Getting baby to go to sleep question (kind of long)

Slpafford · March 2014

A little back story: I have always rocked DS to sleep with a bottle.We do have a bedtime routine that consists of bathtime (every other day), pajamas, lotion, story and then bottle/rocking. His bedtime is usually between 6:30-7:00. It takes anywhere from 2/3/4 hours every night to get him to go down for the night. I will rock/feed him and he will fall asleep. I will then put him in his crib. Sometimes he will stay asleep for a short period of time, other times he will immediatly wake up crying until I pick him back up and continue to rock him. He will sleep anywhere from 5 to 30 min and then wake up and repeat the process for a few hours until he is finally good and asleep for a longer period of time. He then will wake a couple of times a night for a feeding but will usually go back to sleep pretty quick after those feeds.

We took DS to the doctor today for what ended up being an eye infection and DH asked the doctor about his sleep schedule. His pedi said we should really be putting him to down in his crib while he is awake and that at this age he can now become dependent on being rocked to sleep. She also talked about how at this age it is confusing for a baby to be rocked to sleep and then when he wakes up he is in a different place. (She compared it to an adult falling asleep in bed and waking up on the front lawn with no idea how they got there). Right now we do not offer a bottle everytime we go in, I will first try to put his paci back in, pat his back, pick him up and rock him, and then offer a bottle as a last resort. The pedi also suggested giving him water instead of formula at these times.

So I am wondering if anyone has tips/tricks/suggestions on how to transition from rocking to sleep to putting baby down awake. I know there are a lot of you out there whose babies aren't great sleepers. So what advice do you have? DH and I just dread the evenings anymore because of the hours of fighting DS to sleep.

Also I am pretty much anti-CIO, it just gives me anxiety when DS is crying so I couldn't imagine him crying for a prolonged period of time. Any suggestions would be appreciated! TIA

BlondieBia21 · March 2014

I found that I was doing this all wrong! When our pedi first said to put LO down awake, I just figured "okay, I'll lay her down and she can figure out how to sleep." Nope, wrong. I still will rock her until she is drowsy, I can tell when it's time when she starts fluttering her eye lids. I then place her in her crib and she will roll around for a few minutes until she gets comfy and then goes to sleep. I have been working doing this at every nap time and she is getting better at it now. I know it still includes rocking, but I'm not rocking until she's completely asleep. Hope that maybe helps a little bit!

ETA- Our routine is PJ's at 8, bottle at 8:30ish, rock for a little bit, then placing her down for the night.

magdalina.h · March 2014

I've been nursing her until her eyes flutter and then laying her down. She is, however, in an awful routine of waking up between 11:30-12 and MH has to rock her back to sleep.

catskitch · March 2014

DS gets drowsy around 8. His nightly routine consists of a bath around 7:30, boob at 8pm or so, and he falls asleep at the boob. If he doesn't he's already drowsy enough that when I put him in the crib, he'll just get himself into a comfy position and fall asleep on his own. If he's not drowsy at all, he won't soothe himself no matter what.

Slpafford · March 2014

Thank you for your advice! I re-read my originial post and I know it is kind of rambling on! Getting him to sleep is stressful enough and now DH is convinced we are doing everything wrong! We are all tired so thank you for these tips!

catskitch · March 2014

forgot to add

if he gets up in the middle of the night, I let him stir a little before going in to check in on him as long as he's not crying. he usually goes back to sleep after a few minutes. In the rare occasion that he wakes up crying like a banshee, we pick him up. Also, if it's over 3 hours, I offer the boob. He always eats after his first stretch of sleep which is usually 6-8 hours.

amarissa85 · March 2014

I make sure jr is good and drowsy before I lay him down. He usually fusses for a minute or so and then drifts off to sleep. He gets up a few times a night and I is usually nurse him or it escalates pretty quickly.

lkobriant · March 2014

We got the same speech from our pedi. My thoughts are this: yes, it's important to let him learn to put himself to sleep, BUT it's also important for everyone to get sleep, period. Most of the time DS is kind of in between when we lay him down. I always put him on his back but he rolls to his belly as soon as he hits the crib so I feel confident that he's awake enough. We start bedtime at 7 with bath, lotion, story/books, rock/bottle. We were told to drop the bottle and the rocking so that he didn't require them to sleep. Thing is, this week all on his own, I've been able to set him in the swing when he looks tired and he'll knock out within 5 minutes.

I guess what I'm saying is, yes it's good to aim for that, but they'll kind of let you know when they're ready. I've learned that DS isn't always on the same timeline the pedi thinks he should be.

Caz1221 · March 2014

We were having this problem for a couple months when LO was about 3.5-5 months old. It would take hours to get her down for the night. She would fall asleep while being fed or rocked but pop awake whenever we tried to put her in the crib. We started shush-patting her in the crib (picking her up if she got upset but putting her back down as soon as she calmed down) instead of rocking her, and it was a huge success for us. It seemed like she just needed to practice falling asleep in her crib, and we had actually been interfering by rocking her.

Over the last 2 months, she has needed less and less help falling asleep, and now most nights, I can BF her, lay her in her crib drowsy but awake, leave the room, and she puts herself to sleep. She's even started doing it for naps. I think the key is to find what works for your LO. Mine is a lot more independent than I was giving her credit for! GL!

Texasmomma13 · March 2014

I thought I was going to have to rock S to sleep till she left for college. Then, about a week ago, she just decided that she hates it. So, I've been doing our normal routine, minus the rocking and plus a story. I get her ready. Place her in the crib. Read a short story with the lights low then turn on the white noise and kiss her good night. She fusses for a few minutes then dozes off. It's glorious!
I've found that the key is making sure she is tired but not overly tired or she gets super cranky and screams at me.

juliad2010 · March 2014

I usually nurse LO until he is asleep or almost asleep. Once in his crib he usually wakes up enough to change positions a bit, get comfy and I pat his bum or rub his back while white noise is on low volume. Most nights takes less than a minute of patting.
Maybe your dr means barely awake, very sleepy?
I know DS wouldn't go for it if I put him in his crib unless he was very sleepy.

Marvel1013 · March 2014

Apparently I'm doing it alllll wrong. LO will not go to bed awake.. She screams and cries, so I have to nurse her to sleep or till she's extremely drowsy. With all these responses it seems like I'm failing in the sleep department.

TrueBeliever925 · March 2014

Marvel1013 said:

Apparently I'm doing it alllll wrong. LO will not go to bed awake.. She screams and cries, so I have to nurse her to sleep or till she's extremely drowsy. With all these responses it seems like I'm failing in the sleep department.

I'm with you. I can get him down for naps drowsy, on occasion, but not to bed. I have to snuggle him. And you're definitely not failing!

Marvel1013 · March 2014

So difficult! I would love for her to learn how to go to sleep on her own, but how do you "teach" that without doing CIO (and no I don't want to do that). DS was 8 weeks old and going to sleep in his own in his own room, this is so new to me! Ahh!!

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BelhurstBride · March 2014

@marvel1013, check out the No Cry Sleep Solution.

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Getting baby to go to sleep question (kind of long)

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