How do you put your baby to sleep?

Question

Getting my baby to sleep has gotten more and more difficult the past couple of weeks! I either nurse her to sleep or my husband and I have to take turns bouncing her to sleep to her favorite song - it's exhausting! Sometimes it takes 10 mins, sometimes it takes 2 hours!

I know we need to teach her how to fall asleep on her own, but we're just not there yet (she's 12 weeks). How do you guys get your babies to fall asleep??

Answer

We put her in her sleep suit with white noise and into her bassinet and I sit beside her rubbing her belly (or holding her little arms down gently cos she knocks out her paci) until she falls asleep. I used to rock her to sleep in her suit while the white noise but now she doesn't need the rocking - she knows when it's suit and white noise time it's sleep time. Sometimes she will fight it but usually it's only cos she needs a top up of milk so I feed her burp her and start again.

TBH though, I think at this age it's more genetics/personality than what we as parents do. I read an article that said just do what works to get them to sleep at this age. That took some pressure off me to have the perfect routine. They're just too young to train properly just yet.

My daughter has gone from waking every hour to sleeping through most nights and I think it's just that she's getting older and her personality is maturing, I don't think we have some magical routine going on. Lol.

Answer

I figured out I was trying too hard to get our little girl to sleep. I did the whole big nighttime routine, bath, book, rocking nursing, mobile, music and it took 2 hours for her to finally fall asleep. My daycare said they put her down for a nap in the dark with no music or lights and she's fussy for a minute then falls right to sleep. Now I feed her around 9:00pm and put her in her crib about 9:30pm with no night light so it's completely dark and she falls right asleep. She sleeps 8-10 hrs.

Answer

I'm "that" mom that nurses and rocks her baby to sleep for naps and then holds her while she sleeps. She naps at 10, 1, and 5 for about an hour, sometimes 2 and her 1pm nap and then put my big kids (9, 4, 3, 3) to bed and side lay nurse her at 8pm and she cosleeps from 8p-8a dream feeding at 1a and 5a. After she falls asleep in our bed I can slip out by 8:30 and take my shower, pick up ect. This is just what works for us :)

Answer

I lay her down on her back while she's wide awake and put a blanket on her.  Then I put on a fan for white noise and shut the door. She will either look around and fall asleep on her own or I wait until she starts fussing and then I will go back in, give her a pacifier and re-adjust her blanket and walk out and shut the door. She goes to sleep on her own. No rocking, no singing, nothing. She sleeps 10-12 hrs every night. Read the book "12 hours sleep by 12 weeks". Worked for all three of my kids and very minimal crying or fussing. She breast feeds 4 times a day (every 4 hours). She naps in the morning (10-11:15) and again from 2-4:00. Bedtime is at 8pm and she wakes at 8:00am. Feeding times are 8:00am, 12:00pm, 4:00pm, and 8:00pm.

Answer

I hate how every sleep article tells you to teach your baby to self soothe but never expands on how to do it. My son was the exact same way and this is what worked for us. I would nurse him until he was drowsy and then lay him down (swaddled. YouTube search super swaddle if she is getting out) and then let him fuss/cry for a while. If he started screaming crying I would pick him up but normal crying I just let him go. Every once and awhile he would start to fall asleep and eventually he actually did. The first few times were super frustrating because he would take 40 minutes to fall asleep and then just sleep for 5 or 10 minutes. But we kept at it and he got better and better at it. Now I can basically just swaddle and lay him down and he falls asleep.

Answer

We cuddle in bed, sometimes with bottle, and put him in his crib next to my bed when he falls asleep. Typically only takes 5-10 mins. They are only little so long so I'm not forcing him to have to put himself to bed quite yet.

Answer

We start around 7 pm with a warm bath and aveeno baby lavendar calming wash. Turn the lights off in his room except for a mood light which is a sunset color (gives you enough light to see by but won't disturb baby). Swaddle him, give him a small bottle and read a bedtime story or two. As he falls asleep we lay him in his rock n play. He sleeps about 11 hrs straight. Last time I also put my diffuser in his room with some gentle baby essential oil.

Answer

Honestly, my baby has never needed to be rocked to sleep and we never started that habit so she has learned to fall asleep on her own with minimal fussing for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Answer

We have our son on a schedule. We just give him bottle by 8 every night, burp him and continue patting his back untill he falls asleep by 8:30 which is his bedtime. Usually takes about 10-15 minutes to get him to sleep

Answer

I nurse my baby to sleep, I actually love it. It's bonding time with just me and her. The older kids are all tucked into bed so I get to give her my uninterrupted attention. She will go to sleep for her daddy in the rocker, but she loves our bedtime nursing sessions as much as I do. 
I don't see it as a bad habit either. She feels comforted, she feels loved and fall soundly to sleep and will sleep through the night until around 5- 6am. So it works for us.

How do you put your baby to sleep?

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