Putting baby to bed awake

ScoobyM · January 2011

Hi again - sorry for all the sleep related posts but I haven't been able to Bump in a while and I've had a lot of questions/thoughts building up!

We have not yet tried putting Noah to bed awake; we soothe him to sleep by rocking or walking and then lay him in his bassinet. I'd really like to teach him to fall asleep on his own though, and I've read that we should start this, like, a month ago if we want to avoid creating bad habits.

So - has anyone actually TAUGHT their baby to do this? I'm not talking people who just were always able to lay their babies down awake, I mean you soothed the baby to sleep for a while then started putting them down awake. If so, how did you do it? What did you do when the baby cried initially upon being laid down?

Thanks in advance!

stever · January 2011

We've been doing it since I weaned M a month ago and he's fine with it. We cuddle, read to him then lay down next to him(he's still in our room) to let him know it's time for sleep and he lays down, talks too himself then drifts off.

vanverth · January 2011

I still cuddle Michael until he is asleep and put him down. On the flip side, he has slept through the night for the past two weeks, except for last night when he woke up, pooped and then it was on for 1.5 hours.

superaunt · January 2011

we never rocked sabrina to sleep. ever. not even when she was itty bitty. sure she fell asleep on us a lot but from the very first day she was home, we swaddled her and laid her down awake - at night. we wanted to establish night vs. day right away so we laid her down awake. she cried and we kept our hand on her and/or sang to her, etc. sometimes she would fall asleep, more than not she'd wake after a couple minutes and not be happy. we never left her side (she slept in a bassinet for the first week, then in her crib) in the beginning so it was easier to tend to her right away but i really think tending to her right away taught her how to go to sleep.

the thing is that both my husband and i were totally on the same page with this nighttime routine and we didn't waver: as long as she was fed, diaper clean, we didn't pick her up. it took a good hour most nights before we could leave her side for more than a minute, but after a couple months (yes months), she was able to go to sleep on her own for the most part.

i really hope this doesn't make me sound like we tossed her in the crib or something because we really didn't. we just really wanted her to a) sleep in her crib and b) sleep and the one thing we both knew and understood then and now is that unless we were consistent with whatever we did- and always consistent- things would backfire.

today we lay her down completely awake. sometimes she fusses but that's it, she'll go to sleep- and it's been like this since she was about three months old. but it took MONTHS to get to this point... but well, well, well worth it IMO.

carladillon · January 2011

I BF Delaney until she was 13 months old, and BFing before bed was always our routine. Sometimes she would fall asleep while nursing, but other times she didn't. She has a Fisher Price projector mobile (the one with the animals) and if she was still awake, we put that on for her to settle down with. When/if she would cry, we'd let her fuss for up to five minutes - if she was still crying heartily, we'd go in and comfort her without picking her up. We've been very fortunate in that she will go to sleep on her own 99% of time, and if she wakes in the middle of the night or wakes earlier than usual, she'll entertain herself in her crib and usually falls back to sleep. She has a few stuffed animals/lovies in her crib as well to play with.

Pesky · January 2011

Sure. We'd go through our nighttime routine and when the baby was drowsy but not fully asleep, we'd pop the baby in the crib. Initially it was easier due to swaddling and sleep sacks and I will say having a polar fleece crib sheet helps a lot so it's a warm surface. Sometimes I would bounce the crib mattress for a bit, gradually letting up or rub the baby's back or head or even just leave my hand on DS's back (he was not into the rubbing). We'd turn down the lights and leave the room with white noise like a humidifier or something going. It works pretty well. Around 9-10 mos, they both protested being put in the crib and I'd let them cry for 5 minutes before going to back to soothe them, trying not to pick them up out of the crib. It works pretty well. I just put DS in his crib for the night and he's awake.

mwd · January 2011

I was trying to figure out how I was going to do this, with both kids in one room. I remember putting DS down and letting him CIO, but not until he was 7 mos old. Thanks for the post!!

Piranha54 · January 2011

We BF until a few months back, and when DD was younger, she almost always fell asleep nursing. When she hit about 6 months, she was very sleepy but generally not asleep and we just laid her down, let her fuss (CIO sometimes) and it was no biggie. Most nights she was out in less than 5 minutes. Some nights she cried, but as long as she didn't need a diaper change, we let her. Now that she's weaned, we have a sippy of milk, brush her teeth, sing and read and she goes down like a charm, awake. I will say that we had to move her bedtime up about 30 minutes when she started daycare and until we figured that out, there were a few bad nights.

ScoobyM · January 2011

Thanks everyone for the posts! We are in the process of moving Noah from a bassinet in our room to the crib in his nursery (he's done naps there this week and we may try him in there tonight). I think once he gets used to sleeping in there (at least getting up no more often than he already does Tongue Tied ) we will start putting him down awake. At least we'll try to; he also usually nurses right before bed and often falls asleep while doing so, but then I hold/rock him for several minutes before I swaddle him to make sure he's out, maybe I can stop doing that. I guess this means I also have to wean him off the swaddle since if he is awake he will get his arms out of there immediately (I suck at swaddling).

With Ellie, we rocked her to sleep till she was nearly a year old; we stopped right around the same time she stopped having a bottle before bed. But I think we were lucky because she would fall asleep with her paci and even if it fell out she'd sleep all night, we never had to go in and put it back. I'm worried we won't get as lucky with Noah.

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