At what age should you try to let your infant fall asleep on his own?

Question

My son will be 9 months old in a few days. We are still struggling at night to get him down for bed. I've tried feeding him dinner earlier, bathing him 1/2 hour before bed, allowing him to play in his playroom after bathtime....but nothing works. He is still very hard to put to sleep - one of us ends up either rocking him to sleep in his room or walking him around. At almost 24 lbs, that is becoming less of an option. Help!

Answer 1

If his weight is stopping you from taking care of him then cut back on his intake.Newborn babys will fall asleep as they are being feed.Once they can stay awake for a feeding then thats when you decide when you lay the baby down to go to sleep without a bottle..A well fed,dry,healthy and unspoiled baby will go to sleep on their own around 1 month old.

Answer 2

My oldest son was 9 months old when I made him "cry it out" some think it is cruel but nothing else worked for me. It really only took three nights to get him to sleep. I think the 3rd night he cried for about a minuet and slept from 9pm until 5am. I ended up doing with my two other children each were a bit younger. My children are 8, 5 and 3 and they all are good sleepers. You need to do what you feel is right for you, if it does not feel right then don't do it. I've heard that they will eventually sleep on their own but I could never wait that long.

Answer 3

i taught my son to go sleep on his own as soon as he could hold his bottle him self. try get a good routine and stick to it. concentrate on getting the routine working first and then start wit the night. have a radio or telly on then tuck him in hand him the bottle shut the door and leave the room. make sure the room is dark to but hav a lamp in the room so if u hav to go back in u can turn that on. even if he cries leave him for a couple of mins then go back in and repeat the previous steps. it might take up to a week for it to work but it will be worth it. also if ur son goes for a nap in the day do the same as it will help him get used to it. god luck x

Answer 4

My daughter is 4 months and has put her self to sleep since she was 2 months. She used to be very colicky and would only sleep in my arms. finally i got fed up and just made her lay in her bed and she eventually figured out to put herself to sleep. I did it early because I read that you needed to start early or your baby would become dependent on you to fall asleep. If I were you I would put him in his crib with no toys or distractions with a little night light and leave him in his room. Keep a set bed time schedule so he understands that your bedtime cues mean sleepy time. Sometimes my daughter will put up a fight but she eventually gets bored and tired and falls asleep.

Answer 5

I went thru the same thing with my son- turned out he was just used to getting rocked to sleep and didnt know how to fall asleep on his own. One night of making him fall asleep all by him self and we were good- even though he cried for two hours.

Answer 6

Oh wow, do I feel your pain!!!! I could have written that word for word myself! My baby is almost 11 months and we usually have to rock him or walk around with him too. We took him to a sitter the other night and we came to pick him up around 10pm and he was sleeping in their daughters crib. I asked if it was hard to get him to sleep and she said no, they just put him in the crib with a bottle and he fell asleep by himself in 10 minutes?!?!?!?! Since then, I have gotten him to do that just once, but it gave me hope so I'm gonna keep on tryin'! Good luck!

Answer 7

I let my kids cry it out at 6 months. Also, the only time they ever had their binky was in their crib or the car. It is really hard at first but works great in the end. Good luck.

Answer 8

Turn out the light, close the door and put on the stereo. It'll be over in a night or two.

Answer 9

Don't rock him, it will stimulate him. I highly recommend you read "The Baby Whisperer" by Tracy Hogg.