moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

my dd is now 8 wks. i've been EFB which has been great! however, i think i spoiled her. she normally falls asleep on me and sometimes we just cuddle together- anyhow, i find that when i put her down, she will only sleep for like 15-30 min tops, but if i let her sleep on me, she will sleep for at least an hour or 2. and as of yet, she has never fallen asleep on her own.

my ped said to put her down and let her cry b/c she needs to learn to self soothe and fall asleep on her own.
i cant bear the tears

anyone have experience? can your child fall asleep on their own or must you rock them to sleep?
at what age do they start sleeping on their own or am i dooming both myself and my ?

TIA!!

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

Personally, at her age I would have to disagree with your ped on letting her cry. Emerson quite simply did not have the ability to soother herself at that age. It took her until she was about 4 -4 1/2 months old to be able to soothe herself and calm herself. I would hold her all the time when she was little and let her sleep on our chest just to keep her asleep. Every book will tell you that you can't spoil them at that age. They need to be comforted and feel secure because they don't have the skills yet to comfort themselves. That will come with time, they figure it out. I say snuggle her as much as you want, she will be fine.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

If you're not comfortable with your pediatricina's advice, you should do what you think is best. I personally think your DD is too young to let her cry and self soothe, but I know I'm a total softie when it comes to those things.

DS absolutely hates the crib. He sleeps in my arms at night and tends to sleep in my arms or on my lap during the day. I can usually get him to nap in the swing once per day. DS tends to fall asleep after I nurse him. If he's fussy and doesn't fall asleep after nursing, he usually needs to be rocked to sleep.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

Posted by Hofstra26

Personally, at her age I would have to disagree with your ped on letting her cry. Emerson quite simply did not have the ability to soother herself at that age. It took her until she was about 4 -4 1/2 months old to be able to soothe herself and calm herself. I would hold her all the time when she was little and let her sleep on our chest just to keep her asleep. Every book will tell you that you can't spoil them at that age. They need to be comforted and feel secure because they don't have the skills yet to comfort themselves. That will come with time, they figure it out. I say snuggle her as much as you want, she will be fine.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I am a big CIO advocate, but 8 week is far to young to let a baby self soothe

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

Posted by hunnybunnyxoxo

Posted by Hofstra26

Personally, at her age I would have to disagree with your ped on letting her cry. Emerson quite simply did not have the ability to soother herself at that age. It took her until she was about 4 -4 1/2 months old to be able to soothe herself and calm herself. I would hold her all the time when she was little and let her sleep on our chest just to keep her asleep. Every book will tell you that you can't spoil them at that age. They need to be comforted and feel secure because they don't have the skills yet to comfort themselves. That will come with time, they figure it out. I say snuggle her as much as you want, she will be fine.

thank you so much!!! i just picked up my crying baby!!!

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

We did CIO with Ryan when he was 7 months. For us it was perfect.

8 weeks is definitely too young to have any expectation of her self soothing. For now, whatever it takes to get her to go to sleep I say go for it.

We coslept for the first 7 months and I loved every minute. I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

any advice what to do if she wakes up right after i put her down? i will be goin back to work the end of the month.. my dh will be workin from home and i am trying to get her on some sort of schedule. or is she just simply too young for a schedule?

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

My ped told me the same thing...

well, at 8 tonight I rocked my 26 month old to sleep!

I could have never let him cry. He napped on me for the first 8 months...every single nap.

Last night after I rocked him to sleep, DH wanted to hold him before I put him down. He held him for 30 minutes...so I guess that is the sign that there is no stopping in our future.

I nursed him to sleep for 18 mos.

Believe me, there are more nights then not that I wish he was a kid that I put in a room and said good night. He's not that kid, I am not that mom.

we tried at 12 mos. disaster. broken crib, jumped out of crib in middle of the night.

You got the okay from dr, if you want to try it, do it. it can't hurt to try.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

Posted by Hofstra26

Posted by hunnybunnyxoxo

Posted by Hofstra26

Personally, at her age I would have to disagree with your ped on letting her cry. Emerson quite simply did not have the ability to soother herself at that age. It took her until she was about 4 -4 1/2 months old to be able to soothe herself and calm herself. I would hold her all the time when she was little and let her sleep on our chest just to keep her asleep. Every book will tell you that you can't spoil them at that age. They need to be comforted and feel secure because they don't have the skills yet to comfort themselves. That will come with time, they figure it out. I say snuggle her as much as you want, she will be fine.

thank you so much!!! i just picked up my crying baby!!!

You're welcome!! Like someone else said, you need to do what you feel is right for your baby. You know her better than anyone and you know instinctively what is right for her. I didn't feel right letting Emme CIO. It did nothing but put her in hysterics and I couldn't bear it. And if it makes you feel better she is almost 6 months and has no problems going down at night and sleeping all night long and she's been that way for months!! She is in bed between 7 and 8pm and sleeps until 6:30-7:00am with no waking up during the night so like I said........they figure it out. This was a baby who wanted nothing more than to sleep on your chest and she is on her own in her crib so my advice, do what you feel is best.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I personally think it's hard to schedule them at that age although some people have managed it. I always followed Emerson's lead and she put herself on a schedule little by little that really worked great!

Whenever she woke up right after I put her down I picked her right back up otherwise she wouldn't sleep. Now that she is older I leave her when she wakes up and she may babble and coo for a bit but she gets herself back to sleep on her own the majority of the time.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

good to know-thanks for the advice girls!!! btw, mt little one is asleep in my arms as i type

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

i could not do CIO at 8 weeks, even if my ped told me to. i think that you could let her fuss/cry a little to see if she will just fall back asleep, but i would pick her up if she starts to really cry.

the things that worked for us at that age was to swaddle and, at 10 weeks old, DS finally took a pacifier (the soothie kind).

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I would not do this to my 8 week old she is too young to self soothe.
DD goes down at night for herself she will only fall asleep at night if she is laying down. Naps on the other hand she will only nap long if your holding her or if you lay with her otheriwse its 10-20 minutes tops

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

My ped said the same thing at about that age. I really don't think they mean to let them cry until they fall asleep, but let them cry a minute or two before picking them back up and then try again. I was never able to do it and I'm still rocking my 9 month old to sleep for naps. I wish I would have tried a little harder.
Good luck!

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

firstly, I disagree completely with your ped, you cannot let a baby CIO until at least 6 months, I am shocked they suggested that to you

at this stage, your dc needs to know you are there for them to soothe them

That said, I rocked my dd to sleep until she was 12 months

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

maybe get a sling so she has the comfort of mommy and you have 2 hands to get things done

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I agree with everyone that 8 weeks is too young to self soothe???

Are you swaddling her?? I usually feed Alexa and when she is getting sleepy I lay her down and swaddle her in a light receiving blanket and then use the swaddle me over that so she is a nice tight burritto. She usually wakes up but is still sleepy. Then I put her back into my arms and rock her to sleep and am able to put her down and she will sleep 2-3 hours. If I DON'T swaddle her and put her down she will wake up after 15-20 minutes.

I think the swaddling is crucual because she feels like she is still getting "hugged" by mommy and feels safe and secure!

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I didnt BF so it was a little easier for me I guess.
I made sure not to get into a habit of rocking Gavin to sleep. He was great at that age....he would watch the mobile forever, I would have to restart it! Then he would fall asleep in his crib, swaddled, on his own.
DH used to yell at me when I rocked Gavin, he said I was creating a bad habit, which the ped agreed with.
However, it such a young age, babies are still trusting in their parents 100% for comfort and trust that you will be there for them always.
I agree that if they cry you need to pick them up, soothe them and just as they are drifting off, lay them down.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

She falls alseep on here on. I have never rocked either child and never will. I don't want to get them into that habit. If I am holding her and she falls asleep I just put her in her bassinet. I don't want her getting used to me holding her for her to get to sleep either.

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

i have the exact same problem!!! i usually go thru the day with DS in my arms... when he is awake, i try the bouncey or swing.. its lasts maybe 10-15 min...

when he falls asleep, its always in the arms of me, DH or my mom.. he will be out cold, the second you put him down, he wakes!!!!

i rather him sleep on someone and get a good 2 hr nap than try to put him down and him wake after 15-30 min..

i feel for you!! im hoping it all gets better too

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

I just kept trying. I would lay DD down in her crib around 8 weeks and pick her up when she cries. Then I would put her back down, and repeat if she got upset.

I read this in one of the 1,000,000 sleep books I read as a way to get them to learn to sleep in the crib. For her first nap I literally picked her up 50 times, each time after that it was less and less until now when she goes down for the most part for naps (7 months old) with no problem.

However, for my parents she is not the best napper, I think she got used to me putting her down now she won't nap for them when I am at work, so I have a different problem , but I digress, that is what I did to get her used to the crib for sleeping and I never rocked her. I didn't want her to get used to that habit.

GL!

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

sorry to crash, but what happens if you have another kid and cant hold the baby all day long....

Re: moms to 2/3 month olds or BTDT moms, does your child fall asleep on their own or do you rock them to sleep?

i think every child is different.
My 1st daughter loved to be rocked and we did so for a while - it was the only way we could get her to sleep - it was almost like she needed the affection from us.
My 2nd daughter wanted nothing to do with rocking - she preferred to fall asleep on her own. She didn't even want to be held much. As soon as she finished her bottle she wanted to hang out in the swing or bouncy and eventually would fall alseep on her own.

In my opinion - i would do what you think is best - if you want to hold her an extra 5 minutes do it - believe me they will eventually grow out of it - my daughter did!