C is 3.5 months old, and as I'm sure you all know by now, a problem sleeper. We have actually had a good few days though and wanted to get some opinions.
Going back to Friday night, nothing was working. I tried nursing her to sleep but she woke up as I laid we down and rocking bouncin wasn't doing it, so finally we laid her in her crib, said good night, and left. We agreed we would go back after ten minutes of actual crying. I felt awful bc he's young for CIO and we weren't even doing it "right" but we had tried everything else. She cried, then calmed down, and basically alternated between crying, fussing, and calm, for maybe 45 min, but never cried more than ten min in a row. Finally fell asleep and slept six hours straight.
Since then I've been trying to nurse her to sleep, but if she wakes during the transfer to crib or a few minutes after laying down, we let her fuss it out. It rarely escalated to full crying and never crying more than ten minutes, usually she fusses between 10-20 minutes before falling totally asleep.
So, should I stop nursing to sleep entirely? I moved the nutritive nursing earlier and to the living room, so the nursing I do in her room is just for comfort. We have a routine (diaper, book, sleep sack, comfort nurse while singing twinkle twinkle). I'm wondering if the nursing to sleep is prolonging this or what. I prefer to not make her fuss if I can help it, but it is such a huge change that she is now able to fall asleep on her own. Huge. Totally worth that terrible night of listening to her cry.
This is more nights only. Tackling naps another time.
not sure if it's the right thing or not- but I'll happily let S fuss it out for as long as it takes... She either falls asleep or cries. I figure she's not really upset until she cries for assistance because she can't quite put herself to sleep that time. Pretty much every night she fusses to sleep from wide awake. Naps are different and we have to sing her to sleep whilst cuddling. The biggest issue with naps is trying to stop her squirming long enough to settle. In a week or so I'll move to trying to sing/cuddle til she's still, then try putting her down drowsy but awake.
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