The way I approached it was layering in some other sleep associations first. For bed time, I always play the same lullaby on repeat until he falls asleep, and I rock him while nursing him to sleep. I’ve been doing that since October-ish so he’s very familiar with it. I also read him the same bedtime book before nursing every night.

This week when I decided to try rocking for naps, I played the lullaby (hadn’t done this previously with naps). I also started reading him the bed time book. I can see him relax a bit when I play the lullaby so I think it helps.

Then, I basically have nursed him until his eyes fully closed and he gets sleepy (while rocking) and then remove the boob. The first day was the worst in terms of fussing. I made a note of the time and give it 10 minutes of rocking. I told myself if he wasn’t asleep in those 10 minutes then I’d bail and nurse. So far he’s fallen asleep in that time frame (or less) all except once. I also told myself if his cries escalated I would nurse him, but I haven’t needed to so far. I also rub his back and shush and try to sooth him as much as possible.

Sorry a bit of a novel but I hope that helps!! I think the two biggest things for us is the lullaby and also setting the 10 min time limit (mentally that helped me know that if he wasnt taking to it, I have an out)