DD is 6 months old and I always rock DD to sleep for naps and bedtime. For bedtime, I usually rock until she closes her eyes and then I put her in her crib and I walk away. I'll give her ten minutes or so and if she doesn't stay asleep I will go in the room, pick her up, rock, repeat. I will continue this process until she really falls asleep. My friend just started sleep training and she doesn't rock her LO to sleep at all. She just puts him in his crib and he falls asleep on his own. That blew my mind! I always thought you're SUPPOSE to rock a baby to sleep or until drowsy. And honestly, I enjoy rocking DD. I figure they are only this tiny for so long! But am I not giving her the opportunity to learn how to sleep on her own? How old is your LO and do you rock them to sleep or drowsy for naps and bedtime?
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I really wanted to rock DS to sleep, but didnt want it to become a habit since I have a toddler to take care of too.
DS has been falling asleep on his own for naps and bedtime since he was 2.5ish months old.
He's a good baby and will just chill and fall asleep. -
I don't rock to sleep, but I still nurse to sleep for naps at 7.5 months
I don't think there is anything *wrong* with rocking or nursing to sleep for as long as you want/are comfortable with. If it is working for you, then there is really no need to change what you are doing unless of course you do not want to rock to sleep anymore there really is not right or wrong way. I love nursing my LO to sleep and holding her warm cuddly body, but I am sure at some point it would be nice to just put her in her crib and say nap time! I'm just not there yet...
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I rocked to sleep until we sleep-trained at 3.5 months. Since then she's been put into her crib awake and she goes to sleep on her own.
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If it works for your family then it isn't a problem at all!
I also have a friend with a magical sleeping baby who puts himself to sleep every time but he has a totally different temperament and activity level compared to my LO.
And hey, at eight months old I nurse my wee girl to sleep for every nap and sleep, it's just not her nature to lie down and put herself to sleep at the moment!
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We still mostly rock LO to sleep and she's a year old. From day 1, she would NEVER fall asleep on her own, without being swayed back and forth, or rocked. NEVER. Even if I set her down when she was 75% asleep, she would wake up angry and crying as soon as she realized she was being put down, which happened as soon as she was put down. I think some babies will fall asleep on their own, and some won't. Mine won't, so we rock her. If you like it (I do, too!), I wouldn't stress!
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I still nurse to sleep and/or bounce to sleep. Rocking doesn't quite do it.
@NovBaby1112: I'm looking forward to her just wanting to nap on her own or take naps with DH. that way I can get some me time. -
We rocked M to sleep in the beginning but at 4 months or so we started letting her fuss a little without picking her right back up and now she just falls asleep on her own. FWIW she was a super colicky newborn and still doesn't have a great temperament at 9 months, but she was able to learn to soothe herself to sleep once we gave her the chance.
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I rocked both of my kids to sleep from the very beginning. DD was rocked to sleep for bedtime until about one year, when I slowly phased it out so she was putting herself to sleep. I did the same thing with naps at about 18 months, although she still asks to be rocked for a bit before naps sometimes (she's 3). DS decided he didn't want to be rocked for bedtime anymore at around 9 months, but I still rock him to sleep for naps (he's 15 months). I enjoy the time we spend together, rocking in the rocking chair.
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It's only a problem if it's a problem for YOU! We rocked to sleep for naps and night time until LO was 5 months old, when he stopped staying asleep when we put him in the crib. We semi sleep trained at that point, and really sleep trained at 6.5 months, and we now put him in the crib fully awake for naps and at night and he puts himself to sleep. However, I have started nursing before naps and he often falls asleep then so I still get my rocking cuddles in.
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Thanks ladies! This makes me feel better. Haha! I guess I just wasn't sure if there was a certain age when you're suppose to phase out rocking. But for now it works for us and when she is ready I would love for her to sleep on her own especially for NAPS!!! I honestly don't know how to to get her down for a nap without some sort of bouncing and swaying! Why are naps are so hard?!
@NOVBABY1112: @KEMMA: @KATSUPGIRL: When you nurse your LO to sleep, do they STAY ASLEEP when you transfer to the crib? When DD falls asleep during nursing and I slowly try to move her she wakes up, EVERY TIME. If I want her to nap after nursing I would have to sit there and not move!
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@Mrs. Chen: yes, she stays asleep when i transfer her to the crib after nursing, but she nurses for awhile and i can tell shes totally knocked out when she is barely sucking anymore. maybe you are trying to move her too soon?
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We never rocked to sleep and can put Xander down in his crib and he will just fall asleep on his own. But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with rocking to sleep! If you and your family are happy with what you are doing, keep on keeping on!
ETA: Xander is 4 months.
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I rocked to sleep until she was around 2-3 months old. After that, I quit because I wanted her to self-soothe and not use me as a crutch to be able to fall asleep.
We quit mostly because she had to be FULL asleep to be able to put her down and it took upwards of 45 minutes to do that.
We fully sleep-trained at 6 months old when she night-weaned.
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I rock to this day. She doesn't fall asleep in my arms anymore but we sing songs and rock right before bed. Before naps, I will rock her until she is soothed and then put her in her crib.
You're right, they're only small for a short period of time. Suck up the rocking as much as you can!!
My lo is 12 months now.
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At night we never rocked to sleep (I wanted LO to learn how to fall asleep on his own, so we put him in his crib awake), but for naps we rocked to sleep in his crib until we swaddle weaned at 4 months (which we did because he was rolling in the swaddle, not because we wanted to swaddle wean). After we lost the swaddle, it became impossible to rock him to sleep for his naps - any rocking would just wake him up more! So we stopped rocking, and now he's amazing at falling asleep on his own. He'll roll around all over the place before he finds just the right comfy spot in the crib for his nap (and he'll sometimes fuss a little bit too), but then he'll fall asleep.
And his naps got much longer and I think better once he was able to fall asleep on his own. Before, he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep if he woke up after 45 minutes of nap - we would need to rock him back to sleep for the rest of his nap, with mixed success. But now he will generally sleep for as long as he needs to, even if he wakes up a little during his nap.
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We rock to sleep most nights... every night before P signaled she was wanting to be put down & go to sleep on her own (no fussing &/or CIO in any manner). We don't sleep train & around 7.5 months P began preferring to be laid down on her own for naps & around 11 months she would put herself to sleep at bedtime most nights. We still rock & still nurse to sleep as well.
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@Mrs. Chen: LOL! I'm holding her right now for a nap. Sometimes I can put her down in the crib or on the bed and she'll stay asleep. I have to make sure she's fully asleep though. If I was more consistent she'd probably stay asleep longer. She's weird because sometimes I can put her down after 10 minutes and other times I have to wait like an hour.
I don't mind holding her and I know that if I really need to she can sleep on her own for at least an hour.
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We rock before sleep, not 100% to sleep, until he's super drowsy even to this day at almost 15 months. I enjoy it. He enjoys it. Just like my husband and I cuddle before bed it's a nice way to connect at the end of the day.
I've never been obsessed with him "self soothing" lol, I'm his Mom, I like making him feel happy and secure!
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My 10.5 months old doesn't need it to fall asleep but I still rock him some nights before bed/night wakings. I do it for me, mostly. Every time I think that it might be the last time, that he's getting too heavy for me to rock him. I know that this phase of being my little baby is ending, and I want to savor it as much as possible.
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i think if you are liking rocking LO to sleep then by all means keep doing it! it is such a sweet time
we didn't rock to sleep starting around 4 weeks... it took a little bit for him to get used to it, but it was better for all of us in the end!
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@futuremrsmck: "Every time I think that it might be the last time..." Omg that thought makes me sad! I just want to run home and rock her right now! Lol.
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I rocked to sleep until we bottle weaned. Which was only last week
and he is 15 months old. We still rock before bed though. We cuddle and I sing a couple songs. Then I put him in his crib and he goes to sleep. It has never been a problem and I really enjoy that time we get to spend together.
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@hilsy85: "It's only a problem if it's a problem for YOU" . . . Exactly!
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We rocked to sleep for quite a while. I can't remember when we stopped, but I think it was around 8 months. I basically found a few nights when DD was so exhausted that she fell asleep as soon as I put her down in her crib, with no rocking needed. Then I just continued placing her in bed with no rocking on every subsequent night, even if she didn't fall asleep right away. She fussed a little bit, but it was really pretty easy. I figure, by that time she was ready to put herself to bed at night.
(By the way, we still often rock to sleep for naps on the weekend, so naps are a whole different story for us!)
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@Mrs. Chen: whatever works for you! Just as a side note though, my dd used to fall asleep on her own but now needs me in the room. They go through phases, and eventually they all end up able to sleep on their own! If it becomes a problem then you address it.
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@googly-eyes: So true about them going through phases! I feel like every month there is something new to learn or adjust!
I don't think there is anything *wrong* with rocking or nursing to sleep for as long as you want/are comfortable with. If it is working for you, then there is really no need to change what you are doing unless of course you do not want to rock to sleep anymore 
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