Fuss to Sleep

MalyJ

Do you let your LO fuss him/herself to sleep? If I put DS down awake, he will whine and fuss, NOT full blown cry, and after a couple paci replacements, eventually falls asleep. Do you all do this? Or is it too early?

Let me be clear...he's NOT crying himself to sleep...if he ever gets into a full blown scream I go in and do what I need to soothe.

Just looking for insight...

eireyes

We just started doing this at our house.  I used to rock A to sleep and then put him down, but he was waking up and freaking out 30 minutes later, so now I'll rock him to drowsy and then put him down.  Sometimes he fusses a little, but usually he's able to find his fingers and go to sleep. If it's obvious the fussing is escalating, I just go back in and soothe or restart the process.

ksulli

Two nights ago she wouldn't stop fussing while I tried to snuggle her to sleep, so I put her in her crib. She promptly stopped fussing and started chatting herself up. 20 min later she was sleeping peacefully. WTF baby. But yes, if she's just squeaking I let her be. Often times the grunts are working a fart out and once it comes she's asleep.

kelbel2440

We do the same. I replace the paci when it "falls out" aka he spits it forcefully across the crib. Sometimes he falls asleep in minutes, sometimes half he. If he escalates to crying it's cuz he wants to sleep and is keeping himself awake with flailing arms or what have you. If it's obvious he is struggling I help by holding his arms down, if that don't work then it's rocking time.

Twirple

We do.  There are days when Carlene gets tired and really does not want to be held (full purple crying while I'm holding her).  If I put her in her crib, she will calm down to a mild fuss, then find her thumb and fall asleep.

acrookston

Yes, Dean has started doing this.  A few tired moans and eventually he falls asleep

joyfullyfound

Absolutely! I think that's part of learning to go to sleep on their own. DS fusses himself down fo almost every nap.

Jessimax

Yup, and flame away but I even let LO cry for a few minutes. Not the 10-20 minute CIO but a couple minutes. She usually falls asleep and has her best sleep after a few minutes of crying.

baileymama3

Yes, typically. If his fussing escalates to cries, I wait about 5 min and then go in, but it's usually because he is overtired.

AcaAwkward

I'll let him fuss...but it never works.

moonsparkles

I would love to let him fuss, but once he finds his thumb, there's no going to sleep.  The motion of it falling out of his mouth keeps him awake.  So he'll be calm for ten minutes then SCREAM.

Cecilbear

Hm it depends. LO is a purple-screamer and some times it's hard to tell when she is just fussing or when she's headed to full-out meltdown. I like to head off the meltdowns if I can by picking her up right away. Today though, I needed a few minutes to take some deep breathes (eek!) and was suuuuper surprised to see her on the monitor fussing a bit and then passing out hard!

thejewelster

Absolutely! He fusses whether I hold him or not. It's not a cry though, at all. Kinda would like to offer him some cheese with this whine. He does it every time he naps or goes down.

Dixon813

Just started doing this. We've stopped rocking to sleep and will maybe sway or bounce a little then put down drowsy, let him fuss. If it becomes crying, I let him go for a minute (I stand outside his door looking at my watch) go back in, replace the pacifier and sing a little song to him then leave. Tonight I only had to go in twice (it's been fewer times since we started...)

hpanabaker

Yes. We've been doing this since about two months old. Flame if you must, but it works for us and like MalyJ said, he does not CIO, he just fusses.

Laroo0220

Dixon813 said:

Just started doing this. We've stopped rocking to sleep and will maybe sway or bounce a little then put down drowsy, let him fuss. If it becomes crying, I let him go for a minute (I stand outside his door looking at my watch) go back in, replace the pacifier and sing a little song to him then leave. Tonight I only had to go in twice (it's been fewer times since we started...)

We do exactly this except I let her cry for 3 min (I also watch my clock) and then do exactly the same as this. It's a good little routine that makes me feel more sane and LO usually only needs this repeated one time and then she is out. Rocking to sleep was not working for us anymore bc she was waking up 30-40 min later and freaking out. I'm guessing it was bc she had no clue where she was

macynsnoop

Yep, we are now doing the put down drowsy business, wish we would of taught him this from the start. So inevitably we get either fussing, talking or crying. Hopefully the crying part goes away as he gets better at soothing himself. You can see it happen on the monitor. As long as he is ready for sleep he will fuss until he finds his hand, then will talk himself to sleep. Other times you can see him just get more & more escalated until you have to rescue him & do some rocking.

Moranju

I'm definitely in the same boat with having to go back in 2-3 times after putting LO. down for bed. It takes forever since she wants to get back on the boob and nurse/pacify her way back to sleep. She doesn't take a pacifier and still likes/needs to be fully swaddled for sleep. Do I have any hope that she could fuss herself to sleep? Everyone here mentioned paci's or finding their fingers, and she has neither option. Instead I'm like a human pacifier....any thoughts?