Hellobee Boards

so i was obsessed with LO's naps in the past few weeks...i would suggest a couple things - there are optimal wake times for most babies. at 8 weeks it is probably an hour or less. it will make it easier for her to fall asleep on her own if you can get her down around or before that time. too long of a wake time will make it hard for her to fall asleep without some soothing from you. establish a nap routine...swaddle, a little song followed by what the baby whisperer suggests as sitting. i sit with my LO positioned vertically over my shoulder and just hold her and sit still for like 5-10 minutes. no patting, rocking, or anything. for some reason it helps relax the baby and make her "ready" for sleep. she squirms a bit and sometimes cries a bit, but tires herself out most of the time and gets sleepy. then put her down drowsy but awake in the crib.

not sure if you knew any of that or are already doing it. but that's what worked for us...not sure if i'm just lucky or it really works.

My LO fusses a little and ends up falling asleep.
Sometimes he'll cry softly for a minute or two before passing out.
If he's gassy, has a wet/dirty diaper or his belly isn't completely full he'll keep crying and I'll take care of whatever's bothering him.

My son didn't start putting himself to sleep until he was eleven months old but I also wasn't trying to do any sort of sleep schedule. Just one day I fed him a bottle, he squirmed in my arms, fed up I put him in his crib and walked away and boom - he was out in ten minutes. Now that's the way he prefers to fall asleep.

@PrincessBaby: ahh gotcha. We didn't have that problem, as L would usually stay asleep once we put him down.

We had a similar problem for naps about a month ago..Lo is 11 weeks now. I would nurse and rock her but as soon as she left my arms she was up. I second the baby whisperer...you need to find her optimal awake time and follow her sleepy cues, as it is easier to get then down. I also do a routine for naps similar to nightime....white noise, lights off, song....and can now put her to sleep drowsy and not fully asleep. One thing that has also helped is having her nap on her tummy or side, she hateees her back and wakes up a lot more on her back. But we have a vid monitor and I watch it like a hawk.

@PrincessBaby: I read Baby Whisperer, Babywise, momsoncall and Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. We followed the Eat, Activity (play), Sleep routine from the beginning (mostly it's eat, diaper change, sleep as a newborn)...and it worked great for us. By 10 weeks she had it down and could go down for naps by herself...bedtime was a bit harder to figure out without rocking, etc.

Here is a post where I talked about how I magically discovered what it meant to out a baby to sleep "drowsy but awake"...as a pp mentioned there is definitely a window for young babies where they are able to fall asleep (even if they fuss or squirm for a few minutes)...I had been missing that window early on and an overtired baby would just cry. My LO is 14 months now and has always been a great sleeper...

http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/any-tips-for-putting-baby-down-drowsy-at-bedtime

Good luck!

we follow the eat sleep play cycle and DS (almost 10 wks) is pretty spot on, sometimes it gets mixed up, but i keep track of his feeding/dipe/nap schedule on baby connect and when his awake time has hit 1.5 - 2 hours; i swaddle him and put him in the pack n play with white noise... usually he just passed out if he fusses a lil, i give him a paci and then he passes out.

Sometimes he falls asleep in the bouncer for a quick nap.

PS-- white noise (we use an app on ipad right now, just ordered the marpac dohm) is our MAGIC KEY for when he's fussy and kicking around in the swaddle...

@MrsRcCar: same for us too! white noise is KEY!

What if you laid her in her crib while she's drowsy and rub her belly/chest gently, would that soothe her to sleep? Then over a weeks time you begin to decrease the amount of time you soothe her by rubbing her tummy. Some babies prefer patting.

Or you can try the cradle: cradle her in your arms, swaying gently, and lower yourself over her crib (it's still high at this point so hopefully you can do this), keeping your arms around her but allowing her body to lay on the bed. slowly and gently pull your arms away once she has put herself to sleep.

good luck!

I still rocked LO to sleep up until she was 4 months old, only because it took 1 minute of rocking. Before then i would just put my hand on her chest, and keep rubbing it until she calmed down. Then i would leave my hand there (still) and when she fell asleep i would leave the room.

We did eat, play, sleep. We never had an issue getting LO to nap or sleep but he was also 6 weeks premature and he slept a LOT. Some things that tend to help are swaddling and white noise.

@PrincessBaby: ugh we have the exact same issue, and he has noticed his hands.

We also did eat play sleep....but my son only really slept in the swing until 16 weeks for naps. After that he learned some self soothing techniques and around 4 months i could put him down drowsy but awake - he would cry a little, but he would fall asleep.

8 weeks is still really young and if it takes nursing or motion to get to sleep, I think that's ok.