Hi,
My dd24mo, can't fall asleep unless my husband or myself rock her and sing a couple of songs for her..., she falls asleep in our arms and we put her in her bed. where she stays for most of the night, usually coming in at 4am ( this I don't mind so much, since i love cuddling w her). I know that it's absolutely our fault that we got her used to falling asleep in this way, but now, because she's so big, we are hitting the limits of our patience.
We do read to her before the whole rocking chair nonsense, but don't know how to transition to just laying in her toddler bed, and not needing so much assistance.
Please help cause I'm starting to dread having to put her down to sleep.
J
ps/ for naps its the same thing, unless we're in a car, it's horrible.
Re: Teaching how to sleep: Advice please :S
Married DH 7/30/11
CSC arrived 5/7/12
CHC arrived 6/2/14
The system has you put the baby/toddler down when tired/drowsy, after bedtime routine, but before they're too tired (or overtired). The first three nights, you sit next to their crib/bed and stay with them until they fall asleep. Gradually, in three night increments, you sit further and further away from the crib until you are outside the door. DS cried the first night for 45 minutes, but honestly after that, he barely whimpered. He now goes down for naps and for bedtime without any rocking and pretty much on his own. His middle of the night wakeups are a lot more infrequent and he goes to sleep much easier when he does wake up in the middle of the night.
You do have to be committed to "sleep training" and that's why I put it off so long. For me, having a system outlined in a book was key because it helped me stick with the plan and not give in.
Good luck!
We just recently got our 2 1/2 year old to put herself to sleep. We stopped rocking completely to sleep around 18 months or so. We would rock her until drowsy then lay her in bed and hold her hand until she fell asleep. That worked out great for awhile until she started "playing" with us in bed and was taking longer and longer to fall asleep. We decided that we really needed to get out of her room.
Now we do books and sing to her in the rocking chair for a little bit and then put her in bed, give kisses and leave the room. She holds her little Dora light and is out in like 5-10 minutes. It's amazing. At first she didn't want us leaving so we started out just leaving for 2 minutes, then 5, etc. and we would come back in and check on her. It took about a week but she got it. Good luck! The hardest part for us was actually buckling down and deciding we were really going to commit and do it. it actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
I agree 100% that it's a commitment issue, it had always been easier just to do it the old way, until now. Hubs and I are ready
Thanks!
J