what have you tried to get your baby to go to sleep on his own?

Question

I am desperately trying to get my one year old to go to sleep in his crib on his own, without me having to rock or walk with him until he goes to sleep. I have tried letting him cry, I have tried staying in the room, playing the same music, same bedtime routine every night, lights on, lights out, white noise, rice bottle, etc, etc, etc. I try to stick to my guns and not pick him up and rock him, but after 2 hours I am so frustrated I am crying. What can I do?

Answer 1

If all that fails, try to make a schedule where you dont allow the baby to nap so many hours before bed time so that come bedtime the baby is too pooped to do anything but sleep.

Wear the baby out. Keep the baby up without a nap.
find a schedule that works and keep doing it.
Baby might be grumpy for a while but at least come bed tme just might knock right out.

Also try working out the baby before bedtime comes about.
If not walking already then let it stand or follow you around in little walker, but draw him/her to you..or if walking, guide him/her around for a nice long walk but again force him/her to work.
Keep him/her occupied and active.

Then give baby a bath before bed time. Baths before bedtime really knock my daughter right out
Let that be a regular event for a week.
One day at a time you could skip a bath here and there and see if will go to sleep on its own.

hope it helps

Answer 2

Time usually takes care of sleep problems of little babies. I think you need to ask yourself if rocking him is causing more of a problem than attempting to train him to fall asleep on his own. Maybe he's just not ready. I'm sure you'll get a lot of answers which suggest that your child should have long been trained to go to sleep alone, but I find in my own journey as a parent that the "shoulds" are not particularly useful. I can suggest some books: "Sleepless in America" by Mary Kurckina (I've spelled that last name wrong, but the title is correct) and "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. Also, Dr. Sears' website is useful--www.askdrsears.com. And perhaps the best thing for me to tell you is, no, you didn't do something wrong months ago and ruin your child for sleeping by coddling him. Children are different and they have different needs and preferences, and are usually very good at expressing them. Maybe a little physical closeness at night is a need that your son has right now. You just need to find a way to balance that with your need for rest and time, and I think the books I've suggested are great tools for helping you figure out the least painful way to do so.

Answer 3

You have to keep it up. Place him into bed say goodnight. to the door of the room and stay there, don't face him, let him cry for a couple minutes, go to the crib tell him it is okay and walk away to the door again. when he starts crying again, go over put the blanket back on him (don't say anything) and walk away again. The first night is the worse, after tonight it will get better and better each night, just stick with it and keep your calm. It is hard and tiring but in the end he will stop testing you and go to bed.

Answer 4

My son just turned one and he does the same thing. He just does not like to sleep (or go to bed). He does take two naps during the day (2 hours each nap). Now that he is starting to walk more, he has been getting tired more often so each night bedtime is getting earlier and a bit easier. Just give it a little more time. Once he starts really running around, you will see how fast he goes to sleep.

Answer 5

we had a hard time with my daughter too. and then we found the trick. we had this thing that attatched to her bassinet, it had a light, it played music and it vibrated. we prop her up a little bit on a pillow in her crib and put this next to her and shes out like a light. on nights that wouldnt work, we would give her a cup of water to sip on and that helped. the only problem is i dont know where you could find one of these, maybe ebay?

Answer 6

I agree completly with cheoli but I wouldnt go over there everytime he cries just when he stands up in his crib I would walk over and lay him down again but make sure you dont talk to him after the first two times because rewarding him with conversation will just make things worse.

Answer 7

When my kids were little I had the same problem. My Grandmother told me she used to rub a little brandy on my mother's gums and she would go right to sleep.

I tried it and it worked. All 4 of my kids go this treatment and it worked great.

Of course, now they are in High School at the Betty Ford clinic, but the teachers there are wonderful.

OK, just kidding, none of them are alcoholics. I hope.

Answer 8

try a warm bath just befor bed a shorter nap could help try letting him/her cry a little longer each night until you reach your goal

Answer 9

There is a wonderful site www.sleeplady.com It helped us get our daughter to stay in her bed and to stay asleep all night.