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From my experience, if LO started falling asleep on the boob, I would break the latch to wake her up. Then I would continue feeding. When she was done, she'd be very dopey and tired and I would place her in her crib, which would sort of wake her up a little bit. But she'd fuss around trying to figure out what to do...Sometimes she would cry...But she learned to find her thumb and she uses thumb-sucking to soothe her to sleep.

You mentioned picking LO up and then putting her down over and over...That's actually one method some people use.

BTW, your LO *IS* a good sleeper! Waking once in the night at 8 weeks is awesome!

I never listened to that. I was pretty terrified that LO would be dependent on rocking like you said, but I also figured that since she fell asleep already after drinking her bottle, no way was I going to wake her up and ruin that. But as she got older she would start not falling asleep as she ate, and I'd just put her in the crib and she'd be fine.

Good luck!

We just finish the feed and then plop her in the crib swaddled with the binky. In the beginning if she was still really awake and alert, we'd pick her up for a few minutes and rock and then put her back down. We tried to never let her fall completely asleep in our arms because we wanted her to do it in the crib.

The way I usually go about this with the little ones I have taken care of is to first decide on what the routine will be so we can stick with it exactly (or at least close to it) from there on out. So maybe for you it would be: pajamas, swaddle, bottle, burp, upstairs, white noise... From there I would rock for a minute before laying them in the crib. At this point, if they are on their back I would smooth their hair for a while or if they are on their stomach I would rub their back. As they get closer to sleep I would just rest my hand on them but stop moving. Over time the rubbing part would gradually get phased out but it was also nice to have it to revert back to when they were just a little off and need extra help getting to sleep.

Sometimes, especially as we started the routine, they would cry when first put down, I just shush as loudly as I can manage while still patting gently. If it escalates I pick them up and rock for a minute or two before trying again. With older babies who are on the move I often use two hands, one on their bottom just gently keeping them from shooting up to hands and knees and the other one patting their back. Usually crying isn't a huge issue for me with this method, it seems to happen from time to time, mainly when they are over tired but all in all it has served me well!

Hopefully that helps at least a little!

@zippylef: For me it worked best to put her down before she was too tired. I used to wait until she was very tired and put her down when she was asleep in my arms and that didn't work so well (she would wake up and cry or not stay asleep very long). When I put her down about 15 minutes earlier than I had been (at the first sign if tiredness) she would fuss for a long time but not cry and then fall asleep and stay asleep. I started with naps and once that worked I worked in bedtime

Good luck!!!

@zippylef: I am so so so so so happy for you!!! You did it mama!

I will say tha I always have to remind myself that babies are not robots. My LO sleeps great 99% of the time but as she developed she went through some regressions - like when she discovered her hands she would take a long time to fall asleep bc she kept clasping them together and would fuss bc she was tired but I left her alone and she would fall asleep. Or when she started rolling onto her tummy or started just rolling around in her crib for hours. Just like adults, sometimes it takes LO more than a few minutes to fall asleep but i just try to be consistent as possible and not get discouraged if it seems like we had an off night or two...it's not the end of the world and she would eventually fall back into her good sleep habits (I know lots babies regress with illness or travel)

@zippylef: I had the same thing happen last night. He was up sooo many times and I'm such a softie, I totally gave in and let him back into bed with us (sighs) the little stinker.

@zippylef: Oh no, oh no!! that is so awful. Is she normally a happy little baby?

Thankfully my LO hasn't had any "backlash".

@zippylef: When I first started putting my LO down drowsy, there were a few days of adjusting on her part. Keep with it and it should get back to normal!

@prettylizy: same thing with me! He woke up at 3am, I resolved NOT to feed him since it'd only be 3 hours and I want him to realize he's not actually hungry and sleep a 5-6 hour stretch. But he was adamant about not going back to sleep. I fed him and he was up until 4:30am! Then he decided to be awake for the day at 7am, and he usually sleeps 12-13 hours.
I gave in at 4am and let him back in our bed, I'm sure that's the only reason he kept sleeping for three hours, instead of two. He will ONLY sleep a two-hour stretch in his co-sleeper.