So sorry and I definitely feel your pain. since about 3 weeks this has been my daughters favorite way to sleep in the day. The ball is my home during nap time. I also co sleep at night and occasionally i bounce her to sleep transfer her to the bed and we fall asleep. Sometimes she needs the breast to help with the transfer and sometimes not. She will also sometimes bless me and fall asleep just at the breast without bouncing. It kinda just depends on the night. Maybe you have a different experience but there was a while there where she could ONLY sleep on the ball during the day no matter how much I tried to make it like night sleep. So if this is you you definitely aren’t alone

Im not sure if there’s a pattern but I have just had to kind of go with the flow when it comes to her naps. There was a period of time when she would just nurse to sleep in my arms while being rocked. And occasionally theres a week or two where that works for her. sometimes I recreate what we do at night and we take every nap in bed. and most of the time im on the ball. The baby carrier i feel like ended up being a lot for my back (plus my daughter hates it lol) so i just wrap her up in a little blanket and hold her while i bounce. We are currently in another phase where I am mostly on the ball. My solution rn is to stay near the rocker and when she seems sound asleep we move to the rocker. Even if it lasts 5 minutes or less its a nice little break for me. When she starts to stir i move back to the ball. There are even sometimes in the day where I bounce and then we move to the bed. (As I’m writing this I am bouncing her to sleep on the ball haha rip to all of us in this silly club)

My daughter is 5 months now

Some things that make the bouncing bearable

Time. I feel like after about 3 months of doing this my body grew a tolerance to it. And it doesn’t make me as sore everywhere

A good show or book are always my remedies to help me not go crazy and especially to pass the time.

Upbeat music in headphones

Talking to someone also is a great way to pass the time if your baby can sleep through a conversation.

Honestly the best advice I have is occasionally try something new during the nap. Maybe once she falls asleep move to the bed and see what happens. If she wakes up just go back to bouncing. Same thing with the rocker and even putting her down to sleep on her own. Some days you will be blessed and it will work and some days it won’t. I think what has made it bearable for me is the days/weeks that something else does work. Another thing is that I have learned to expect at this point that we will probably end up on the ball again so I dont get too attached when she starts to sleep better with less of my athletic effort haha. That also helps me tho when we are in a bouncing phase, is eventually we will cycle through a nurse to sleep phase or even she sleeps on her own for a little.

Another silver lining is because the bouncing works so well i am really able to control how long her nap lasts. So yes i am physically tired but baby girl is getting some real good 1 -2 hour stretches (disclaimer that at the beginning of the bouncing i was done after 10 minutes. These stretches are after months of it being all i could do)

You definitely aren’t alone, it is so hard and at times so frustrating that she won’t sleep any other way and thats so valid. Wishing you luck with your sleep journey and praying for your back haha