Bedtime - How do you get them to go to sleep?

Jennifer - posted on 06/26/2009

Hey, I think they are all different, My son is my fourth and at 10 months old we lay him down at nap time and bed time and he drifts off to sleep, sometimes he crys a little and sometimes not. There are nights that he wants to cuddle and just crys so i pick him up and bring him in bed with me, Take advantage of Your little one wanting you to rock her to sleep, my little man usually wont go that way and most of the time i would rather lay down with him and rock him but he just wont let me. If you really want to start trying to get her to lay down on her own, the only way is a bedtime routine and just let her cry a couple minutes if she's tired she'll just drift off.

Sam - posted on 06/25/2009

The only thing I can suggest is routine, routine, routine. My 9 month old is on such a schedule that I can put her down for her naps while she is still wide awake and she will put herself to sleep. I don't even stay in the room. I wanted her to be independant and not depend on me as once my mat leave is over I have to go back to work. My little one's entire day is mapped out and she is the happiest little girl.

Wendy - posted on 06/23/2009

sorry ladies, I could not and will not do the cry to the point of exhaustion method. I happily sleep still with my little one and we love it! My husband has never rolled over on him and if we set him in his crib it's b/c he's asleep in our arms and can be set down for bedtime. The 'cry it out' method seems painless for us or not so bad. But is this the way we want our kids to fall asleep? Even at 10 months Simon cuddles with us and I know this will not last forever. Enjoy the snuggles even if they cut into daily chores have someone hold him while you catch up on some ZZZZ. But in my opinion the scream till you drop is a tortuous method. Rocking, breastfeeding, singing,music, running them till they are so tired they just go to sleep! And then that doesn't work, b/c they just want you! And that's ok, if you are feeling exhausted then ask for help. But the magic of just laying down and walking away at such an early age, is just fantasy for some babies, mine included. Many blessings

Sarah - posted on 06/23/2009

At bedtime we do a bath (every other day), lotion, stories, and the nursing. Sometimes he falls asleep nursing but not often anymore. Usually he's pretty drowsy though. I snuggle him for a few minutes (for me I think more than him!) and then lay him down. Often he wants to roll right away and than I sing to him. I sit beside the crib and he lies there looking at me. Sometimes I feel like his eyes are never going to close but out of nowhere they get heavy and close. Sometimes I keep my hand on his back with gentle pressure. This really seems to work. I was told that it sends a signal to the brain to calm or something like that.(Yoga). Naps are another story all together. I made the mistake of snuggling him to sleep and now he wants to nap like that all the time. Crib naps are improving though!

Whitney - posted on 06/21/2009

I did the cry out method and as hard as it was, it worked. We also have a routine. Bath at 7:30, book, turn on her aquarium that plays music, give her a bottle and then put her in the bed. She will usually talk a little and then fall asleep. She sometimes fusses but nothing major. A routine is the most important thing that I have found. I also feel like the bath and the book help her wind down.

The crying it out was tough and it took about 3 nights but it worked. Now, if she gets up in the middle of the night, she will turn her aquarium on and go back to sleep without us. There are other ways for the cry out, like let them cry and sit there and tell them that you are still there and increase your proximity but that did not work for us as it broke my heart to see her cry. So, we just let her cry and left the room. We did go in every 15 minutes to soothe her but did not pick her up. We gradually increased the time between going in her room but before long, she was down in 10 minutes.

Courtney - posted on 06/20/2009

Our little girl has a pretty good routine. She eats dinner at 7pm, then gets a bottle at 7:45pm, (she gets a bath a couple of nights a week), and is usually in bed by 8pm. She has to be almost alseep or totally alseep before we can lay her down, and even then sometimes she will wake up. Occationally, I can rub her back or let her hold my hand and she will go back to sleep without having to be rocked back to sleep. But usually we will have to rock her again.

Lauren - posted on 06/20/2009

I did cry it out. It was not as bad as I thought it would be. I used it for bedtime and then about a month later started it for naps. Now she goes to bed every night without a peep. Naps, we are still working on but usually is asleep before 10 min of whining/crying.

Other suggestions - routine! What is your bedtime? Rylee's bedtime is between 7:15-7:30.

Shawna - posted on 06/20/2009

For my son's naps when I notice he is getting tired, I sit in the room with him while I give him a few toys to play with in his crib, then I shut the blinds, turn the light off and allow him to sit (try to make sure they are not standing because then they will not sleep) or lay in the crib and continue playing. Eventually he drifts off to sleep...or somedays when he crys I lay him on his back give him a little bear to cuddle, put the blanket on him and he wines (not even a real cry) for a few minutes and he is out! Hope this helps. If they know it is dark....that helps!

Esther - posted on 06/17/2009

Bed time isn't so bad for us. We put the baby to bed anywhere between 7-8 and we watch his signs of tiredness. We find it's really hard to put him to bed if he doesn't think he's tired. We don't really have a great routine but nevertheless, it is one. We feed him dinner around 5:30. Then every other night, we include a bath. After that, if weather permits, we take him out for a walk until he gets fussy. Then, if he's tired, we put him straight to bed. If not, we let him crawl around until he's tired. But we never put him to bed pass 8pm. He usually falls asleep with minimal crying/fussing.

Nap time, however, is another story. My baby is NOT a napper. He hates to nap even when he desparately needs it. I have to rock him to sleep everytime and even that's a struggle. He keeps pushing me away and he cries. So if anyone has a good nap suggestion, I'd love to hear it!

Lori - posted on 06/16/2009

My 10 month old twins are the same way so I'm interested in suggestions too!

Belinda - posted on 06/16/2009

For the night, do you have a bedtime routine? Our girl used to be a bit tricky to get to sleep at night and then I read somewhere about how babies like predictability and routines and if you use the same bedtime routine every night they learn to know what comes next and so are ready to sleep when they are put down. We have a story, then a bath, then breastfeed then my daugher gets put down. She's usually groggy enough after the feed to be put in bed with a dummy and falls asleep on her own.