Drowsy but awake...

orangegoggles

Moms who have mastered putting your LO down drowsy but awake, did you see an improvement with your child's ability to self soothe during the MOTN?

My DS has been waking after every sleep cycle at night because he can't transition himself back to sleep without comfort. It's been going on for a long time now and I can't function.

I've read that putting your child down drowsy but awake helps them to develop self soothing skills that they use during the night. I'm not trying to have him STTN even but sleeping longer than an hour at a time would be nice.

OhBaby+2013

DS has been going down drowsy it awake for quite some time, I've really never rocked or nursed him to sleep.  But over the last month he's definitely been more awake than he had been.  DS is 4 months. And only in the last week has really started to get the self soothing thing down.  I found that putting him down for naps drowsy but awake has made a bigger impact on his ability to self soothe.  Good luck, it will get better!

DublinMama

I put DS down drowsy but awake, and I notice on our video monitor that when he finishes a sleep cycle and stirs to the point of almost waking, he puts his hands up to his face and sort of rubs them together or rubs them on his face. He may make a few sounds, but I wouldn't call it fussing or crying. He still wakes up to eat once or sometimes twice a night so there's a clear difference when he's fully awake and hungry and when he's working through a sleep cycle transition. I'm not sure if he's self-soothing when he does that, but he has never woken up in the MOTN needing anything but to eat, which is still very normal for his age.

DS does fuss (but never cries) almost every time we put him down initially for the night, but we have a projector that has really helps distract and soothe him to sleep. He is often out in less than 10 minutes. The projector has a timer so I don't have to worry about going back in there and turning it off. 

this decaf life

DD has a really hard time with this but the past two nights I've put her down and made sure she was a little awake and then I stood and rubbed her head/belly for a few minutes to help her fall asleep while she's in the bassinet and both times she's done pretty great falling asleep.

Last night she slept 7 hours straight for the first time in almost 9 weeks. 

martha919

this decaf life:

DD has a really hard time with this but the past two nights I've put her down and made sure she was a little awake and then I stood and rubbed her head/belly for a few minutes to help her fall asleep while she's in the bassinet and both times she's done pretty great falling asleep.Last night she slept 7 hours straight for the first time in almost 9 weeks.nbsp;

Congrats! We're on the same BMB, but you might not recognize me. I'm happy for you guys, though!

maroongolf

DD1 could do drowsy but awake by 2 or 3 months, but she still woke multiple times per night until she was 6 months old. It may have helped her, but it took months to see improvement. DD2 is 4 months and I have to rock her to sleep, and she wakes about as much as her sister did. 

momofmanyinthemitten

I trained him at 2 months to put himself to sleep, but he still wakes 2 or 3 times at night. However, he nurses a full feeding each time, so I don't think we've really put his self soothing to the test at night. But, if I had to guess, I'd say that he doesn't self soothe well in the MOTN.

orangegoggles

Thanks for your experiences ladies!