When your LO goes to sleep...

[BurtonBaby]

When its time for your LO's bedtime, do you go through their routine and put them in bed awake or asleep? With us, there is no way Erica would let me put her in her bed awake and fall to sleep on her own. We rock her to sleep and wait til shes really out before putting her in her crib. Its the same for naps. Really the only time she will fall asleep on her own without us comforting her to sleep is in the car. Is that normal? Or should she be able to go in her bed on her own with her paci and her blankie and go to sleep?

What are your routines like?

Thanks,
Xx

 

[smartie]

Afraid I cant help you as we have exactly the same problem but I will be watching this thread with interest to see what suggestions are offered.

 

[Linzi]

We try to put Seth down when he is tired but awake.

If he cries we leave him for 5 mins, give hima cuddle, put him back down, leave him for 10 mins etc until he falls asleep, adding 5 mins each time.

It sounds harsh but sometimes theres nothing else I can do. It works though, its getting better every night.

xxx

 

[bisbis]

Sadly, i've got the same problem too.....for the past week i've tried to make sure he's not completely out before putting him down, when i do this, he'll stir then i have to pick him up, rock him a little bit then put him down again before he sleeps off. (it's hard to do this when i'm tired myself)
I'm really tired of rocking, my arms are starting to ache constantly already. so it'll be really nice if he' would just fall asleep on his own.

 

[Samantha675]

NOpe, if Bren is not out when I put him down he cries, and his crying only escalates. I just can't and won't let him cry it out. Several of my baby books say that until the age of 4 months, babies are not really mentally capable of soothing themselves to sleep. So in the next few weeks this will be something we are working on.

 

[Holldoll]

Have you read the No-Cry Sleep Solution? That's what we have been doing. I bathe her, massage her, nurse her, rock her until she's *almost* asleep and then I put her in her crib. When she's there, I'll pat her back until she is almost asleep again and then stop and if she fusses I'll pat her again, if not, I'll stand there until she falls asleep. After a week I'll put her down more and more awake. She's almost to the point that I can put her down pretty awake and she will fall asleep on her own without crying. There are lots of days we have set backs, but it's 2 steps forward, one step back.

 

[BurtonBaby]

Thanks!

Holly, I haven't heard of that,I'll have to go to B&N and pick it up. I've kinda been doing that the past few days. Mostly for her naps tho, because we have had our bedtime routine for a while, so I think I'll slowly change that. For her naps tho, once she is getting sleepy, I give her her paci and her blankie, lye her down, and shhh her or rub her back, and its been working. I watch until she falls asleep. I'll read that book to get more insight about it, thanks!!

 

[Whisper]

What age can you start the no-cry method?

 

[Holldoll]

In the book, it says that you can start it from birth, but you don't get great results until after 4 months.

 

[Samantha675]

I have been trying it with Bren, and we are not having much luck. He just escalates his crying till I pick him up, and at 2 in the morning, I can not deal with it, so I tend to pick him up pretty quickly. I am hoping once we get his reflux undercontrol things well be better.

 

[Holldoll]

I'm not so good in the middle of the night either. We are working on that part.

 

[Samantha675]

If Bren is not out when I put him down, he immediately begins to cry, he jerks his legs up in the air, and his hands fly to his face, which he starts rubbing. This of course all wakes him up more, which means more crying. As soon as I pick him up, he calms down and goes right back to sleep. I really don't know how to get him out of this, I am hoping that part of the problem is the reflux and the new medicine we got tonight will help, or that he will grow out of it soon. It is sooo beyond frustrating.

 

[Totally Mommy]

Damien goes to bed anytime between 9:30 and 12am. *LOL* I'm horrible I know but then I get to sleep in in the mornings. I'm not a morning person at all! It's actually 11:57pm here now and I'm just heading out to put him to bed. *LMAO*

I really REALLY need to start getting up early *LOL*

 

[Holldoll]

If Bren is not out when I put him down, he immediately begins to cry, he jerks his legs up in the air, and his hands fly to his face, which he starts rubbing. This of course all wakes him up more, which means more crying. As soon as I pick him up, he calms down and goes right back to sleep. I really don't know how to get him out of this, I am hoping that part of the problem is the reflux and the new medicine we got tonight will help, or that he will grow out of it soon. It is sooo beyond frustrating.

Do you swaddle him?

Totally Mommy, I put Bella to bed at 6:30! About as opposite as you and I can get! She gets up between 7:30 and 9:30 am. I don't deal well in the evenings and she seems to like to go to bed that early.

 

[Sara]

Indi goes to sleep when he wants which is usually around 8pm then we go to bed at 9.
Most days he wakes up around 5am, I don't mind though I like early mornings!

 

[marley2580]

I put Kaya down when she's asleep, but I get her off to sleep in her room so she's not scared if she wakes up. That said, she's only now happy to sleep in this way. We tried it at 6 months and she would get really upset at bed time, so we took a step backwards and went back to her sleeping on the sofa with us until bed time then coming to bed with us.

 

[tinytoes]

NOpe, if Bren is not out when I put him down he cries, and his crying only escalates. I just can't and won't let him cry it out. Several of my baby books say that until the age of 4 months, babies are not really mentally capable of soothing themselves to sleep. So in the next few weeks this will be something we are working on.

4 months? oh thank god, i thought it was 3 and was dreading having to get little Ted to go to sleep by himself! phew, another month!..

 

[Helen]

We found swaddling really helped Charlotte. She was sometimes a little restless on a night when she was newborn. I've always put them down awake from day one - it never even occured to me to sit and rock them to sleep (impossible with 2 anway).

The other thing that may help is reading. We started reading them a bedtime story from quite early on - just a poem or something short to begin with as they'd fall asleep and miss it! I think it just helps calm everything down at bedtime and you're not just plonking them in bed and walking off.

 

[lady3]

We used to do a bath but Marlie started getting restless and I think she just wanted to go to bed without any of the extras thrown in. How we got her to fall asleep on her own was we would put her down with her dummy and then put my hand on her chest and give her little rocking movements. If she whimpered a bit, I would shhhh into her ear and she seemed to like that. She holds onto my hand as I rock her to sleep now and then as she is about to fall asleep, I take my hand away and she drifts off by herself. It's getting easier and easier.

I also let her fall asleep a couple of times the first time in our bed. I thought the familiar smells would be comforting, and it seemed to work.

Another thing that works is her Tiny Love cot mobile. Wow. That thing rocks too!

 

[Samantha675]

If Bren is not out when I put him down, he immediately begins to cry, he jerks his legs up in the air, and his hands fly to his face, which he starts rubbing. This of course all wakes him up more, which means more crying. As soon as I pick him up, he calms down and goes right back to sleep. I really don't know how to get him out of this, I am hoping that part of the problem is the reflux and the new medicine we got tonight will help, or that he will grow out of it soon. It is sooo beyond frustrating.

Do you swaddle him?

Tried, and if he is awake, then he fights like hell and cries. So I started sneaking him into a swaddle when he had fallen asleep. As soon as he would start to move around in his sleep, he would realize he could not move, and he would fight and fight and wake up and cry till I get him out of it. Aside from this issue of getting him to sleep, he is such a good baby.