Changing his sleep routine

Hi ladies!

My 11 month old DS has never self settled. Not once, ever. Every time we rock him to sleep. A few months ago, we tried to get him to self settle by putting him in his cot, patting him and so on until he went to sleep. It didn't work. Even though he did eventually go to sleep he started waking up more regularly and his daytime naps dropped to 1/2 hour. So we went back to rocking. We don't "rock" him so much as just sit with him in our arms & cuddle. That has been fine because I enjoy the cuddles and it wouldn't take to long, usually less than 1/2 hour.

Now this is changing. It is now taking up to an 1 1/2 hours of rocking (both physically rocking & sitting with him cuddling) and singing and patting. He just refuses to close those eyes. As much as I love the cuddles, they aren't as much fun when he is wriggling and crying and pretending he's not tired. I'm hoping that this is a sign that he might be ready to try going to sleep in his cot. I refuse to CC so I would be there with him the whole time, patting him or picking him up if he needs it.

So I have many questions
1. how do I make the transition?
2. do you think he might need to drop a nap? he is having 2 at the moment and this pattern happens at both naps & bedtime.
3. he is teething at the moment so do you think this is just a phase and will go back to normal? His 3rd tooth just poked through today but this pattern has been happening for a while now - maybe a couple weeks.
4. How do you convince him to lie down in the cot? He is standing (and climbing) so the mattress is on the lowest setting, very hard to bend over & hold him down.

Sorry this is a bit rambled, I have so much going through my head right now.

TIA

Hi Rowellen,
My Girl was born on the same day as your DS and we have had sooo many sleep issues in the last eleven months! Firstly I have found teething makes a big difference here, but you said it has been happening for 3 weeks, has he been unsettled ie red cheeks etc the whole time? We still feed DD to sleep most nights, other nights we rock her in her pram and then transfer her when she is in a deeper sleep, have you tried that? It is a nice excuse to go for a night time walk :)
We dont do CC either, and it is impossible to pat her bum to sleep as like you said they wriggle and sit up and carry on these days. Is your DS showing tired signs when you start rocking him? I believe they drop a nap when they are ready, so if he is showing tired signs then I would think he still needs his 2 naps but Im no expert either. Sorry if this is all muddled! With all the sleep problems we have had here, eventually I just gave up trying to change patterns etc and she started sleeping better about 2 months ago but I think seriously it was just when she was ready to do it, stubborn little thing she is. Hopefully someone else will have some better advice for you :)

OMG I could have written your exact post and was about to, pmsl. Am looking forward to reading replies. My DD never self settles either, I have to rock or feed her to sleep every time. I don't know how to get her to know that I want her to go to sleep when I put her in her cot, she just gets up and walks around.

So, no suggestions from me, just sympathy and :hug:

So glad to hear I'm not the only one!

Thanks for the tips Peach. I might try walking him in his pram & see if that helps. Hopefully it won't be raining tonight. DS has been showing teething signs on & off for the last 2 months! But he is getting his top teeth & they seem so much worse than the bottom ones (not looking forward to molars). It's hard to tell though as he doesn't seem to get many teething signs apart from being super grizzly & sometimes (but not always) biting & pulling his ear. DS is brilliant with the tired signs though. He does every one of them lol! I always wait for his tired signs before starting the sleep routine & I try not to let him get overtired. Doesn't always work though. I do think he needs his 2 naps. We give him a bottle as the first step in his routine. Usually it will get him in the zone so to speak but he never goes to sleep on it anymore. Lately it hasn't been working. Maybe now that tooth has appeared, he might be more settled.

Thanks for the :hug: Heaven. Gladly accepted & returned!

Ive jinxed myself I think! Ive been trying to get DD to sleep for an hour and a half now, boob, pram, give up, try pram again with her yawning the entire time Aaaaaargh lol. Instead of baby buddy groups we need 'Babies who hate going to sleep' group...there would be too many of us to keep up :)
Go to sleep Babies! Here is hoping and dreaming of the day where our babies self settle :pray:

Haha I just replied to another thread about this exact same thing where I said almost the same thing as Heaven!

I am only laughing because we seem to all have the same age baby - around 11 months - all going through teething, all won't self settle!

We put DD down tonight at 7.30pm after making sure she was tired, had a feed, had dinner, bath etc (not in that order) - listened to her cry for a while (yes we are seeing if she will CIO... but we do not do CC) then in goes DH to settle.

Almost as soon as she picked her up, she sighed and closed her eyes and went to sleep! Cheeky monkey - so ready for sleep but just wanted to be held!

But as I said to DH - the more pg I get, the less I will be able to hold her and the more it will fall to DH... he is a big strong guy but DD gets bigger and heavier every day... :dunno: