I am just wondering for those who rock/have rocked you baby to sleep, did you come to a point where you 'taught' them to go to sleep in their cot? If so, how did you go about it?
I have always rocked DS or worn him in the sling to get him to sleep, and then transferred him to his cot.
We rocked DD to sleep at night, but she always went to sleep own her own for her naps, so as far as I remember she just got the point on her own where I didn't need to rock her anymore but DS is always rocked so I am just wondering how he will ever make the transition.
Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy these cuddly times with DS, and I know he will grow up so quickly, I am just starting to get a little concerned as there have been a couple of night where I have had almost no sleep because he wakes up as soon as I put him down. I am hoping this was just a side effect of him being sick though.
And no, I wont let him 'cry it out'
I don't agree on crying it out either. My DD is just 6 months and always be rocked to sleep or co slept with us. I have just moved her out her bassinet (she was to big) and into her cot in her room. what I've been doing is wrapping and rocking her like normal but just before she is really asleep i lay her in the cot and keep a hand on her until she drops off. Somedays i dont even need to keep my hand on her she just snuggles down and she's out. I find it easier during the day so have been doing this for all her day sleeps and trying at night as well but if it doesn't work i just rock her. She too was waking up a lot when I put her down but seems to be getting out of this a bit more and hopefully it's because of what we're doing with her day sleeps! Hope this makes sense, good luck
Yes, our dd had terrible silent reflux so was held and rocked all the time. I just did it gradually. Would put her in her bassinet on her side and rock her with one hand on her shoulder and one on her hip and I used to shhhh at the same time. Gradually I rocked less and less and could pop her in and she would fall asleep. She now will put herself to sleep wherever she is, on her playmat etc during the day but am now trying the process above for nighttime because I've always fed to sleep at night. If she gets upset though I pick her up and give her a cuddle and try again. I find if I let her get too overtired before trying it at night she will just cry and then I let DH to rock her to sleep because she will just want to be bf if I have her. We also have a soothe sounds sea horse which glows and plays gentle music which seems to be calming. Have you tried rocking your DS in his bed and slowly decreasing the amount of rocking? If you shhh at the same time once you remove the rocking completely he might settle with just the shhhh. Good luck hope this helps
I didn't always rock my DD to sleep, but she usually fell asleep on me as a baby and we often co-slept. As you said for your DD, she just transitioned in her own time to not falling asleep just when being held or cuddled.
Have you tried putting your DS in bed with you? When DD didn't settle, that always worked for us. And mostly from the age of about three she wasn't in our bed, except for some morning snuggles (which we love!). (Before that she didn't spend every night with us anyway, just periods during the night if she woke up).
I did rock my DS to sleep until he stopped sleeping in our room. When I moved him into his own room he was around 12 mnths and we had just moved into a bigger two bedroom house. I developed a new bed time pattern of dinner bath story and sleep. To be honest it was really easy and I wish we had done it sooner. I felt he was ready and that was that he just did it. At first i would sit there and pat him not making eye contact but it was only about 3 days before he didnt mind me just saying goodnight and just going to sleep.
So my overall feeling was he was just ready.
Ours transitioned to cuddles and sitting next to her in her own bed. It was a natural transition.. rocking to sleep stopped working so we moved on to something else. We didn't deliberately teach anything regarding sleep.
Thanks a lot for your replies, you have given me some great tips
We have had him in bed with us a few times. Mostly I have fed him to sleep lying down and still transferred him to his cot. I do love having him in bed with me, but DF isn't too comfortable with it. He is scared we will squash him.
I'll try some of your suggestions for his day sleeps first and see how we go
We cuddled DS to sleep, and occasionally co-slept when he was really unsettled, until he was about 14/15 months old.
And I was a lot like you - not disliking the cuddling, but wondering when he will learn to sleep on his own.
Then all of a sudden he just wanted to be put down in his cot - he would arch his back and stretch out of my arms until I would just put him down, say goodnight, and leave the room. And he just goes to sleep on his own now, not a peep is heard from him!
We transitioned from rocking/cuddling to lying down cuddling in our bed after that we then went to her lying next to me in our bed, then we moved to having DD's bed next to ours (at 2 years by then). After that we waited till she asked for her own space at 4yrs and I now lie down with her in her room till she falls asleep at night.
I never taught my son to sleep by himself. He just figured it out himself. He grew out of feeding to sleep, so I rocked him. then he got too heavy so I lay down with him. then he was happy with my just sitting nearby. Then he was fine with us reading him some books and kissing him good night.
two things we found helped DS self soothe was having used breastpads in his cot (you can pop them under his sheet if you don't want them loose) and a toy which I'd slept with in my pyjamas so it smelled of me, and also having gentle music playing, from pre-bed cuddles through.
For those who rocked your baby to sleep
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