly) (usually I need to walk/swing 5-10 minutes to make him sleep), and he can enjoy a total 1-1.5 hours nap without waking up and without me doing anything. I am also able to nap with him again (I feel tears in my eyes when writing this) but stay wide apart on bed because we are easily mutually triggered.

Perhaps I should (if I can) help him "wean" from the sling very positively one day (because my back is sometimes painful - he is 22lbs [18lbs at the 4th month]), but he needs me at the moment so maybe months later.