putting baby to sleep

Cecilia - posted on 01/08/2010

this may sound funny but when you rock her to sleep put a light blanket over her face. I put it right up to her eyes cuz I like to watch her sleep. It keeps mine from looking around and trying to see what is going on around her.

Nina - posted on 01/03/2010

We try wrapping our little one tightly in a light blanket and pop him down for a minute or so if he's happy we leave him if not we go back to him and give him a dummy. If that doesn't work we bounce him and keep putting him back down. I've found reading to him or singing to him works as well. He has a Cd player in his room and we have a few CD's that we put on softly and he usually falls asleep listening to them. We had trouble with him not sleeping during the day and not through the night but at night if he wakes up we just pop his dummy back in his mouth and he falls asleep again (Now he sleeps from 8pm through until 6am)..it was tough but we kept giving him back his dummy when he woke at night and he seemed to realise that he could sleep through the night without a feed and change. I hate letting him cry and sometimes he's happy enough with me just in the room..that's where the CD player comes in. He thinks im there singing when its just the CD.

Cassie - posted on 01/02/2010

the crying it out method never worked for my baby.. she would cry so hard she would lose her breath... my little girl had trouble sleeping also.. i would swaddle her up tight and rock her and in about 20 mins shes asleep it worked everytime.. you should give it a try.. but all babys are different.

Lindsey - posted on 01/02/2010

Definitely let her cry it out! My baby is 4 1/2 months now and had colic until she was 3 months old. A few weeks ago we decided we had had enough of bouncing her for hours to get her to fall asleep. We use the methods taught in Dr. Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child" and they absolutely work. He talks about several methods in his book but his preferred method is "let cry". My baby now falls asleep on her own after our "routine" of book and singing at nap time with a bottle added at bedtime. Sometimes she cries for 5 minutes before she falls asleep but usually it's a couple of minutes or less.

Babies need to learn how to fall asleep on their own or they will have problems sleeping later in life!

Oh, and no my baby does not have emotional problems or abandonment issues. In fact a lot of people tell me she is one of the happiest, most social babies they have ever met!

Angelica - posted on 01/01/2010

We bath Blake (4 months) every night at 5:45pm, feed at 6:15pm, wrap by 6:45pm and fast asleep by 7pm. We use this routine and he seems to be getting better with putting him down. I have read the book Save our Sleep and YES it is an amazing book. At this point in time i have not tried the self settling, as or son has ear problems and i still can not tell between his cries. He has an audiologist app coming up in two weeks and if his ears are fine, i will try the self settling. You dont have to let them cry for hours, just ten mins at a time and then you resettle! It sounds easy but it will be very hard! Blake still wakes up every 4 hours for his bottle, but has slept through the night 2 times! I am a bit like you, i am completely exhausted but i am also not prepared to let my baby cry, especially if i cant tell the difference in his cries. Blake sounds exactly like your baby, he does not really sleep much during the day and needs help to fall asleep! Every baby is different and if i were you i would speak to your baby nurse or speak to your GP and make sure your baby is medically sound before you do start a control crying routine!

Amber - posted on 12/29/2009

My 4 months old has always bee a really good sleeper. By 1 1/2 months she was sleeping most of the night. she would go to sleep around 2am then wake up again around 7or 8. But now she will fall asleep around 11 and stay asleep until 9 sometimes 10. And during the day her and I take a nap that will least a few hours. But when I'm ready for her to lay down i will go into my bedroom and turn off all the lights and put the T.V on real low and I will either give her a 2 oz or 4 oz bottle (depending on how long ago she eat) and when she is done eating hold her really close and pat her on the back until she falls asleep. During the day I will sleep with her, so she is in bed with me and at night sometimes the same thing will happen and when my husband comes home he puts her to bed. Now I know that that works for me and may not work for you but if you already have a routine maybe all she needs is a change. If you can you might even want to try and keeping your baby up longer during the day. My little one only takes that one map with me and then she is up the rest of day, I try to keep her very busy. But on the same note her and I will not take that nap everyday. I only push her taking a nap like that on the days I have to work at 11pm.

Christina - posted on 12/28/2009

mine usually falls asleep while eating her last meal of the day. she's breastfed, so i suppose that it comforts her to be close to me at the end of the day. she goes to bed at ten or eleven when i get home from work. she won't sleep until she sees me. try waking your child up early in the morning and getting her to exercise. give her tummy time and play with her. that seems to have helped mine get into a good sleep pattern. they need to feel very close to thier mommy. and don't let them cry it out. i tried that with mine at first. she just got louder and had real tears. i couldn't do it after that. but mine also talks in her sleep, so give them 3 min. to go back to sleep on thier own and if they don't, then go and get them. this seems to work best with mine. good luck!

Katie - posted on 12/28/2009

My daughter is almost 5 months old and has only slept through the night twice. But she seems to be getting closer to doing it more regularly (she got croup, which through her way off her whole routine :[ ). Crying it out is definitely not the only way for a baby to learn to sleep through this night. Melatonin is the "night-time" hormone that our bodies make that tells us to be sleepy. Babies don't have a constant production of this hormone, which is why it is difficult for some babies to put themselves back to sleep on their own when they wake during those 40 minutes sleep cycles that Jessica mentioned above. When your baby develops this constant production of her melatonin, she will be able to learn to put herself back to sleep more easily. Every baby develops at a different pace, though, which is why some babies are able to sleep through the night at 2 weeks and others take 9+ months.

I read the book "Secrets of the Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg and it was fantastic. She gives a middle-of-the-road way to help your baby learn to sleep through this night. It is not letting your baby cry it out (which I could not do!) but it also doesn't allow your baby to make your schedule! It is working for us! And I don't have to let her cry it out, which is the best part. She's learning on her own. She puts herself to sleep now, rarely fights it at all, and only wakes once at night to eat. I haven't read the "Save your Sleep" but it sounds like that's a great one, too.

Good luck!

Michele - posted on 12/28/2009

Heavenlee my 4month old daughter has attached her self to a bottle she wont take a binkie she wants a bottle of jues to go to sleep an if i take it out when she is good an asleep within 5 or 10 min she is cryin lookin for it...i dont know wheat to do b/c when she starts gettin teeth it will rot them n i dont want that...HELP!!!

Jenn - posted on 12/28/2009

Not sleeping more than 4 hours in a row at night is normal for babies this age. Like adults, babies wake up several times a night....some are just better at falling back to sleep on their own. But as they say luv, this too shall pass.
As far as crying it out, it is entirely up to you and what you are comfortable with. If you are philosophically opposed to it, don't do it.

Michelle - posted on 12/27/2009

We still swaddle our 4 month old boy. He likes to pull at his face and hair and kick his legs when he is sleepy. In fact, we just had to sew 4 thin receiving blankets together so we had a blanket big enough to swaddle him in. He is quite the escape artist. It is no surprise that as soon as we have one of his arms swaddled, he calms down and starts to relax. Swaddling is a Native tradition. It still works today because babies still find comfort in a womb-like environment. By the end of the night, our little guy finds a way to wiggle his arms out of the swaddle (no matter how tight the swaddle), and he will only make a little hungry cry in the night. After 2-3 oz of what i call sleep feeding, he is back in sleepy eye town Zzzzzz.

Bridget - posted on 12/27/2009

I'm with Emily I can't let my 4 month old boy cry himself to sleep he just gets too upset. Our routine is bath feed and rock with music playing in his room until he is just asleep and then I lay him in his cot. He usualy stirs once after I have left the room and I usually only have to go back in give him his dummy, roll him on his side with his teddy under his arm and he goes back off himself

Kimberley - posted on 12/26/2009

Our son is a 30 min napper( 2-3x's a day) and a all night sleeper. He started sleeping through the night at 4 mos.( 7pm-530am). When he would wake in the night I would provide a pacifier and some rocking. He did not protest cry and was accepting of the pacifier. If he would have cried a lot I would have feed him, assuming that was what he was telling me he needed. After a week he stopped waking at that time but started the day earlier, which seemed reasonable.
At night and at nap time, we have a routine ( no bath) but we close the drapes, turn on the night light, diaper change, ( jammies if needed), a feed before bed, a book and some rocking until drowsy ( just a few minutes) then lay in crib with mobile/light show on ( battery operated one is needed).

Honestly he really started to fall asleep on his own. Maybe she is just not there yet.

Nichole - posted on 12/24/2009

With my son, we'll feed him before he goes to bed, and sometimes he'll start to fall asleep.. But if I know it's past his bed time (between 9 and 930) and I know he is exhausted and is just fighting sleep.. I'll give him his pacifer, lay him down. (which is on his belly, because he sleeps better that way) and let him cry. Which is normally only about 10 minutes and he falls right to sleep..



For the most part, Kaleb sleeps through-out the night, unless he has a bad dream and wakes up whimpering then starts to cry..



Bur during the day, his father says he really doesn't sleep much. Maybe 30 minutes every like 3 hours or so..

Rachael - posted on 12/24/2009

different things work for different babies. i used to rock my son to sleep but he was needing more and more rocking. he sucks his thumb and has gotten himself to sleep like that before, so we just let him cry it out. he cried a little less each night and after about 4 nights he only cries for 5 minutes and then goes to sleep.

Emily - posted on 12/23/2009

Quoting Jessica:

Quoting Emily:

And I have to disagree that letting them cry is the only way they'll learn. That's just not true. Babies develop the ability to sleep longer stretches on their own, on their own developmental time line. You don't *have* to force it by making them cry themselves to sleep.

At 5 months old babies are quite capable to sleep 12 hours if they are not waking for a feed, and it is very normal for babies to cry when they are tired and right before they fall asleep.

SOME 5-month-olds are capable of sleeping 12 hours. Every baby is different. And yes, it's normal for SOME babies to fuss a little before they fall asleep (mine doesn't), but that's not the same as deliberately letting them cry themselves to sleep. I am disagreeing with your statement that "that's the only way they'll learn." Simply not true.

Jacqueline - posted on 12/23/2009

we put our baby down when she is drowsy if she is fussy we let her cry for 10-15 minutes then hold her for 2 min then lay her back down and repeat until she falls asleep. usually the second time we lay her down she is out. We went through this routine for about a week and she now puts herself to sleep and sleeps for about 11 hours

Alexandra - posted on 12/23/2009

Have you tried reading "Save our sleep" by Tizzie Hall? its a fantastic book.

Jessica - posted on 12/23/2009

Quoting Emily:

And I have to disagree that letting them cry is the only way they'll learn. That's just not true. Babies develop the ability to sleep longer stretches on their own, on their own developmental time line. You don't *have* to force it by making them cry themselves to sleep.

At 5 months old babies are quite capable to sleep 12 hours if they are not waking for a feed, and it is very normal for babies to cry when they are tired and right before they fall asleep.

Tiffany - posted on 12/23/2009

Just so you know the save our sleep routine is not controlled crying. The author - Tizzie Hall completely disagrees with the controlled cyring method!! They are not crying themselves to sleep like they do with controlled crying!

I also absolutely disagree with controlled crying!

Tiffany - posted on 12/23/2009

I agree with Jessica! The Save Our Sleep routine. It's hard to begin with, you need to understand the difference between a tired/protest cry & and emotional cry. If you know your baby is tired and there is nothing else wrong chances are it's a protest cry. She's tired but doesn't want to go to sleep so she will protest.

As I have said to so many people I recommend reading Save our Sleep. I only just got a copy because I have been rocking my little man to sleep and badly want to get out of that habbit before it's too late. I'm still learning but the book has helped me a great deal!!!! And the past week after having a baby that catnapped 2-3 times a day and was an early riser, I now have a baby who has 2 2hrs sleeps plus a 40min nap and have had a couple of nights where he slept 7-7.

Ashley - posted on 12/23/2009

I usually give my daughter a bath using that lavender nightime bath soap and then when I get her out I give her a mini massage usuing the lavender nighttime baby lotion. She usually is asleep within a half an hour and she sleeps through the night.

Megan - posted on 12/22/2009

I think it's ok to let them cry as long as they don't get too upset and start screaming. Babies are born with the ability to comfort themselves but if you don't let them they kind of loss that. If they wake up at night let them cry for 15 min or so, no big deal. sometimes they will even put themselves back to sleep.

Emily - posted on 12/22/2009

And I have to disagree that letting them cry is the only way they'll learn. That's just not true. Babies develop the ability to sleep longer stretches on their own, on their own developmental time line. You don't *have* to force it by making them cry themselves to sleep.

Emily - posted on 12/22/2009

We co-sleep, so I lay down next to her to get her to fall asleep. Then if she wakes during the night I'm right there so I don't have to get up.. I feel pretty rested. I don't believe in letting them cry.. there actually are studies that this can be detrimental to their development.. besides the fact that it just doesn't seem right to me. It's pretty normal for 4-month-olds to still be waking a couple times a night. It will get better on it's own when your baby is ready to sleep at longer stretches (this is different for every baby). Maybe that's not what you want to hear, but waking at night is pretty much what babies do. ;) Hang in there.

Jessica - posted on 12/22/2009

if she was histericlly crying i would go to her, but there is nothing wrong with her crying a little to get to sleep, my son does occasionaly, but most of the time he wont cry at all. What is happening is your daughter is waking every sleep cycle during the day. Babies sleep in 40 minute sleep cycles and because she's doesnt know how to fall asleep, she has trouble putting herself back to sleep after her cycles. You need to teach her to self settle but letting her cry a little, if she is constantly crying for 10 minutes straight to in to her and pat her back, but letting her cry is really the only way she will learn. I have had my son self settling and on a routine since he was 2 months old and he is nearly 5 months not and he sleep from 7pm till 7am 2x 2 hour sleep in the day and puts himself to sleep every sleep time. I got the routine and the self settling guide from a book called "save our sleep' by Tizzie Hall she definatly saved my sleep! he was waking at night for a bottle still and would cry from 5am till i had to hold him to go back to sleep it was killing me, this book fixed all this!!



good luck =)) any questions let me know

Sonja - posted on 12/21/2009

Hey Elisabeth,

I have some friends that use the cry out method and it seems to work for them....



As far as putting Lillie to sleep I usually try to stick to the same (or as close to) time every day to put her down for naps and night. At night we do a bath, feed and then in the crib with one of those lullaby toy things going that you hang on the crib. I sort of lucked out though....she's so active that she just tuckers herself out and I can put her down in her crib and she'll fall asleep.