Tell me how you put your newborn down to sleep

[Wugz22]

I have an 8 week old, just looking for some tips -

Do you feed to sleep? Put down drowsy but awake? Put down fast asleep? Rock to sleep?


If I put our little one down fast asleep, she always wakes up screaming, but if I can get her to fall asleep on her own in the crib, she stays asleep. It takes forever though - its a process of put the paci in, she sucks and falls asleep for .2 seconds before the paci falls out, let's out a little fuss, put the paci back in, falls out, back in, falls out, back in - for a solid 30 - 45 minutes before I can step away. I'm definitely not complaining, my first took hours of rocking, just curious how others get their babies to stay asleep!

 

[BabyCleo]

I got in the habit of putting LO fully awake, after a full cuddle. I make a routine in the crib - soother in, zip up sleep sack, turn on giraffe that makes noise, and give her her toy elephant to cuddle with. She LOVES cuddling her elephant (Ellie). Then I give her a few pats and rubs, tell her goodnight (even during the day lol) and I walk out. If she fusses, I go in, pat her again, etc etc. I don't let her get too upset of course, if she cries I pick her up and cuddle for a bit and then repeat the process.

Now, she is almost 4 months, and we have very few issues with going down for naps. I got torn apart for "crying it out" (which its not, I created a routine and the second she got upset I was back in there) but now she is able to get familiar with a routine and is comfortable with it.

We do the same routine if she sleeps in her crib, or in bed with us.

 

[SarahBear]

We bed share.

 

[RaquelDee]

Mine is six weeks old. For nighttime, she has a feed after a bath, then I turn the lights down and put on white noise, swaddle and a cuddle until drowsy, say goodnight and then down. At first we would have to resettle multiple times, but over the last week or so she has settled pretty quickly.

For daytime naps, I wait until I can pick some sleepy signs (yawning, glazed eyes, heavy eyelids, crankiness) then swaddle, close blackout curtains and put on soft music, then cuddle and talk to her softly until relaxed and drowsy, and put down. If she grizzles, I try resettling in the cot first by putting my hand on her chest and stroking her head, but if it escalates to a real cry I'll pick her up and talk softly to her again until she relaxes, and then down again. It has been a real battle to find this routine, we had a few weeks there where nothing would work in the cot and almost no daytime sleep happened unless she was being driven in the car or pushed in the pram, and I honestly thought she'd never nap properly. But this is working for us now, I think the consistency of trying it (even over those weeks when it didn't work) really helped.

 

[k4th]

Mine is 7 weeks old. At night we do bath, bottle, lullaby on monitor until he's asleep. Works a treat in the evening & then at night he just wakes for a feed & then goes back to sleep.

Daytime is like you describe though - if I cuddle him to sleep & then put him down, he wakes crying - usually about 20 mins later. If I put him down drowsy, he fully wakes and gets upset. We don't use a dummy anymore. Stalking for more ideas - although I think raqueldee is right - it probably needs time & practice!

 

[Zephram]

My LO is 9 weeks tomorrow. I cuddle or feed him to sleep usually. He occasionally takes himself off to sleep without a fuss too, prob for one nap a day, but he usually needs holding or he cries. I don't mind too much, he's my second so I know everything is a phase.

 

[Button#]

I hold her for 20 minutes after she falls asleep to make sure she's in deep sleep before I put her down. She won't go down at all in the day but generally she naps when we are on the move anyway, either in sling or pushchair. At night I use white noise and a blanket rolled up under her knees.

 

[amelia26]

Nearly 4 weeks old here and so far it depends what she's doing. We do try and put her down awake. Often it doesn't last long but sometimes it does. At night she tends tofall asleep feeding so we just put her down like that.

With my son we did the thing of holding him for 20 minutes until he was in a deep sleep but as he got older it got harder and harder to put him down without him waking. This time we're at least trying to put her down awake or drowsy. The worst that can happen is she doesn't settle and we have to pick her up again.

 

[amelia26]

Oh and she sleeps in the sling or pram too, particularly on days when my son doesn't have preschool as we're out and about a lot for him on those days

 

[KBCupcake]

My LO is 3 wks old. For her to actually sleep in her bassinet she needs to be held by me until she's very drowsy or sleeping, while being swaddled. That's pretty much the only way I can get her to sleep in there.

If I try any other way, within minutes she's stirring and then crying

 

[Rainbow82]

DS is 19 weeks now but since about four weeks we got into a similar routine as BabyCleo for night time, few minutes cuddle then straight in his bit with his dream sheep if he's drowsy or his light projector if he's more awake. He rarely fusses unless his light projector finishes before he drops off then we just put it on again. Sometimes if he goes down already sleepy he fusses when he takes his funny out so we go in put it back in and maybe let him hold our hand or stroke his face for a minute.
For daytime naps if we catch him before he is overtired we pop him in his lay back bouncer and he falls asleep, if he's a bit over excited and over tired he screams and we have to rock him to sleep, takes about five-ten minutes. Overall he's a good sleeper.

 

[MindUtopia]

At 8 weeks, my daughter still slept in the wrap with one of us in the evening and then went to bed when we did (we co-sleep). But when we did start putting her to sleep on her own in the evening, which was around 4 months, we'd do bath, read a story (if she wasn't too hungry or sleepy), and have a feed lying down in bed. If she was really tired, she'd fall asleep while feeding and then I could roll off the other side of the bed and sneak away. If not, she would finish and then I would lie there next to her until she fell asleep and then sneak away.

It's difficult to put a sleeping baby down, as you've noticed, because they have an inborn instinct to wake if they feel themselves falling, and being laid down on a bed from above triggers that instinct so they wake crying in a panic as you lay them down. If you can find a way to lie your LO down from the side, it's a bit easier, but most cots/cribs don't really make this possible unless you are co-sleeping.