Baby falling asleep independently

[TeamOwen2020]

Hello there!

Our little one (8months) has gone from waking a rediculous amount of times in the night since birth until about 3 weeks ago where he started waking 2-3 times. Last night we had the best night where he only woke once at 2 for a feed and then went back to sleep 10 minutes later. It’s amazing and we are so grateful. The only issue we have now is that he needs help to go to to sleep and will scream if we put down drowsy. We have been trying gentle sleep solutions which may have contributed to the decrease in night wakings but you can never know. My thought is that he he is now more mobile and can change position to make himself more comfortable and pretty much immediately rolls onto his side or front. Does anyone have experience of this and have ideas that could help please? I really don’t want to do CIO but I am really concerned we are going to run into problems when he is older and can stand!!!

TIA

[Abs1403]

Hi. Great news that your LO is now sleeping better - we had the same issue since birth up until a few weeks ago with our 7MO who was waking every 40 minutes, rarely wanted a bottle but constantly wanted cuddles and rocking to sleep. I can see you don't really want to go down the CIO method, however we used the Ferber method where you go in at different intervals when crying to calm but not pick up. It is THE BEST thing we have ever done with him. He now goes to sleep for naps and the night in his cot and wakes once for a bottle. (I should say we tried doing this at 4 months and it was awful, but by 6 months he was 100% better) The most he cries for now is a couple of minutes and that's not every time we put him down. He also sleeps on his front now after sleeping for a few weeks on his side. The monitor we have alarms if it detects he stops breathing so I don't worry about how he sleeps as it will tell me if there is a problem. Hope you find a solution you're comfortable with.

[MissEd]

Hi,

I just wondered why you want him to go down by himself? My little one is 2 years 2 months and I sit with him in his room until he is asleep, for nap time it's about 5 minutes at bedtime it is up to about 30 minutes but he sleeps through the night and has done since he was 9 weeks old (infact last night he slept 8pm till 8am!).

I tried the method mentioned by the PP when he was about 13 months and I didn't have the willpower lol however if I did it would be the one I recommended as I've know a few people have good success with it.

X

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to MissEd]

Hey!

Well up until a few weeks ago he was t able to self soothe and was waking many times in the night but now he can which is awesome hence the longer stretches of sleep. However, naps are a continuous battle as he mostly doesn’t stay asleep when we put him down particularly at the moment so will nap until we put him down so for 10 to 15 minutes. It’s not really sustainable as I will go back to work in a few months and I would love to have him sleep on me for all naps I need a break and a cup of coffee with my feet up occasionally. We are also concerned that he will be up and down at bed time when he is older and is more mobile.

Thanks for the tip.

[MissEd in reply to TeamOwen2020]

Sleep is such a minefield and everyone would have there own advice too (much like everything parenting related!)

[TeamOwen2020 in reply to MissEd]

That’s so true! You just have to Tage what you find useful and bin all the rest! Politely