L is 7 months now. The past couple of days he has decided not to nurse to sleep. Yesterday i gave up on his morning nap as a result, and for a few nights, it was a long, frustrating and stressful process to get him to bed. So last night when he pulled away and woke up after nursing when he should have fallen asleep for the night i started googling "no cry sleep solution". In desperation, I put L in his crib awake and I rubbed him, sang to him a bit, put the sleep sheep on, wrapped him in a blanket, and gave him the paci. Well, it felt like forever but it took 45 mins and he fell asleep on his own (no paci when he actually fell asleep!).

Today for his morning nap, same thing, only he used the paci to fall asleep and it took 35 mins! I feel like this is not bad for the first 2 attempts in over 2 months. (background: from about 2 - 5 months, he used to be a super sleeper - STTN, could put down awake but drowsy - it all changed after we went on vacation and i guess a late 4-month sleep regression to the point where he will only nurse to sleep and was waking 2 - 5 times per night, with the first wake up starting as early as 10pm when he goes to bed at 8).

Now that i am realizing i am going back to work in a few months, i decided it is time for him to become independent again. Especially after it took the babysitter yesterday over 30 mins to get him down for a nap and there were tears. I can't imagine leaving him in daycare for the day and he will have no self-soothing capabilities.

So, i am wondering what other little tips I can use to get him to become more independent at falling asleep on his own. I feel like i am off to a good start considering he did fall asleep in his crib last night and this morning in less than an hour and there were no tears. I want to work towards just putting him down awake but drowsy and being able to leave the room sooner. And even better - no paci to fall asleep!