How did you get LO to learn to fall asleep on his/her own?

LouRN09 · October 2012

There was a post that kind of touched base on this a few days ago, but ladies, I need some details! What things did you do early on to help facilitate this?

danieliza1127 · October 2012

Babies aren't really able to fall asleep on their own until at least 3 to 4 months old, so at this point, you shouldn't even be trying for that. Babies can't self-soothe that early.

My LO is 3 months old and he's just learning to self-soothe by sucking on his hands but he still doesn't fall asleep on his own.

LouRN09 · October 2012

danieliza1127:

Babies aren't really able to fall asleep on their own until at least 3 to 4 months old, so at this point, you shouldn't even be trying for that. Babies can't self-soothe that early.

My LO is 3 months old and he's just learning to self-soothe by sucking on his hands but he still doesn't fall asleep on his own.

There were quite a few ladies who mentioned in the previous post that discussed little ways they have helped their young ones to fall asleep w/o constant rocking, swaying, etc.

In no means am I asking for CIO methods as I never went that route with DS1.

JandKHall · October 2012

I rock LO for a bit after feeding or if he's real fussy he spends some time in his rocker swing and when he falls asleep I move him to his crib. I find that after feeding he falls asleep better on his own but that's because he gets "milk drunk". GL!

jessalynn521 · October 2012

My baby falls asleep on his own with a paci and has since 1.5 months. I DO NOT let him CIO, but he is very easily soothed by his paci so I definitely believe it is ok.

edited: to fix months.

greyt00 · October 2012

I guess I'm lucky -- DS2 has been falling asleep on his own since he was several weeks old. I put him in the co-sleeper and pat him for a minute or two and sometimes gave him the pacifier. He never fussed long. DS1 was swaddled and he did pretty good that way but DS2 is even better. He wears a sleep sack.

juliane2004 · October 2012

danieliza1127:
Babies aren't really able to fall asleep on their own until at least 3 to 4 months old, so at this point, you shouldn't even be trying for that. Babies can't self-soothe that early.
My LO is 3 months old and he's just learning to self-soothe by sucking on his hands but he still doesn't fall asleep on his own.

I disagree. DS and DD2 fell asleep on their own from day 1. They did this because we put them down awake and they fall asleep on their own, with NO crying.

For us, keeping an eye on the clock is the MOST IMPORTANT THING. Here's my recommendation, regarding "putting down awake".

Disclaimer: Do what works for you, this is what we do.

We keep an eye on the clock and keep DD2 up for only a certain amount of awake time (which at this age is basically enough time to diaper and feed her). See below for guideline by age. We put her down awake, to fall asleep on her own. No crying necessary. By not letting her get overtired, she is able to fall asleep on her own. Also, by putting DD2 down in her space awake, she does not wake up in a different place than she fell asleep (i.e. she doesnt fall asleep in my arms, then wake in her crib and be scared).

We also swaddle using the escape proof swaddle. I personally swaddle till about 5-6 months old. We thought DD1 hated swaddling, so we stopped at 2 weeks old. Then we found this method at 10 weeks and she fell asleep for 7 hrs that night. It works great for us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K4VdZxwsu4

We also have a fan for white noise and a fisher price aquarium for music/lights to distract her. And, if necessary, a pacifier. I highly recommend a crib attachment thing, like the aquarium, not a mobile. A mobile needs to be constantly wound up whereas the aquarium plays for 18 minutes and has a wireless remote that can turn it on from the doorway.

Guideline for Awake time for babies
0-4 weeks: 30-45 minutes
4-6 weeks: 40-60 minutes
6-8 weeks: 40-70 minutes
8-12 weeks: 50-80 minutes
3-4 months: 60-90 minutes
4-5 months: 1 hr to 1.5 hrs
5-6 months: 1.5 hours
6-9 months: 2 hours, give or take 15 minutes

Megroons · October 2012

danieliza1127:

Babies aren't really able to fall asleep on their own until at least 3 to 4 months old, so at this point, you shouldn't even be trying for that. Babies can't self-soothe that early.

My LO is 3 months old and he's just learning to self-soothe by sucking on his hands but he still doesn't fall asleep on his own.

I also disagree with this. DS falls asleep on his own every night in his crib with his pacifier. I do not consider that self-soothing either. What I would consider self-soothing would be if he was crying and I didn't tend to his needs causing him to either get through it himself or cry more. Correct me if I'm wrong...

mandy522 · October 2012

I agree with everything Juliane2004 said. We had a rough first couple weeks with sleep, but when I started watching for sleep cues around 45 minutes of awake time we suddenly had no problems.

Once I start catching the sleepiness, I start to soothe him with some rocking and shushing or singing, and when his eyes start to droop I put him down. He's almost never completely asleep when I put him down, except when I'm nursing in the middle of the night, and he falls asleep on his own within 5-15 minutes.

We also swaddle tightly and play white noise for him (although the white noise is only at night, I don't use it during nap time).

As far as self-soothing, we never let him cry at this age, but I will always give him a few minutes to calm himself if he's fussy in the middle of the night. Babies (and adults) wake between sleep cycles, and you are doing them and yourself a favor if you let them learn to go back to sleep. I've had friends who responded to every whimper and they still have to soothe in the middle of the night when baby wakes up - I think that's when you end up having to use CIO for sleep training. I was determined to avoid that, and I think the "pause" at night before responding has worked wonders with our LOs ability to sleep for longer stretches at night.

How did you get LO to learn to fall asleep on his/her own?

Re: How did you get LO to learn to fall asleep on his/her own?

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