My three month old is over tired at the end of every day and I know it is because he has horrible naps because he only wants to sleep on me. I started yesterday putting him down drowsy and sticking with it until he puts himself to sleep. I don't do CIO and our method has been working great but I am wondering if I am just having a lucky two days and that this won't last. Sometimes he falls asleep on the first try and sometimes I have to pick him up and put him down five or six times before be falls asleep but his naps already seem longer. Am I starting this too young? I feel so guitly that I don't get to snuggle more with him. I wish I could hold him for his naps but I have a two year old and that just won't work this time around.
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i don't have an answer for you, but am curious to see if anyone else does. My baby is 8.5 months and i have to cuddle/nurse him to sleep. He went thru a phase from about 3-5 months (maybe less) where i could put him awake but drowsy and he would just fall asleep peacefully, don't even know what i did to make that happen! But since our vacation and what i call our 5 month month sleep regression, he stopped doing that and i also haven't tried. now if i put him in crib awake, he rolls, crawls and sits up! i don't even thin CIO would work IF i wanted to try it!
What I do though if he won't nurse to sleep is hold him arms down, it seems to settle him like swaddling used to. I am hoping to gradually not need to do this, but i haven't really worked on it seriously.
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We tried non-CIO ways until he couldn't respond anymore to them. At daycare, they CIO'ed him earlier than we did at home. I think our daycare was relieved when we finally did CIO successfully with him. It was life changing for us when the wakeups got to be too much.
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For all my baby's other issues with sleep, he actually GOES to sleep fairly well. I can put him down drowsy but awake and he goes to sleep. He has to be CALM and drowsy though. He won't fall asleep if he is crying or fussing. We started that around 3 months. Sometimes he falls asleep while nursing or rocking but then wakes up when I put him down. Then he will put himself back to sleep. Occasionally I had to stay and hold his hand or rub his back until he falls asleep.
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@PurpleUnicorn: have you introduced him to a lovey yet? My son is too young for one but when I started this process with my daughter (pick up, put down) at six months I also gave her a lovey to use and I think that helped her associate nap and night time and relax. I also wasn't BFing so I think it was probably easier for me to sleep train her.
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@MrsHotDog: i have about a month ago, we give him an angel dear blankie. i put it on him while nursing too and he will grab at it, then i put it in crib with him, he doesn't seem to care for it one way or another though, especially since we put him in there usually asleep or leaning over him and holding his arms down. sometimes when he rolls to the side, he falls into a cuddle with it, but i think it is just coincidence. I won't stop trying to give it to him though!
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I have no advice when it comes to naps because at 7 months I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm just doing whatever works...rocking, nursing, going out for a stroll, etc. I haven't napped trained because I'm not ready for CIO and every time I put her in the crib awake for naps she cries and cries. If what you're doing now works for you then stick with it. Don't feel guilty about the snuggles, you have a two year old to run after!
@purpleunicorn: Sounds exactly like my LO! I introduced an AA security blanket a few weeks ago and she likes to rubs her face with it but I wouldn't say she's attached. When I put her in the crib she is usually super drowsy so she only grabs on to it if she happens to roll that direction. I will keep trying too!
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Honestly? I think there's so much developmental stuff going on and affecting sleep in the first twelve months that works one day can stop working the next!
@MrsHotDog: sounds like you and your LO are doing what you're comfortable with and what works for both of you so I say keep rolling with it!
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Our lo was always a pretty good sleeper so that may play a part. But around 5 or 6 months I stopped holding him until he feel asleep. If he seemed content when I took him into his room for a nap or when we were finishing up bedtime routine(not fussy or crying), I would just turn on sound machine and give him his pacifier. Usually he would just lay in bed and talk until he fell asleep. Sometimes if he couldn't fall asleep after 15 minutes, he would start crying and I would go hold him to help him get to sleep. He is 8 months now and this is still working for us.
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I have been doing as @lovelyseeker does since 5 mo.
If he starts crying, I let him cry for 2-3 minutes ( I don't consider this CIO)
If he's still crying after a few minutes I pick him up and cuddle till he falls asleep.
Usually though he just babbles to his gloworm then falls asleep. -
I started trying to get her to sleep stationary (still used a paci) at three months or so but didn't really have success til closer to five months. I just kept trying. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Nights were pretty consistent though!
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@Kemma: I agree! There are some general trends I notice (goot at nights but terrible for naps) ...but there have still been stages even within that, like night regressions.
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We had a string of days where DD was tired enough at bedtime to go to sleep on her own without rocking. Once we had set the precedent for several nights in a row, I decided that we should stick with it. I kept putting her down in her bed each night after bedtime routine with no rocking. I would shut off the lights, give her a kiss, and shut the door. A few times she fussed a little. On a couple of occasions I had to go back in and rock her, but within a week or two she was always going to bed on her own with no crying and no rocking. I think it was really just a matter of reading my daughter's signs and figuring out when she was ready to take this step.
(As a disclaimer though, we still rock DD to sleep for her naps to this day. She is almost 16 months old!)
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We did no cry sleep solution stuff starting somewhere around 4 months very slowly and he was putting himself to sleep at night by 5 months and for naps by 5.5. It was a positive experience!
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With non-CIO, we started at just a few weeks with M. As soon as she was drowsy, we'd place her in the crib and she just always cued in on that as her sleepy place.
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