night sleeps...fallen asleep on her own...first time ever! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi, my DD has never been a good sleeper. Since birth, she co-slept with us until she was 9.5months old. Then she went in her own toddler bed. She never went in a cot, hated it. The transition into the toddler bed was great but DD needed to be rocked to sleep or cuddled until about 3 weeks ago. I thought I would try something new. I changed her routine to bottle of milk in bed, story and a kiss from Mummy and words "ok, time to go to sleep, goodnight" and lights out. This goes for her day sleeps too except for the "goodnight" words!

I would sit there with her and stroke her hair. At first, she played up and wanted to play. So I would give her her little blanket and walk out. She would cry. When she sounded upset (not just whinging), I would go in and comfort, kiss and stroke hair again. I would only ever repeat the process about 3 times for the first couple of days. Then she started settling after two times.

The last week, she has been settling straight away with hair strokes.

But tonight, I thought I would actually say my goodnight words and walk out all together. Well....she whinged for 20 seconds, didn't cry, just whinged and then went to sleep, ON HER OWN!!! After 5 minutes, I heard nothing so went in and she is ASLEEP!

I am so excited!!! Just so proud of my comforting sleeping ways. I am having a wine to celebrate. Hope it lasts but if it doesn't, I really don't mind comforting to sleep.

Thanks for listening!!!

Congratulations!! Thats wonderful!!!!!

Did she ever fall out of the toddler bed? When she woke and wanted to get out of bed could she get out of bed on her own without falling?

I am just trying to look at some options for my DS...he is 9 months old and is waking all night in the cot, he keeps banging into the sides of it and waking himself up!

Well done! That's fantastic! :clap:

I hope it continues for you... maybe I should give that a go.... hmmmm :think:

No she never tries to get out of her toddler bed, unsure why actually, she will cry and I go in and she is sitting on her bed. Hmmm....she fell out once but I put her change mat down at the side bottom. Has rails top sides. So didn't hurt herself, it is really low to the ground, not too high. I did purchase a toddler bed from Babyco, the cot converted to a toddler bed but it was wayyyyy too high!

Thanks girls, feeling really good about it all. She loved her toddler bed from 9.5months and she was a co-sleeper right through, never imagined she would love it so much!

:cheer: yay for you darl! Its great when you get rewarded for gentle techniques isn't it :)
Well done!

You're a freakin legend :clap::dance::lol:

I've successfully got DS into his own room on a double mattress, following your example, now I'm gonna try and extricate myself from sleeping! I can't believe how well you have done all this. Well done! You should have a wine, you deserve it! :)

(All of a sudden I'm hopeful! 3 nights to start the word cue, you reckon? Cool!)

Congrats!! Its so nice when they go to sleep like that..

I hpe she slept all night for you

:cheer: :happyforyou: :cheer:
That's great QB!!

Thanks everyone! She slept until 4am which is fine, I just settled her.

Rahjah, yes at first I would lie her on her back and give a bottle and her blankie. When she finished it, she would give me the bottle and not calm straight away. She would lift her legs up and turn over and want to play, sometimes sitting up. I would lie her back down and say sleep words "ok time to go to sleep". Then walk out. She would cry immediately BUT not a stressed cry. If at all it became louder, I would walk in, perhaps after 30 seconds - 1 minute. She would be sitting and go immediately into a lie down position herself. Then I would stroke her hair. She would start playing again so I would repeat process. Then by the second night, she was only crying once. Then by third night, she started settling straight away with hair strokes. It has been about a 3 week process. I wasn't really ready just to walk out. But last night, I thought I would try.

Let's hope she does it again tonight, you are all right, gentle ways are much better! I could never do the CC thing!

Wooooooooooooooooo!!!!

QB - you give me hope. Thank you :hug:

WOOHOO!! Makes you feel great huh! Oskar has decided that BOTH mummy and daddy have to lay down on our bed next to his cot in our room until he goes to sleep...lol. At least he's going to sleep at a more reasonable hour now. It's a tough battle to fight in a gentle parenting way though...sheesh it's sure tested my patience more than once!!

:clap: yay Maddy :)

today she fell asleep on her own for her day sleeps and again tonight! woohoo!!! :dance:

yay. good one! Well done.