Feedback please?

[Ezz]

The Situation:
DS sleeps really well at night (he generally sleeps 10pm - 6am, waking up twice, but will go straight back to sleep if you put his dummy in). During the day, he will only do 40min sleeps in his cot (but will sleep 2-3 hours if I hold him, or wear him in the sling). So, I figure it's a problem with being able to resettle himself after a sleep cycle (40 mins). I usually put him to sleep by rocking him (until he is settled, or lightly asleep) with a dummy in, then patting him in the cot until he is properly asleep.
I called Tressillian last night & they told me to ditch the dummy, stop patting him to sleep, and make sure that he is awake when I put him in the cot. I don't think that I want to give up the dummy, because it works so well at night time (so quick to resettle DS back to sleep).

So, I've been trying to work out a plan for teaching DS to self-settle a bit during the day. I'm looking for some feedback/suggestions...

The plan:
* Cuddle DS until he's quiet, but get him into the cot before he is asleep (avoiding the temptation to just keep cuddling!! - which seems so easy at the time...!).
* Give DS the dummy & walk outside the room (fortunately my computer is right outside his room ).
* Keep going in & giving pats/putting dummy back in as needed (ie. each time grizzling starts).
* Keep going for 20-30mins, then give up if it doesn't work & just cuddle him to sleep.

[~Trish~]

Ezz, your plan sounds great! I pretty much do what you do for my DS and no, I can't ditch the dummy either, it is my only resettling tool!

Perseverence will pay off in the long run so if you stick with your plan you will end up with a great sleeper.

Best of luck!

[Bathsheba]

Gee, is that what Tresillian say? For a 2 month old baby? I'd say you could give that a go from about 6 months... just my thoughts though.

At 2 months I usually BFed to sleep every time. Put them down in their cradles when they were in a deep sleep... or co-slept.

What sometimes works is popping them in their cots awake and doing something in their rooms like folding clothes or nappies. They might complain for a while but I would just go over and sit down on the floor beside the cot (this makes them go down if they can sit or stand) and sing. Then I would finish the song and return to my task.... over and over again. I did this from when they were about 10 months old but I guess it could work if they were younger.

Dummies; 2 of mine had them, my last didn't want a bar of it. I don't think they are that bad... you just do what works.

[mrsr]

I had loads of trouble with Jack sleeping during the day - he was doing exactly the same as your little one Ezz (Jack is now 8 weeks)...but have finally got him pulling 2-3 hours at a stretch for the last couple of weeks. I don't and haven't used a dummy...my routine is - and it doesn't change... bf and as soon as he comes off the breast and those eyes start to close, even the tiniest bit...we go straight to his room, turn on the cd player (same music all the time), wrap him up, kiss on the cheek then straight into bed, tuck him in and leave. Sometimes he protests a little, sometimes he'll cry for a few minutes, sometimes not at all...and he drifts off to sleep. I also hear him cry about an hour in...I let him go...and he re-settles.

[Ezz]

Bathsheba - It depends on who you speak to at Tresillian. I called up when DS was 2 weeks & they advocated controlled crying (at 2 weeks!!). I tried it once & cried as much as DS did - never again!!

mrsr - I have had the same routine since DS was about 3 weeks old (change nappy, wrap, soft music, dim lights, etc) - it used to work great (in fact, I posted about it several times because it was working so well!)! But just in the past week, he has stopped sleeping longer than 40 mins (PS - how boring does it get listening to the same CD 4 times a day )

I'm in the middle of my second attempt for today. I don't know how long I can keep this up! The first attempt I ended up having to cuddle him to sleep after trying to get him to self-settle for 20 mins. Then I put him in the cot, he slept for 40 mins & was wide awake again. I tried re-settling him in the cot (for 20 mins again), then ended up letting him sleep on my chest for an hour and a half. I know it's going to take a week or two, but I don't know if I have the patience!

[MistyFying]

Ezz he's still really little.... go with your gut instinct. Maybe he still really needs those special Mummy cuddles to send him off to sleep