How do you settle your baby for sleep ?

[allycat06]

I usually feed my DS to sleep, it was the only way I could get him to sleep usually but now he's 11 months it doesn't always work and I have started doing the patting thing a bit more. I can't rock him only DH can, he won't have a bar of it from me! When he was around your little ones age I could usually feed until he was in that drowsy state then pop him on his side in the bassinette and pat his bottom. Now he wriggles and tries to sit up, roll over everything except sleep So now I often lie down in bed to cuddle feed him in bed so he is close and can't wriggle so much. If he gets restless and decides he doesn't want to drink anymore I'll just hold him really close, he'll usually whinge and try to look around for a few mins but soon enough he'll fall asleep and I'll transfer him to the cot or just leave him in the bed.

[KatieRabbit]

I also breastfeed to sleep (about 70% of the time). The other times he is just tired and goes off by himself. I do a sleep, play, feed routine and sometimes he gets really drowsy on the breast and other times he actually goes off to sleep.
Re patting- you can roll up a wrap/cloth nappies and put it under his tummy to stop the rolling and then take it from the cot when asleep, or hold the shoulder, or pat the side of the thigh when he is on his back. I gave up on the patting due to me getting a sore back stooped over the cot!

[SammyRo]

With DD, I fed her to sleep till she was about 7months old, when it just stopped working at night, so changed to patting to sleep - but I think she was ready for it, so it only took 2 nights to get her to sleep this way with absolutely no tears. Day time, however, was a completly different matter -nothing worked, apart from either a feed or a walk in the pram. Most of the time, I chose to go for a walk. It was much better for both of us - I didn't get stressed that she wasn't going to sleep, I lost the last of my baby weight and DD went back to having great sleeps. As time got on, she'd only need to get in her pram at nap time to fall asleep, which was great on wet days! But, about 9months later, DH put her in her cot for a sleep and she slept really well - so now she just sleeps wherever suits us best at the time.