Need help with sleep!!

[Mrsstuart01]

At what age did you put lo to bed awake rather than asleep? I feel like I should be putting Fin down awake and letting him fall asleep but when you're tired it's so much easier to feed him to sleep or let him fall asleep on me than deal with the not settling!! Do feel like I may be making issues for myself later on though!!
What do you do? Should I be starting this early or accept at 4 weeks just getting sleep is good? Xx

 

[My1stBaby]

You can't spoil a newborn so I'd say you do what you feel comfortable with. Settling your baby to sleep is probably the best idea in these early weeks but other people may think otherwise. I didn't even think about letting him learn to do it on his own at the beginning I just automatically cuddled him to sleep everytime xxxxx

 

[l_maclean]

I did it at about 3weeks, we were visiting my parents without DH and she went down find. Maybe you could give it a try and see how it goes. Some babies just do it, others don't like to self settle for a long time. Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[beckyboo1]

I would say accept that at 4 weeks most babies won't be able to self settle. I think from about 6 weeks they can start to self settle but at 9 weeks Harry provably only self settles 50% of the time

Just go with the flow he's still so young. You def can't spoil a baby and set bad habits at that age xx

 

[BevG]

Alyssa used to do it at about 10 weeks but now she wont anymore lol

 

[GregorysGirl]

Id say it all deends on ur babies temperament hun. Austin could onlt ever go down awake last thing as night, in the day he would need cuddling or rocking...if ur doing that dnt worry though as now Austin is a bit older, he starts to get skeepy, I give him a cuddle in his nursery and put him down before he asleep n he goes off....its all about getting him used to sleep cues. xxx

 

[l_maclean]

G was like that too. She was quite happy to go down awake last thing at night, but wouldn't during the day. And the one time DH tried to put her to bed early she had none of it!! Lol

I think they only way you'll find put is to give it a try, if it upsets him leave him a few weeks and try again when he's a bit older. Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[vickib_1984]

All babies are different James has self settled from 6 weeks but I always put him down awake we all parent different as well don't panic if she wants cuddles give her them James has them before bed but that's our routine always has been from 4ish weeks but not all babies will do it over 50% of babies won't settle on their own until 9 months of age


xxx

 

[Mrsstuart01]

Thanks ladies! Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't! We're still finding our feet I guess so will take his lead xx

 

[BabyBrain]

Albert has always self settled, especially in his swaddling. Some nights he takes about 10 minutes other times he's out like a light. He doesn't settle if I cuddle him at night.

 

[TORino]

Reading what I have about the various types of parenting there appears to be 2 camps on this.

The 'attachment parenting' camp says that you can't spoil a baby and the baby needs to feel that you are there and close and building a strong emotional bond with your child is important for socio-emotional development. This camp would advocate cuddling baby to sleep and that self soothing is detrimental to the child and they are not able to do this until the age of 2.5 or 3 without it having adverse effects on their health.

The other camp advises to get the child to self soothe as soon as possible and not rely on rocking/cuddling/feeding/dummies for sleep as it builds up bad sleep associations which are difficult to break when the child gets older. I.e. if you always use a dummy, when the baby wakes in the night they will notice the dummy is not there and call for it to be replaced and will always need the dummy to settle to sleep.

I'm not sure yet what I believe lol.

 

[BabyBrain]

See Albert won't self settle for naps, but come bedtime he doesn't want to be cuddled. He's an odd child but I'm not surprised lol

 

[TORino]

I always do *something* to get T bird to sleep. They aren't always the same things but I usually swaddle/rock the crib/bounce the bouncer/use a dummy I am aware though that I probably have created bad sleep associations because she wakes up several times in the night looking for the dummy

 

[Samsgirl]

We need a dummy for some daytime naps but when she goes down for the night she only needs her dummy if she is crying. Most times she will go without the dummy. She has self settled since about 6 weeks. It's very rare we need to rick her to sleep or cuddle her. But every baby is different. Sometimes she just wants her bed to take herself off and hates being fussed over it cuddled. She is quite independent already!!! She will be leaving home at six months at this rate! Lol x

 

[l_maclean]

Georgia is going through a wee phase of needing cuddled to sleep just now, but when she drops her dummy she doesn't waken for it. Xxx


On my iPhone - so cant see tickers

 

[BabyBrain]

I always do *something* to get T bird to sleep. They aren't always the same things but I usually swaddle/rock the crib/bounce the bouncer/use a dummy I am aware though that I probably have created bad sleep associations because she wakes up several times in the night looking for the dummy

Albert will have his dummy to drift off then I think it gets on his nerves cos he'll wake up, spit it out and then go back to sleep, if he grumbles during the night I do pop it in though. The dummy only really works with us whilst waiting for the bottle to warm up. My mum said I was the same but I was so attached to my bottle she had to wrestle it away from me on the first day of school

 

[aliciabubba]

I put Ralph down awake after his bottle for bed or for naps during the day and he drops off in 5 or so minutes. I rarely have to cuddle him to drift off... But it could change lol x

 

[becciboo26]

We need a dummy for some daytime naps but when she goes down for the night she only needs her dummy if she is crying. Most times she will go without the dummy. She has self settled since about 6 weeks. It's very rare we need to rick her to sleep or cuddle her. But every baby is different. Sometimes she just wants her bed to take herself off and hates being fussed over it cuddled. She is quite independent already!!! She will be leaving home at six months at this rate! Lol x

Same here really - doesnt really NEED the dummy but she does like it, also if she looses it, it doesnt seem to bother her at all she never calls for it. She has pretty much gone down awake from about 6 weeks. Cant really call it self settling as in crying etc as she doesnt, she just kind of coos and stares ahead then sleeps lol, im well aware that this could change at any time though. Since the jabs last tues she is now waking once in the night and had slept through for three nights before that - gutted! lol