I think its a matter of deciding how you are going to do it & stick to it. I decided I wanted my kids to be put to bed & to go to sleep on their own. I have done this since day one & besides when they've been sick it has worked. I did I guess you would call it "controlled crying" when they were younger & its worked here. When they are sick I rock them but still put them in bed awake so they can go to sleep on their own, unless they're so sick they wont settle then I will rock them to sleep, but I could count the amount of times I've done that on one hand.
I would just really suggest CONSISTENCY with whichever way you choose to do it
Good luck xx
ETA: just read your second post...
How I've done it is in the early days after they were fed & it was bedtime I would pop them in the cot with a dummy in their mouth & cuddling blankie when they were old enough, kiss on the forehead, say "goodnight I love you" then walk out & pull the door to.
When they got older (this is what I STILL do with DS who is 22 months old) pop into bed with bottle of milk, arm around blankie cuddling it & dummy in hand for when milk is finished, kiss on forehead & say "goodnight I love you", turn & walk out pulling the door to.
DS is now afraid of the dark so I leave the hall light on so he can get some light into his room.
I hope that makes sense & is helpful.
Goodluck
Last edited by ~breeze~; July 4th, 2010 at 04:41 PM.
: adding info
I feed my little one to sleep for naps and at bedtime. Failing that, DH takes her and cuddles her and she is out like a light. He'll put her down in bed and sometimes she wakes, so he'll pick her back up again, other times she just stays asleep.
I wish I'd known more about babies and sleep before she was born otherwise I'd have started letting her put herself to sleep from the start. But what we do works for us and she gets loads of cuddles which is very important to me and DH.
With DD, I just used to put her in her cot at the same time every night (give or take half an hour) and she'd be wide awake, and I'd just leave the room and not hear a peep from her till her midnight feed.
I don't know how she did this, but she's generally a happy, easygoing baby. I guess it's just her nature to do this, coz we didn't consciously 'train' her to do this, or anything.
(That said, now she never does this and just wants to play all the time and I have no idea how to get her to sleep.)
During the day it depends on DD's mood. Happy= go to sleep by herself Sick/Cranky= feed to sleep (bf).
Night time I try, but dont always suceed, to put her in her craddle awake and let her go to sleep herself. But if she is sick, I will have to cuddle her to sleep then put her down.
We dont have anyone method that works, I am very dynamic about it.
Some babies just don't go to sleep alone. I tried putting Jazz in her cot, but she'd SCREAM being in there (we co-slept and tried to use the cot for day sleeps, we soon discovered she was terrified of the cot, and slept much better in our bed or a floor bed). Even if we were in there. She really only goes to sleep *with* someone. I guess she's just an affectionate people-person LMAO.
So when I am at work Shel rocks or cuddles her to sleep, and when I am home I either feed or cuddle her to sleep. If the feeding/rocking/cuddles don't work we lay down with her and just relax and wait haha.
I'm a pretty strict routine girl. Have done the same things with each baby. I don't know if it has worked because of the routine or that they are just good sleepers. When they were little babies till about 6mths or so they always fell asleep on the breast at about 7pm. They were both pretty rotten at first with daytime sleeps but have always slept well at night. veAs they got older and started having solids we have always eaten dinner, had thier bath, had thier milk (toddler) or breast feed then had quiet playtime incl. books for half an hour then bed. The time for dinner may vary but they are usually in bed 1hr after dinner. Both my kids have had dummies, the 3yr old gave hers up at two which caused a couple of screaming matches at bedtime, but they have both always just been put in thier beds (we read a book to our 3yr old), thier music turned on, lights turned off and the door closed. Every now and then they may cry a little but we have always just done the controlled crying thing if this has happened. Only once or twice we have gotten them up to sit with us. From about 8mths until they were weaned off the breast at 14mths they both would wake twice a night for a feed. Although this was a pain, it was easier to do than try to get them back to sleep without it. I also am a nazi with nighttime feeds tho. No eye contact, no talking, low lights, no noise, get in, change bum before, feed and put them straight back to bed with thier music. They both have strict times for sleeping in the daytime, my oldest was having two sleeps a day till she was two and she still has her afternoon sleep now. My youngest was harder to get to have a long afternoon sleep but i persisted with her for 7mths till she would have a decent sleep. She unfortunately dropped her morning sleep about 4mths ago, but they both still have a good two hours in the arvo, which means nanna nap time for me!!yay. In saying all this tho all bubs are different and i think i've just been lucky. gl
My son is 16 months. We put him to bed by going and getting his stuffed toy and dummy, he says good night to me and DD and kisses us, then DH takes him in, puts him in the cot, says ni ni, walks out and closes the door behind him. DS has gone to sleep like this pretty much ever since he was born and I think thats why he is happy just to go to bed, no fuss now- because its just how its always been for him. From day one when it was sleep time, we would just put him in the bassinet or cot and he would settle himself. If we tried to go in there patting his bottom or rubbing his back he would think its play time and jump right up! Of course there are times when we need to hold him or he doesn't go down that easily- when he is in pain or sick but thats not often.
With DD we sung, cuddled, snuggled in bed and did all sorts of things to get her to sleep, took HOURS and she was a cranky thing through lack of sleep (no idea what we were thinking!). She was almost 2 before she would go to bed alone in her cot without a fuss. DS is not missing out on all those good things, we just dont do them at bed time!!! haha
I guess for us, with DS being the second child, we figured we would try not to set patterns and habits with him that we would just need to break and change later.
Nothing has worked for my 10 month old daughter yet.. i have tried every trick in the book and have not found a solution to her poor sleeps during the day and poor night sleeping. During the day i have figued that she likes to be put in the pram infront of the tv with me gently rocking the pram, she will usually drift off. At night its, dinner, bath, books and then breastfeed and sometimes she will doze off but most times it is sit up, sit down, suck, sit up , lay down, suck, whinge, rock, sing etc etc.. and finally she gets that tired that she falls asleep.. so no great advice here but i agree with MummaSue - i wish i had known more about babies before i had one too
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