putting baby down to sleep while awake?

My DD is almost 6 weeks, her ped. suggested I start trying to put her to down to sleep while she is awake. During the day she will fall asleep on her own but only nap for 30 - 45 minutes. So the first night we she was falling asleep I put her in the bassinett and she fell asleep but woke up about 30 minutes later. Then was up for an hour before I rocked her to sleep. Last night she feel asllep for 15 minutes and was up for 3 hours!!!!!

what does everyone else do???? Before trying this I would hold her or rock her she was sleeping for 5 - 7 hours have a bottle then 3 - 5 hours.

Re: putting baby down to sleep while awake?

She's a little young but you can try to put together a routine - I put my DS awake in his crib every night to fall asleep but he is 12 weeks old. You can do bath, pajamas, bottle etc. I also look at a story with my DS but I doubt your baby would be "into" it yet Be careful with the rocking to sleep, I did that for a while and then we went through a period where my DS would NEED to be rocked to sleep. I had to gradually decrease it until I no longer do that for him to go to bed. I will do it if he's upset etc but not for bed. At 6 weeks you kind of just have to go with the flow but you can start doing little things to help her understand day vs. night.

Re: putting baby down to sleep while awake?

lol. . .I just posted that to do I go with the flow or go with a schedule!!

Thanks for the input!!

Re: putting baby down to sleep while awake?

My DD needed to be held to fall asleep until she was 8 months old. She would only fall asleep on our shoulder and could not get herself to sleep until she was older and was able to sleep on her tummy. Every baby is different but I was perfectly fine having to hold her because that took about 5 min. to get her to sleep whereas leaving her in the crib to do it on her own never worked and only got her hysterical and upset. My feeling is..........who cares what the ped. says. You need to do what's best for your baby and if she can't fall asleep without being held then hold her. She's only 6 weeks old and needs the comfort of you to fall asleep and that's normal. Some babies can do it on their own but if she can't like my DD don' sweat it, they will eventually.

Re: putting baby down to sleep while awake?

Re: putting baby down to sleep while awake?

I always gave my DD her last bottle right before bed and she fell asleep in my or DH's arms. We then put her down in her crib- sleeping. When she was about 4-6 months, she wasn't really asleep when she got her last bottle, so after she finished it, we would put her down sleepy but awake. Now at 12 months, she gets her last bottle, and doesn't look sleepy, but goes right in her crib when she's done. We have never had a problem with her waking up. She has been STTN since she was 6 weeks old.