Getting you baby to settle themselves..help!

[katie05]

My little girl is now 5 weeks and yet again i have a baby that loves cuddles! Now i do too but my son was awful at settling himself and had to be held/rocked to sleep till 6 months! Ive been much better at not handling her all the time but she still wont settle herself! She just stays awake for ages and grunts then cries when i put her down awake. I can perserve but she gets overtired! Just now she has been awake and not happy (but not crying) for about 40 min in her moses in the livingroom but she still hasnt gone. Now if i lifted her up shes been snoring in 2 minutes!

Any reccomendations greatly appreciated ladies

 

[Sherlock]

I managed to have my LO settling himself in his basket and then cot from 6 weeks old onwards. Took a bit of patience but it was fine really. He is happy as anything to go into his cot and off to sleep and to wake up in it. Chortles away to his mobile

Daytime - What I did was feed LO on a pillow. Once fed and sleepy I'd then move him on the pillow to the basket and put it in there. I'd then gently rest my hand on his head and keep skin on skin for a few minutes till he settled. Then took hand away. If he settled I left him alone, if he fussed I'd go back and put my hand back on his head again for a few. I never picked him up as a first resort. Always tried to soothe and settle in other ways first.

Once he was used to this I then started moving him off the pillow and straight onto the mattress. Took to this fine and again we just repeated the pattern.

At bedtime we used the mobile with music and did the same thing over, skin on skin with hand on head etc. No eye contact and speaking was kept to a minimum. After a few minutes if awake we left him in his cot and let him fall asleep on his own. Usually gone within 15 minutes.

 

[BabyMagic]

I was lucky as LO took to settling herself from about two months. I never went down the route of rocking her to sleep or pushing her in the pram, but there was a stage that I had to keep taking her to my arms many times, but I didn't give up and just kept taking her out of her basket and putting back in when she had calmed down.

However, there are still times when she struggles with settling herself to sleep during the day (nights have been easy for us). If she struggles, I let her to coo for a while. If she then starts crying I only let her to do so for few minutes max (sometimes she has a short cry before falling asleep) and go to talk or sign to her. If this doesn't help I stroke her face. If she still cries I pick her up. I hold her up to about five minutes and put her back down. Only occassionally I have to do this twice before she puts her thumb in her mouth and falls asleep.

If she is really bad (hasn't happened for a long time) I go to my bed with her and let her fall asleep next to me.

When she doesn't struggle she usually 'sings' herlself to sleep which is cute

 

[loz]

I'm the same, I cant seem to get Emms to go to sleep without feeding her++ and walking around with her - I have tried everything believe me, but I just cant get her to settle any other way. Sorry I havent got any advice but just sympathy!!