What are your methods for putting baby to sleep for the night and naps?

Question

ie. do you let baby cry himself to sleep, put him for a nap or bed while still awake? Interested in methods used by other parents?

Answer 1

Nurse to sleep, always, unless the baby finds another way to get her/himself to sleep.

Crying himself to sleep has several problems. First of all, it isn't good for the baby; crying alone causes the baby to secrete cortisol--a stress hormone--even after he stops crying. Second, it teaches the baby that when he is completely dependent, the people who love him the most won't help him. Third, it does the opposite of what you are trying--it teaches the child that the way to fall asleep is to get tense until you just collapse. Many adults have difficulty falling asleep, *maybe* because they were taught to sleep when tense and never learned to relax to sleep as infants.

Answer 2

Set some routines and stick to them, at least until the baby changes the rules! Every night, my daughter (now 2) goes to bed at the same time (unless we are out, which is rare), we change her diaper, read her two short books or one long book, place her into her crib, sing her goodnight song, tell her we love her and will see her in the morning. If she cries, we follow the Baby Whisperer method - wait 15 minutes, go in and comfort her but not pick her up unless it's something major (like she has had a BM or something) and continue the process (leave, let her cry for 10 -15 minutes, go in, comfort) until she sleeps. We started this when she was 3 mos old, it took a few days for her to get into the routine and she has not had sleeping problems since (we hardly ever have to go upstairs and check on her after we put her down). The thing about babies is that after awhile of the routine, the baby goes and changes the rules!! There comes a point where it is just not working and it takes a few days to readjust. For example, when we started, she was going to bed at 6 PM...over the course of the past year and a half, we have had to change the time she goes to sleep 3 times (now it's 7:30) because as she grows she doesn't need as much sleep. Good luck!

Answer 3

I've been on a routine schedule since two months of age. This is when she first started sleeping through the night.

My baby takes a nap around noon - 1:00 and sleeps until 3:30. She goes down for the night between 7:00 - 8:00. She's now 11 mo. and still sleeps through the night!

Answer 4

My girls always nursed to sleep when they were very young. With my older daughter, I started putting her in her crib awake but drowsy when she was about 4 months old. We'd read a couple stories, sing a song, and I'd put her in her crib with the mobile on. Sometimes I'd let her cry for a couple minutes, but I never let her go longer than 10 minutes (and I actually hated every minute of it). If she were having a really rough time, I'd rock or nurse her the rest of the way to sleep.

With my younger daughter, I nursed her to sleep for almost every nap and bedtime until she was over a year old. Or she'd fall asleep in the sling while I carried her around. Eventually, she quit nursing all the way to sleep, and I'd put her in her crib awake while I read stories to my older daughter or sang softly. (The girls are in the same room.)

IMO, the best thing to do is try to find a calming routine that works for your child. Also, be patient and remember that all kids are different.

Answer 5

We started putting our son in his crib when he looks tired - not after he's fallen asleep. When he cries and we know he's not hungry, we check if he's wet and change his diaper if necessary, make sure nothing is wrong, but we don't pick him up otherwise. We talk to him, give him back his pacifier, rub his belly, and recover his legs with a blanket, but we've been persistant about not picking him up just to soothe him. This method worked for us - after the first week he stopped crying and now he has been going to sleep on his own for several months. Since we always tuck him in and give him his pacifier before sleep doing these things during the day tends to trigger naps (so long as he's tired.)

Answer 6

I have 4 children. My oldest son (who is now almost 13) - I put in bed, closed the door and he most generally went straight to sleep. My two middle children were 15 months apart - I always started out by putting them in their own beds, but if 1 woke up crying in the middle of the night, I would put them in bed w/ me MISTAKE.... They are now 5 & 6 and I still have problems keeping them in their own beds!

My 2 year old I used the same method as my first child ---- she actually comes and tells me when she is ready for bed..... Making them sleep in their own bed from the get go is the way to go.

Answer 7

My son is 8 months. At the same time every night, he gets a bath, a story, a kiss, and straight to bed. This was hard for me a first, because it broke my heart to hear him cry. I knew that he was just crying for me though, because all of his other needs were met before bed. I heard that letting them cry it out almost always works, so I tried it and it definately did for me. It only took him 5 days to learn to put himself to sleep without me rocking, cuddling, etc. him. Good luck.

Answer 8

I started my routine when my daughter was 2 months old and it reallyhas worked for me.

I bath her about 6:45 in lavendar bath bubbles/wash - she plays with the ducks etc.

Dry and put nice clean nappy on. I take her down to her room and dim thelights and give her a warm bottle. I don't talk or make much eye contact. When she has finised bottle, I kiss her and put her in cot and say goodnight. Sometimes she falls to sleep and others she talks, if she crys I leave her for a few mins and then goin to reassure her its ok and its time to go tosleep. Good Luck

Answer 9

Sometimes you have to let them cry themselves to sleep. (that is hard on you, trust me). One thing that helped my daughter was putting on soft music. If you rock them to sleep every time then they will expect that. Try to just be consistent with your routine, after a while they know that a bath means bed time or turning on the music means nap time. It worked for my daughter, and yes at one point I had to let her cry to sleep a time or two. Hope that helps.

Answer 10

Ferberizing (letting them cry themselves to sleep) is not a good method, . It only teaches babies that where they sleep is a place of punishment. Then they develop a fear of being where it is intended to be a restful safe place. I'd like to know how old this baby is, and what are your current methods.