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With DS #2 I lucked out - I do his bedtime routine, turn on the soother, and can usually just walk away...but occasionally he will need/want a pacifier.

DS #1 hated pacifiers and screamed when I tried to do drowsy but awake. We ended up having to use Fetber to get him to fall asleep and it worked very quickly. (Whereas using Ferber with his brother just leads to endless screaming - they're very different!)

My DS has never had a dummy, but he didn't do drowsy but awake until maybe 4 or 5 months? I used to BF him to sleep and then one day he just didn't fall asleep during his feed, so I tried just putting him in the cot and he dropped off. By the time he was about 9 months he didn't even really need to be drowsy when I put him in the cot, as long as we'd been through the routine.

One thing you could do is to introduce some regular pauses into your rocking/bouncing routine before you attempt to place him down, to try and help him adjust to being stationary vs. being in constant motion. Then placing him on the mattress feet first and leaving a hand patting him for a few mins. The book No Cry Sleep Solution has lots of advice about the transfer!

But generally I'd just keep doing what you're doing and try not to stress about it too much at this age. Just because he needs a bit more help now doesn't mean it will always be that way!

Ds1 never did drowsy but awake & he would FLIP out if I tried to transfer him. There were many a nap spent sleeping on me.

I lucked out majorly with ds2. He's always done drowsy but awake without a pacifier. I found that usually he'd fall asleep while nursing and if I waited 5ish minutes, he'd wake up just a little and that's when I could transfer him successfully. I continue to be amazed every time it happens even at 5 months, lol.

Every kid is so different!

I'm not sure I ever really achieved drowsy but awake. I tried to aim for tired, but not overtired and stick to wake times as much as I could. My LO never had a pacifier and I either fed her to sleep or held her until she was properly out and then transferred her.

Honestly if I could do it over again I wouldn't even worry about sleep crutches etc. for the first 3 months.

Our babe uses a paci, and I may be wrong about this... but I feel like she is going to give it up on her own. She used to need it every single time she fell asleep and now she usually spits it out after she falls asleep and will wake up/go back to sleep without it for her first few wake ups.

So I feel like pacis are not always a huge deal personally. But... who knows maybe it will become a bigger deal later.

My kids have never slept with a pacifier. I've introduced them during the day but neither one was very into it and I didn't want to get stuck replacing it all night long. I basically just reduced the amounts of soothing gradually.

DS is 9 weeks and I always try to give him a chance to fall asleep on his own first. I nurse him and then put him in the rock'n'play awake and walk away. Sometimes he'll fall asleep, sometimes he'll fuss or cry for a minute or two and then fall asleep and sometimes I'll have to go back in and rock him. I figure each time he falls asleep without rocking he's learning.

Eta: I don't think there's anything wrong with pacifiers. My kids both cried for reasons other than hunger and if a paci is soothing to them I'm all for it. It just seemed challenging to use it for sleep.

at 9 weeks, no way. At that age, reading that phrase everywhere pissed me off so much! Because I could NOT put LO down drowsy but awake. Only after sleep training at 3.5 months. Now he goes down drowsy but awake for all naps and bedtime. No pacifier.

Yep. LO rarely takes a pacifier so it wasn't an issue. That being said, we didn't get remotely successful with drowsy but awake unti at least 3 mo. Things that helped were consistent sleep cues (like her white noise), having a low stim (no lights, sound, motion) for her to "read" while falling asleep, and then we stay in the room with her until she's all the way asleep and sometimes if she gets fussy just hearing our voice helps.

@Raspberry: I bottle-feed to sleep, and skip burping. She burps for every other feeding and is fine skipping it for bed.

Yep, my daughter never cared for a pacifier, so we did not force it

We were really lucky. Most times I'll set our 7 week old in her RNP for naps and her eyes will open, but she'll fall asleep in 10 or 15 after looking around for a bit. Although at night to get her to sleep in her crib she needs to be all the way asleep.

I started sleep training around 9 weeks to put her in her crib, and then drowsy but awake. Just before 3 months, I started bouncing her until she was drowsy, but awake, and then set her down in her crib. In the beginning she cried a bit, but it got progressively better. Now at 4 months, I just put her in her crib for naps and nighttime and walk away.

She never took a pacifier.

ETA: If you don't have a natural sleeper, I'm convinced that there is no such thing as sleep training without crying.