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Babies: 9 - 12 Months
Rocking for naps??
Anyone still rocking LO for naps? DS is 9 months old and will not fall asleep on his own unless he is rocked to sleep same at bedtime. I know i need to sleep train because he still gets up once a night at 3am and needs rocked.
Do i sleep train at night first and then do naps?
Has anyone done this successfully at 9 months? DS is 23 lbs and it's getting very tiring for me and his DCP to be doing this. Lately he has been fighting his naps and screaming while being rocked so i think it's time.
thanks!!
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Re: Rocking for naps??
We rocked DD1 to sleep for naps and bed until she was 12 months old. At that point she weighed 19 lbs and I was about 12 weeks pregnant with #2 and just couldn't keep spending an hour rocking before trying to lower her into the crib without waking her, so we sleep trained. We used the Sleep Lady Shuffle (the book is The Sleep Lady's Good Night, Sleep Tight). It took about 2 weeks, but ever since she has gone to sleep by herself with no problem and slept through the night. We waited another month to do naps, but in hindsight I would have just done it all at the same time.
We used the same method with DD2 at 6 months, naps and bed at the same time. She still doesn't sleep through the night consistently, but she goes down for naps and bed without a peep about 95% of the time.
DD1 Feb 2010
DD2 Sept 2011
Just hijacking this post, but I am in the same boat with my DD. My arms and back can't take it anymore!
Memali- can you explain the Sleep Lady Shuffle? Or is it too complicated to outline in a post?
Basically you are weaning them off needing you to help them fall asleep. You go through their bedtime routine as usual, and then lay them down awake. Sit next to the crib and soothe them verbally, but keep physical touching to a minimum. Stay there until they fall asleep. Every 3 days you move farther and farther from the crib, and try to soothe verbally less and less. Eventually, you've moved to sitting right outside their door, and then moved to putting them down and walking out. At that point some kids still need you to check in every few minutes, for a few nights, but you've taught them they don't need you physically present to fall asleep.
There is more to her "system" outlined in her book. The book covered ages newborn to 5 years, and has tips for different stages, how to use the Shuffle for different types of sleep problems and adjust for different ages. She doesn't advocate starting until 6 months, but talks about laying the groundwork for good sleep in the early months. It's not completely tear free, but for us it seemed more gentle than cry it out (which I'm not against in general, it just didn't feel right for our kids).
DD1 Feb 2010
DD2 Sept 2011
Thank you for that! I may have to pick up the book.
Did it take a very long time for your LO to fall asleep? I can just imagine that taking forever.
Spontaneous pregnancy #1
DD1 July 31, 2011
Trying for #2 since Oct 11
Spontaneous pregnancy #2= Ectopic #2= lost left tube
Spontaneous pregnancy #3= DD2 January 29, 2016
Spontaneous pregnancy #4= Ectopic #3
Spontaneous pregnancy #5= Baby #3 is a BOY!!!
It did at first. For DD1, the first night was over an hour, but night two was maybe 20 minutes, and it got shorter and shorter after that. Now she's 2 and she is a fantastic sleeper, falls asleep in less than 5 minutes most nights and sleeps through.
DD2 was a little tougher because we did it earlier - right at 6 months. It took an hour the first night, then maybe 45 minutes the next few nights, then 20-30 minutes the next few, until finally we were down to about 10-15 minutes. Naps were 30-45 minutes for a while longer. Now she's 8 months and still takes anywhere from 5-20 minutes to fall asleep for naps and bed, but she's generally just chatting to herself and getting cozy, not crying. I typically only have to go back in for crying 1-2 times a week, unless she's sick.
DD1 Feb 2010
DD2 Sept 2011
Thanks Ladies for your input! I'm going to sleep train as soon as this horrible teething bout is over!!! I guess i will start with night time a couple nights and then naps. Hopefully DS's Day care provider will help out with the naps as well!!
We did until recently. We would have to rock him for day naps, going to bed, and also when he woke up during the night LOL
Our son is 25lbs.... it is very tiring rocking them for god knows how long until the fall asleep! But recently our son has started being a bit more "independent" and no longer wants us to rock him to sleep at night. I have noticed that he gets even fussier sometimes and usually if I lay him in bed and just rub his head or back, that makes him fall asleep. He will occasionally still fall asleep being rocked with a bottle, but for the most part, he wants to be put down now. It's kind of sad though, but I know it's for the best
I would say just lay him down and let him roll around and get himself tired. That's what we would do when he would just scream on top of his lungs and not stay still in our arms. So maybe you could try that. What we would do is lay next to him in our bed and just talk to him or try to keep him still. After a while of crying and struggling he would finally fall asleep.
I rocked DD until only a few weeks ago for bedtime and nap time. We had tried sleep training before a few times, but it was hell and we gave up.
We decided to start letting her fuss/cry in the middle of the night when she would wake up while still rocking to sleep initally. This worked wonderfully. It only took about 2 nights and no more than 20 min each time. After we got that together we focused on bedtime. It took 4 nights. Then nap time was a lot harder (which is normal) She comes to me when she is tired and I will rock her for a little while until she is drowsy and then put her in her crib. Sometimes she still fusses, but not for long. If we are tuned in to whats on tv and she just so happens to fall asleep on me I just leave it be. It hasn't ruined any training so far.
Good Luck!
About 9 months is when we stopped... we didn't really have a "method", just started rocking less and less each night, putting him down more awake. I was actually amazed at how well it worked. Our rocking sessions were usually about 15 min, so I just knocked a few minutes off each night for about a week. Now, we sing one song in the rocker and at the end, he goes in the crib (less than 1 minute). His eyes are not even close to closing, but then he talks himself to sleep - pretty fast at bedtime, but takes about 10 minutes for naps.
When reducing the rocking, if he started crying once I put him in the crib, I'd let him cry for at least 3 minutes before going in. I found that if I went in too fast, the crying didn't help exhaust him and he was just being rewarded by my presence. I lay him back down, give him the paci (we only do it at bedtime, so he's excited to have it), and cover him back up.
My son is 11 mo now and sleeps great for naps and night. I've found there are a few things that I dreaded stopping and probably kept doing longer than needed - the rocking was one. Ditching the paci is our next step...