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My DS starting going down drowsy but awake at 5 months - I would rock and sing then put him in the crib and give him his pacifier and walk out. He would fall asleep within a few minutes.

Yes to a noise machine!

It depends if it's a good night or a not-so-good night (or nap)! My DD is 8 months...(The whole waking up when we put her down started around 4-5 months and it sucks at first, but you figure out what works over time and they get better at it!)

Good night: Nurse until she pops herself off (she's usually asleep but will wake up the second I put her down). Plop her down in crib and pray she doesn't wake up (she does!) She rolls over on belly, goes to sleep and I walk away. If she cries, I attempt to give her a paci, pat her back (she tummy sleeps) walk away and she goes to sleep

Not-so-good night: Same process as above, but it takes longer! Sometimes I need to pick her up and rock her for a little longer (I guess she wants extra snuggles?!) If it's getting to a ridiculous level (e.g., closing in on 20+ minutes) I will go in when she cries (we don't do any form of CIO in our house) and lay her back down (she's usually sitting/standing), give her a pat and walk away. Usually it only takes 2-3 times of me laying her back down before she understands she should just give up and go to sleep!

Either way, she's out within 5-20 minutes, 30 on a really bad night!

And we do follow the same routine pre-bed every night.

-Nighttime diaper/PJs on
-Give vitamin D drops
-Turn lights off
-Turn on white noise
-nurse/rock

Oh and while we nurse/rock, I put her lovey in between us and she rubs it between her fingers. The lovey goes into the crib with her when I put her down - was hopeful my scent being around her, and the warmth of the blanket would help!

Ok, I'm sorry, but that made me laugh.

Normally, I would walk out of the room, but if your baby is still getting used to it, I would just sit in the glider where you can still see each other (if necessary), and wait until they fall asleep. Do you have a mobile or something that he can look at to help take the focus off you?

With DS1, it never happened. I would put him in the crib totally asleep. Eventually that stopped working and that is why he sleeps with me!

DS2 is a different story. Some nights he doesn't want me to rock him. I'll try but he squirms so I put him down in his crib and tell him I'll be back. As long as he doesn't cry, I'll go wash my face or do dishes or something. I usually check him out on the monitor. He'll squirm for about five minutes or less and then fall asleep.

Our night routine is bath, lotion, pjs, bottle in the den with the family, go to nursery, put white noise on, read books if he isn't exhausted, and rock to sleep. He also sometimes falls asleep while drinking his bottle.

My son stopped wanting to be rocked to sleep when he had a wicked case of jetlag, so that helped to break a lot of bad habits we had developped (this was at about 5.5 months). Now the routine at night is: bath, diaper, PJS, rough-house with dad a bit, sleep sack, 1 book (The Going to Bed Book - miracle!!), kisses and snuggles with dad, lights out, nurse (but not to sleep), and straight into the crib with his lovey. I whisper "Good Night sweet love" (don't actually know where that came from, I never call him that!!) and walk out. He hasn't cried at all at bedtime in about 2 months. Sometimes he plays with his lovey for a bit but usually he rolls over and goes to sleep.

Our routine since he was 8 weeks old:

-Bathtime
-Lotion, diaper, sleepsack on
- Feed bottle/nurse in glider and then read story
-Turn over shoulder, pat back and sing
-Place in crib (our LO is a belly sleeper, so he rolls over), pat his butt, say goodnight and walk out
-He always has his lovely in his crib and a white noise machine going.

When we went through a period of separation anxiety around 8 months, he would start crying when we left. I would give it a minute, come back in, pat his back and make shushing noises until he calmed down, and then leave. Sometimes it took 3-4 times before he went to sleep. Good luck!

Once upon a time (starting at about 2 months until 3.5 months), we would put our LO down in the crib swaddled, pop her paci in, and walk out. For both bed and nap. She would almost immediately fall asleep, or sometimes kick around for like 2-3 min then fall asleep.

Then I ruined it and then she needed to be rocked to sleep and ugh.

Now at 5.5 months we have gotten back to putting her to bed awake, but not for naps yet. For bed we put her down (after bath, bottle, story, into her merlin suit/lights out, i sing her a song, rock her for 2-3 min until she looks really sleepy but is still awake) with a paci in and walk out. Then watch the monitor obsessively. This is still really new so she isn't consistent yet. Most nights she spits the paci out and kicks around almost immediately. We wait 5 min to let her wear herself out a little, then go in and put the paci back in and rub her forehead for a second and leave. After that we just run up and put the paci in every time she spits it out. Usually she is asleep in about 10-15 min. Sometimes it takes up to half an hour. If she cries we shush her and put the paci back in. If she cries again I just rock her to sleep because I am not down with CIO at the moment. I feel like she's starting to get the idea of going down on her own though. The first week or so we were doing this, as soon as I set her down in the crib she got SUPER HYPER and kicked around like crazy and we had to replace her paci like 10 times before she fell asleep. Now when I put her down she looks like she is trying to sleep, but sometimes she still has a little trouble. For her I think leaving is important because if she can see us she just wants to smile and coo at us.