Self-settling

[Lyrah]

Hey girls,

LO is 5 and a half months old and I still can't get him to self-settle. I always have to feed or rock him to sleep and I know that we got into this habit right from the beginning. I am completely against any CIO method and just can't bear to do that at all. Is there any way I can teach my LO to self-settle, without causing him distress and upset?

It is especially hard at bedtime. He goes to bed at 7, will usually wake again at about 8-8.30 where he gets very upset unless I feed him back to sleep. He will then sleep again until about 10 where he is wide awake until I go to bed myself (we co-sleep). It's a huge struggle and I have to rush like mad after he's gone to bed in order to cook the dinner and try and eat it before he wakes up again.

I asked my HV for advice and she told me to try a dummy to try and comfort him back to sleep rather than BF for comfort to get him back to sleep. I've tried this and he doesn't want it, it doesn't do anything and he just pulls it out of his mouth and plays with it, so really it wakes him up more.

I am getting worried that my LO isn't getting enough sleep at night due to the amount he wakes. Once I go to bed, he will wake twice for feeds during the night. I know that he is definitely waking up twice during night due to being hungry.

If anybody has any advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks

xxxxxx

 

[delongi]

we're in a similar position but 8mths old so i'll be watching to see what the suggestions are

 

[2wantedpls]

We are only 3 months and I'm trying the whole put down while awake thing and it almost worked but didn't!!

I don't mind rocking him but we have about an hour to finish dinner and eat before he wakes up for a cuddle and sleep again! Also have to rock him for naps most of the time.

Tried slumber bear last night. It just made him think linger about crying but did in the end :doh:

 

[Lyrah]

What's slumber bear?

Have tried put down and pick up and he just cries and cries Can't stand to see him upset!

xxxxx

 

[oliviarose]

Sorry I do not have any advice, but we are going through similar things at the moment.

Would love to get our LO to self settle, so will be looking at replies.

I have to feed our LO to sleep which can be frustrating when he is feeding for an hr at a time

xxx

 

[Seity]

I don't believe you need to teach a child to self settle. I never have and Gabriel is slowly figuring it out on his own. I feed/rock him to sleep almost every night.
The other night, he was still awake, so I put him in his crib and he wasn't crying, so I left the room and he fell asleep. So, I guess he figured it out on his own, but I still always feed/rock him to sleep as a general rule.

 

[Mrs Mayhem]

Holly is 11 weeks old and we are trying putting her down awake now, so far it's not going well, even if she is shattered, as soon as she gets in the cot she wakes up. We have a slumber bear but find its better for if she wakes from sleep, it soon nods her off again, but if she is already awake its of no use to her at all!
Yesterday she fell asleep by herself in the morning on her playmat. Am thinking if she can do it there she can do it in bed too....
But she is still young, and to be fair, I do love cuddling her to sleep!!

A slumber bear is a bear that reacts when baby makes a noise or a movement, its in their cot and as soon as it detects that baby is awake it plays either white noise/womb sounds/lullabies or your own recording to send them back off to sleep. As I say, it works really well when Holly wakes (so long as she isn't hungry) but not for actually getting her to sleep in the first place!! We have the slumber bear premium, I know there are others but don't know the differences....

 

[NG09]

I always rock my LO to sleep but the other day at nap time he was getting a bit frustrated with something when I was rocking him, so I just put him down awake, put his dummy in and gave him his bear, looked in a couple of minutes later and he was asleep :0 He did the same again today, so I put him down awake and he settled himself to sleep! He has just learned to do it himself, I don't think it's something you can make them do as such, I think if they want to sleep they will, if not they won't.

 

[Lyrah]

Thanks girls

xxxxx

 

[kc1980]

I would say controlled crying is the way to go. My LO learned how to self soothe this way and now she doesn't need any props to go to sleep, she does put her thumb in her mouth but once she's asleep, stops sucking it. It wasnt too too hard to do CC and I dont think it's mean at all. On the contrary, I think that she's a happier baby for it.