At what age...

brittneycc1982

Did you put DC in their crib awake and let them falls asleep on their own?  I did a lot wrong with M (re sleep) and don't want to with S.  S is a really good sleeper, but I feel bad just leaving her in her bed!  I did it for naps the past two days because she WILL NOT go to sleep and I need to get some things done.  After about 10-15minutes she did fall alseep.  Just wondering when everyone else did it.  She is 4 months and seems ready.

Dani123

I started with M when she was 3.5 mos old but A seems to be a much better sleeper so I didnt really need to....I have done "drowsy but awake" a few times with A and she passes out eventually (no crying, maybe a little fuss) but you just have to make sure shes really ready to sleep, kwim?

amygauntt@windstream.net

I'm thinking around that age (4mo), but I would hold her until she was extremely drowsy, then put her down. After a few days, a little less drowsy, after a few days a little less drowsy, and so on, until I could just put her in her bed completely awake (but tired).

KristinKD

I feel the same as you -- naps are the one thing I hope to do differently with baby #2 since DD has always been a poor napper. I've never been able to put her down awake from naps. At 21 months, I'm still rocking her to sleep!

At bedtime, though, we did CIO when she was 10 months old, and she's been able to go down awake ever since.

Is S crying or just awake when you put her in the crib?

neverblushed

DD - 2 weeks (although we seriously backtracked on this later and I created a sleep NIGHTMARE that wasn't solved until around 13 months - ugh!!)

DS - 3 days and he was a great sleeper from the get-go. 

It's 100% true that babies can learn to coo themselves to sleep from a waking state, and that if you never get them used to being rocked/nursed to sleep, they'll never know the difference. 

Think of it this way: the idea that your baby is "lonely" or "sad" to be left alone is an idea that comes from an adult perspective about the child.  Honestly, the baby doesn't know the difference and has no idea that being left to fall asleep in a quiet room is something that would create loneliness.  It's a situation where guilt is the enemy of great parenting.  Don't let your adult-created, guilty feelings influence what you know (from long hard experience with your DD) is the right thing to do.

brittneycc1982

BTW, I don't mean CIO!  She just lays there and blabs to herself.

abpdjs

3.5 months......prior to that i was putting him down passed out and he was going from a great sleeper to up every hour!  so i talked to a mommy of 4 and told her what i was doing, she told me what to do, this was around when i started him on the rice cereal (more like 4 months), i would feed him rice cereal in between his late afternoon bottle and his nighttime bottle about 5:30 (which we called dinner), then he had a bath, then about 7 i would feed him his last bottle out in the living room and then let him digest his food and play quietly so it mimiked bed time, when he started yawning about 7:30 down he went with his eyes open, like a dream.  and thank the Lord he did b/c that was the first week i went back to work.

KristinKD

brittneycc1982:

BTW, I don't mean CIO!  She just lays there and blabs to herself.

Okay, in that case, I think it sounds like you're off to a good start if she's falling asleep on her own at this age without any crying. Hope it keeps up!

MrsCorbin

At about 4 weeks with DS.  DD was the worst sleeper and I expected the same with DS.  I would sleep in the livingroom with him in a bassinet.  He seemed to sleep well and didn't "need" me to comfort him.  DH said why don't you put him in his crib.  I started putting him in there and he has always put himself to sleep.  Now that he is older sometimes he fusses for a few minutes but we've never had to do CIO.

DD still doesn't sleep in her bed or go down when she is awake.  I don't know if it is their personalities or just their sleep habits.

katy75

If she seems ready - go for it!

I think I started doing that when she was rolling both ways just fine.  If I put her down awake, she would roll to her stomach immediately!  So, I waited until she was good at both ways and then didn't worry about it.

triplea1819

He seemed ready about 6 months.  I think for over night my husband put him down groggy around 4 months or so.