Rocking your child to sleep????

Question

Is it bad that I still rock my 18 month to sleep??? I feel that is my bonding time with her. She has a scheduled time and she knows when I grab her sippy and blanket that its time for bed. We are moving to a new house and I wanted her to start going to sleep "like a big girl", but I don't want her to be scared or cry for me. Any suggestions?!?!?!?!?

Answer 1

Whatever works! It sounds like you have had a lovely routine for the last 18 months, but I do agree that as you make this big transition to the new house it's a good time to start having your daughter go to bed on her own. You are probably going to get a lot of resistance at first...she will miss having you rock her to sleep! But with patience and a little gritting of your teeth (it is hard to hear a wailing baby!), you can get over this. I would suggest talking about the new routine for a few weeks ("when we move to the new house, you will be a big girl and you'll be able to go to sleep on your own like a big girl). Talk it up, and then when the big day comes hopefully she will have had a chance to process it. Good luck!

Answer 2

No matter what other parents say, its usually great advice, you'll have to do something that you are comfortable. There is nothing at all wrong with rocking your child to sleep. Bonding with your child at an early age can help decrease negative behaviors later in life. When you move into your new house, you should expect some regressive behaviors. Its always best to attempt a new routine after a big change-moving is a huge change for little ones. Children have to learn from an early age (perhaps infancy) to soothe themselves. Some are better than others at it, some need help. She will most likely cry, but that's okay. Anything longer than like 5-10 minutes should NOT be ignored. Children need to feel loved. Just take your time and go at it slow.

Answer 3

I used to love rocking my daughter, but never wanted her to get into the habbit of needing to be rocked to fall asleep. My sister did with my nephew, and although it was easy for her at home, it was horrible if they went someplace that she couldn't rock. It was also hard on the family when they'd babysit. Since not everyone had a rocker, they had to sit on the edge of their seat and rock back and forth, sometimes for hours.

I was determined not to raise my daughter with such a need. I'd rock her and read her a story a bedtime, even when she was first born, but would put her in the bed immediately after. When she got a little older, she'd cry to go to sleep, so my husband would go and pat her and shhhhh her. It worked like a charm, but once again, started a habit. Not everyone can do it like daddy does.

Now she's a year & 1/2, and we've got her routine down. Feed her dinner, change diaper, rocking and a story, and down for the night. She'll still cry, but she's learned to put herself to sleep and not rely on us. We secretly check on her to make sure she's ok, but don't let her see us. Even though we were already doing it, her doctor really stressed for us to do this when she was still very little. He said the best gift we could give her is the gift of sleeping on her own, along with not letting her sleep in our bed or our room, (another bad habit hard to break).

Maybe you can start a new bedtime routine for your child, making a slow transition until she gets adjusted. Nothing to sudden that will freak her out and scare her, but not 3 years later either. Of course she's going to cry because it's not what she's used to, but don't let that discourage you. Let her know you're still just around the corner but stick to your guns. It sounds cold hearted, but it's not. It will be helping your daughter more than you know in the end.

Answer 4

i would still keep on rocking your baby to sleep... when she's 5 and still needs to be put to sleep like a baby, then i would worry about it.. the problem now a days is that people won't let babies be babies, maybe you could cut back on the amount of time you spend rocking her.. and decrease the time little by little till she gets use to going to sleep on her own... so let's just say you wanted to break her out of this in a month or two.. start buy rocking her for 30 minutes (just an example) in a week cut that down to 20 minutes and do that for like 10 days, then cut it back to 15 and so on.. but for now, nothing wrong with it especially if your baby sleeps through the night.

Answer 5

Rocking your child to sleep is a *good* thing at any age. Take my word for it...she *won't* want you to do it when she's 18 *years* old!!

My suggestion is that if you've found something that works, keep doing it. You may *want* her to be a big girl, but that won't *make* her one. You can want her to get a job and support you, too, but don't count on it for the next 10 or 12 years...

Answer 6

Keep on rocking until you get adjusted to the house, you will more than likely have to slowly ween her from it making it shorter and shorter times of rocking, and start calling her a big girl they love that
Good luck, my 7 year old still tries to sleep with us and we have a hard time with it, but the big girl thing almost always works, I'll never make the mistake of letting my net child sleep with us!

Answer 7

I rock mine to sleep! I can't help it..Theres only a small amount of time you can rock her to sleep She has forever to go to sleep by herself...My son will sometimes put himself to sleep in the floor beside of me try that with her blankie or lovie then work toward the bed...We have big floor pillows I lay down and he'll climb up there with the blankie and his cat and fall to sleep...

Answer 8

She will definitely cry if you stop doing something that she is accustomed to! How long do you rock her? If you rock her for five minutes or less than I believe you are okay to continue. If you rock her until she falls asleep, that's another story! I would suggest that you rock her and read her a story and then tell her it is bedtime!

Answer 9

I know of someone who did this. One of her children is 14 and still sleeps with her mom. You might want to put a stop to it now. Sure, the child may cry, but they're just testing you because they know they can manipulate you. Don't give in!

Answer 10

Oh my goodness. My friend rocked her baby boy to sleep every night... It got so bad that he wouldn't go to sleep with out someone rocking him... and when the rocking stopped or she would put him down he would wake up .. every time.. I felt so bad for her this went own for ever ... she did not rock her 2ND child...