How to cuddle your baby to sleep?

Denikka - posted on 10/06/2012

My son went back and forth for a while, but he was in his own bed when his sister was born. He was 22 months at that point. My daughter has been entirely in her own bed for the past month, she started at 19mos (she's 20 mos now)

it did take a long while at first. Up to an hour and a half some nights. And yes, it can be very frustrating.

To prevent the rolling around etc, I rolled them to face away from me and snugged them up right against my body. I would place one arm under their neck and around their front to grab one hand and to other arm over top of them to grab their other hand. Their arms would end up somewhat criss crossed. I made sure to fit their entire hand inside mine, so they weren't playing with their fingers etc.

I would rock slightly and hum to them. Eventually, they got used to what was going on. In the beginning, they would fight against me and cry, but I would just hold firm. I got them going from laying down in bed, to out cold in 10-15 minutes flat. It did take a while, and a fair amount of patience, but if that's how you choose to put your kids to sleep, then patience is what it takes. :)

Monica - posted on 10/04/2012

Denikka how old were them when you switched to their bed? My problem is that he takes 1 hour to fall asleep and during this time he gets so excited, and I start loosing my patience as he sarts rolling over me and lots of time pulling my hair by accident during the roll over, knocking my face...

Denikka - posted on 10/04/2012

I co slept with both of my kids and did exactly this to switch them to their toddler beds (laying down with them till they went to sleep).

What I found helped was to curl up behind my kids, one arm under their neck, get myself comfortable, and hold on to both hands with mine. You may have to adjust around to find what feels most comfortable.

Both my kids DID cry for a while, especially when I first started this (during the same time, I was weaning them off nursing to sleep). But eventually, they got used to it and all it took was a single song and they were crashed out :)

Monica - posted on 10/04/2012

Elfrieda, I don't think he will understand all this explanations :) I've tried couple of times let him cry... he screams for more than 40 min, sweats so much that I have to change his PJ!

Monica - posted on 10/04/2012

Ella, the only way to not let him cry out is to lay down with him, and this happened because we went to Brazil and I stayed there for 2 months on my mom's house sleeping on the same bed with him. Now, to change it, it would be a nightmare... I don't mind laying down with him, I like it, what I don't like is the fact that he gets excited and takes forever to fall asleep..

Monica - posted on 10/04/2012

Yesterday I waited until 11 PM!!! he was still playing :(

Ella - posted on 10/04/2012

Sorry but there rite if u want ur son(in the long run)to sleep at bed time ull have to teach him to go bed with out u lying there

Elfrieda - posted on 10/04/2012

It's a common piece of advice people give: just let them sleep with you! Well, don't take it too much to heart, they just mean that it worked for THEIR kids. Some kids don't fall asleep when their parents are around. My son never did past 8 months or so. If I was there, he got too excited and wanted to play! Now that he's almost 3 and in a bed, I have had the experience of sleeping with him a few times due to thunderstorms or nightmares. He has gotten so that it's possible for me to soothe him to sleep in those situations (and it's easier for me to just fall asleep beside him and just let my body heat do the soothing) but moving him to my bed gets him all riled up. Sleeping with him is sweet but uncomfortable, so I'm happy with only having a couple of those experiences.



I think you just have to explain to him what will happen, and let him cry if he doesn't like it. It's not the end of the world if your child cries. He won't feel rejected because he's old enough to understand if you explain to him that it's time for him to sleep and you'll see him in the morning. (say "when the sun wakes up" and leave a crack in the curtains so he can see what you mean) He'll be upset and disappointed, which is a perfectly legitimate thing to feel and it's okay for him to cry to express that feeling.

Nadia - posted on 10/04/2012

i would try putting him to bed maybe half an hour later so he is more tired, i would also be strong and dont go back and lay down with him once i have put him in bed, i will be hard for the first few days but he will soon get use to it