My baby does not sleep on his own

Hollie - posted on 03/19/2009

Quoting Aimee:

Quoting Hollie:

Quoting Aimee:

Read the book, "the Lullababy Sleep Plan". It tells you not to rock your baby to sleep (they will get used to this) and tells you how to help your baby sleep on his/her own. It's a short and easy read compared to other books.

My pediatrician wrote that book ...Dr. Catherine Tobin.  I have a 2 month boy old who has just started sleeping in his own room and I've started a nightly routine.  Only problem is he's addicted to his soother, he can't fall asleep without it and if it falls out he freaks out.  I haven't read the book yet but am planning to pick it up this weekend, Im hoping it will help.  Is is similar to the Ferber method in a way?  What is the method of teaching the baby to self sooth?

No, it's not like the Ferber method. Pacifiers are a no-no for that reason. They get too dependent on it to sleep. It becomes a 'prop'. I'd just get rid of the pacifier all together. Your little one will cry for it for a couple of days just bc he's gotten so used to it, but will no longer need it once he kicks the habit.

Basically, it just tells you to put the baby to bed when he/she is sleepy  but AWAKE. You can rock them, nurse them, feed them before bed if you choose to... as LONG AS THEY go to their crib sleepy and yet still awake. (Awake I mean as their eyes open, even if they are droopy).  They will close their eyes on their own... which teaches them they can fall asleep on their own. 

Get the book. IT's the best one I've read so far.

Okay so I bought the book and read all 201 pages in about an hour! (Im determined to get him sleeping lol)  But my problem is the pacifier, he is totally addicted to it and I get get him off it.  He will not go to sleep with out it,  he cries and gets really restless and wails his arms and legs without it.  I know the book says that it's okay for them to fall asleep with it but if it falls out not to put it back in in the middle of the night.  Well I haven't mastered that yet.  Im so exhausted that eventually I just give it back to him to get him to sleep again.  He used to sleep from 9-about 4am and now his habits seem to be getting worse :(  Before I could feed him and put him down and he would fall asleep right away and now when I put him down he cries and I struggle to get him to fall asleep.  He also wakes up a whole bunch of times through out the night when he didnt before.  I feel so stressed out about it...I have lots of friends whose babies are sleeping for long periods of time at 3 months ...Im not sure what Im doing wrong?  Im exhausted

Aimee - posted on 03/19/2009

Quoting Hollie:

Quoting Aimee:

Read the book, "the Lullababy Sleep Plan". It tells you not to rock your baby to sleep (they will get used to this) and tells you how to help your baby sleep on his/her own. It's a short and easy read compared to other books.

My pediatrician wrote that book ...Dr. Catherine Tobin.  I have a 2 month boy old who has just started sleeping in his own room and I've started a nightly routine.  Only problem is he's addicted to his soother, he can't fall asleep without it and if it falls out he freaks out.  I haven't read the book yet but am planning to pick it up this weekend, Im hoping it will help.  Is is similar to the Ferber method in a way?  What is the method of teaching the baby to self sooth?

No, it's not like the Ferber method. Pacifiers are a no-no for that reason. They get too dependent on it to sleep. It becomes a 'prop'. I'd just get rid of the pacifier all together. Your little one will cry for it for a couple of days just bc he's gotten so used to it, but will no longer need it once he kicks the habit.

Basically, it just tells you to put the baby to bed when he/she is sleepy  but AWAKE. You can rock them, nurse them, feed them before bed if you choose to... as LONG AS THEY go to their crib sleepy and yet still awake. (Awake I mean as their eyes open, even if they are droopy).  They will close their eyes on their own... which teaches them they can fall asleep on their own. 

Get the book. IT's the best one I've read so far.

Hollie - posted on 03/04/2009

Quoting Aimee:

Read the book, "the Lullababy Sleep Plan". It tells you not to rock your baby to sleep (they will get used to this) and tells you how to help your baby sleep on his/her own. It's a short and easy read compared to other books.

My pediatrician wrote that book ...Dr. Catherine Tobin.  I have a 2 month boy old who has just started sleeping in his own room and I've started a nightly routine.  Only problem is he's addicted to his soother, he can't fall asleep without it and if it falls out he freaks out.  I haven't read the book yet but am planning to pick it up this weekend, Im hoping it will help.  Is is similar to the Ferber method in a way?  What is the method of teaching the baby to self sooth?

Aimee - posted on 03/04/2009

Read the book, "the Lullababy Sleep Plan". It tells you not to rock your baby to sleep (they will get used to this) and tells you how to help your baby sleep on his/her own. It's a short and easy read compared to other books.

Archana - posted on 03/03/2009

Thanks a lot for the tips. I have started him on a night time routine now. The swaddling really helped!!!... he actually slept for 4 hrs straight :D yesterday nite.

Thanks again!!...

Jaime - posted on 03/02/2009

Swaddle, swaddlw, swaddle. I can't say that enough. as soon as we started swaddling out little one (nice and tight) again she slept 6 hours straight. She is now up to 9 hours most nights. We use the miracle swaddler, it is like a baby straight jacket :( but it works wonders.

http://www.miracleblanket.com/

Routine is key too, whatever it is, stick to it even if it is rough going at first. I do not believe in crying it out more than a couple mins. They wouldn't be crying if there wasn't something wrong. IMO, a coule minutes of chirps and little cries are ok, really just trust your mommy instincts!

Best of luck!

Tara - posted on 03/02/2009

I've got 3 and my two boys are the ones I've had difficulty with. The first one I was just frazzled all the time with, but he had health issues which I believe contributed to the sleep problems. This one has his moments, but for about 2 weeks we really struggled and I'm in agreement with Minday about the routine, it makes a HUGE difference! My son knows that his brother and sister give him good night kisses and I put them to bed then he goes down in his pack'n play until my husband and I are ready to go to bed, then we bring him up with us. It did take a week or two to calm him down, and the hardest part for us was the moving him to his crib, but he deals with it well and sleeps until 5:00 am, after having gone down with a feeding at about 9:30, then he goes down again, after a bottle, until about 9:30 am. It comes down to consistancy and you need to make sure that you have a routine at nap time too.



My older son still struggles and I blame myself because I did eventually write it off to 'he must not need that much sleep,' but now that he's almost 5, I really wish I had tried harder to get that routine in with him as a baby... he struggles with routine at bedtime now because we never really pushed it then.

Mindy - posted on 03/02/2009

My daughter is about 12 weeks now..i had the same problem, and we got her on a routine..and it worked..she knows when its nightime by us doing the same thing every night..when shes die for her nightime bottle around 9, we change her, put her in her pj's, swaddle her, then i feed her in our room in the dark with just the tv on, then lay her down in her chair.  We cant get her to sleep in the bassinet or crib, so she sleeps in her bright starts baby seat that vibrates and rocks. It can take me anywhere from 10-30 min to get her out, but when she does, shes out for 6-7 hours..wakes for her 4 or 5am bottle, then goes back out till around 8..she needs to be rocked as well...the only way to really break that habit is trying the furber method, and just let your baby cry it out everynight until he gets used to it, which can take a while ive heard..try the routine though, and putting him to sleep right after a bottle is key.