When you put your LO down for the night, how long until he/she's actually sleeping?

[Wugz22]

FTM... just curious about what is typical?! We've finally gotten to the point at 6 months where I can put our guy down awake in his crib at bedtime and he can take it from there, but he'll kind of moan and groan and coo for 15-20 minutes sometimes! I don't expect him to fall asleep the second his head hits the mattress, obviously we can't even do that as adults, but how long do you hear your little one stirring around until they nod off?

 

[iiTTCii]

It depends how tired she is. Some days we put her down and she will be asleep before we have even left the room, whereas other days, it might take her 5 minutes. We put her down around 6.45 and she's always flat out asleep before 7.

 

[MummaMoo]

Last night she was out within 10 minutes. First time that's ever happened! She STTN too - second time that's ever happened! It just doesn't feel normal yet...

 

[elle86]

I must be doing Something wrong- my son is 10 months old and there is no way I can just put him down and he will go to sleep on his own.. I have to feed him to sleep.. If I try to put him back in his own bed most of the time he will wake up crying- had him sleeping in our bed now for a week! Also he is still not sttn he wakes up a minimum of twice!

 

[mummytobe_93]

It can be anything from a few minutes to about 20 minutes. Usually about five. She talks to herself and within a few minutes she's rolled over on to her front and is out!

 

[wtbmummy]

Ds sometimes falls asleep on the bottle if he is really tired. Mostly though we give him his dummy and it takes from instantly (as soon as he has latched onto his dummy) till about 30mins if he drops his dummy as then he can self settle without, just takes longer.
Naps are a bit different though can take an hour to get him to sleep and then he will only take 30mins

 

[liz1985]

Ds used to take anything up to 20mins. Dd sometimes falls asleep on her last feed but if she goes down awake and it takes more then 10mins I know its not happening and I have to get her out and rock her to sleep.

 

[rihanna]

sometimes before I'm out the room other times 5-10mins xx

 

[Dolly84]

My ds is 10 months and he has only been able to be put down asleep from 7 months. It al depends on when he has his last nap, his bedtime is 8pm ish, but if his last nap is at 5.30pm then he goes off within 10 mins, if his last nap is at 6.30pm it takes about 20 mins. We just go with the flow, as long as he's not crying then he just potters about in his cot and turns himself on to his tummy, plenty if times he's fallen asleep on all fours too☺️

 

[makemeamammy]

We were the same - we could only put her down awake after 6 months. For our little girl it's between instantly and 10 minutes on a good night and anything up to about 45 minutes if she's less sleepy and practicing a new skill - right now it's crawling so she will just try and crawl about her cot until she eventually passes out

For naps I read a story, turn her on my chest and rock and she's out within 5 minutes most of the time...I just think it would take up too much of the day if I put her down awake and waited for her to go to sleep x

 

[kmarie09]

It takes my LO about 15-20 minutes to go to sleep after we lay him down.

 

[Vicki_Cream]

Haha I feel like I'm doing something wrong now, my DD has to either be bf to sleep, or bounced in her bouncy chair. I wouldn't even know where to start with getting her to self settle in her cot! If she wakes up during the night and isn't hungry, she often blinks a few times, rolls over and goes back to sleep.

 

[yeahuloveme]

as soon as she lays down she takes her dummy her muslin, and closes her eyes then I put her mobile on, she might loose her dummy a couple of times, but never have to go back in for more than 5 mins, and most times if I do it is only once but it will only be to put her dummy in, she loves her bed and loves her sleep

 

[Teri7489]

I'm sure Isabella falls asleep on the way in to her cot. She can be wide awake and before I put her blanket on she's sound. Xxx

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

It's ranged from minutes to 30 minutes. As long as she wasn't crying I'd let her be. If she cried I would just pick her up and rock her til she was asleep and put her back in the crib! [Right now she's going through a tough time falling to sleep on her own so we've been rocking her to sleep every night since she was 7.5 months old or she just wouldn't sleep at all. I'm sure it's just a phase but before that she did just fine with self settling/soothing]

 

[Vicki_Cream]

Well, for the first time ever DD self settled to sleep. She fed, rolled around a few times, peeked at me and then drifted off. I couldn't believe it!! I'm sure it's a fluke, but hopefully it continues!

What did you all do to encourage them to put themselves to sleep in their cot? She doesn't have a dummy, and refuses to take one, but adores her comforter.

Any tips would be fab, as long as it doesn't involve CIO or CC. I'm not against it, it just isn't for me

 

[sue_88]

After cuddle, small rock and a kiss cuddle night she's then placed into bed and is usually asleep in 5-20mins. Although tonight was 55mins!!!

 

[Wugz22]

For the longest time (and still for naps occasionally), I discovered this weird trick that worked for our little one… I'd put him down awake but I'd put my fist into the head of the mattress and press it up and down, make it vibrate/shake a little. I figured that he could always settle in his car seat or stroller rides with some bounces, why not try it in the crib?

 

[lanaross]

10 minutes for me but then again he's the sneaky one so sometimes he just gets really quiet but if I go check on him he's playing with his bunnies and is wide awake. Whatever really

 

[spunky84]

It used to be like clock work. She'd have her bedtime bottle, get drowsy, put her in her crib, and she'd be out.

Ever since she started crawling and pulling herself up (within a few days - week of each other), it now takes 1-2 hours (for the last month and a week).

No matter how much we stick to the schedule - or even try a new schedule - it doesn't matter. It doesn't work. She'll be obviously tired (rubbing her eyes - normal sleepy cues). We'll give her the bedtime bottle, she'll be almost out, we'll put her in her crib... then she's wide awake, pulling herself up, pulling things into the crib, dropping things out of the crib. She'll start by dangling her tag blanket over the edge, and then she'll drop it. Take her pacifier out of her mouth, hold it over the edge, and then drop it. Then she screams until we pick them back up for her.

We've learned that there are times we just have to let her fuss. Sometimes she'll finally lay down and go to sleep. Other times it's obvious that she won't go to sleep, so we'll go in (after attempts to settle her in the crib - laying her back down, giving her the pacifier again, etc), we'll bring her back out of her room, and pretty much re-start the routine. Sometimes it works on the second try. Sometimes we have to go for a third try.

We feel like awful parents because she really just has no set bedtime now. She used to go to bed the same time every night, and now, while we try to get her to bed at the same time, with her fighting sleep so badly, the time she actually goes to sleep varies.

She fights sleep so badly. But, bottom line, it usually takes a good couple of hours. On average. There's been times it's taken 3 hours. We have no idea what to do.