How do you get your baby to sleep for naps and at night?

[babycakes22]

I read on a website to put your baby down, in their crib or where ever they sleep, right before they fall asleep, and if they cry don't pick them up, just to let them cry but check up on them in 5 minutes then leave and if they're still crying check on them in 10 minutes and keep adding 5 minutes to the time you check up on them. Well i tried it and it really works, yeah i feel bad, really bad, but in the end my baby gets his sleep and i get to do what i need to do around the house or i get my hours of sleep too. But i keep wondering how long will what I'm doing to get him to sleep work and if his crying so much can her his throat?.

[aehanrahan]

I always nursed and/or rocked my boys to sleep as long as they needed it.  My oldest eventually grew out of needing the cuddling to go to sleep.  I still nurse my youngest to sleep and he's 20 months old.  I feel that showing them that I am there when they need me will help them be more secure as they get older.  My 8 year old has been going to sleep on his own for many years now.  He will even go to bed on his own before his bedtime if he feels like he needs to. 

[AKAMommy72]

Babycakes22,

I tried this method a few times but unfortunately it doesnt work with all babies. Mine just became more insecure during his waking hours.  I think it also depends on the age of the baby, I think it may be too late for us. Mine is over a year and is very stubborn! He will cry for hours until I come back.  Hopefully you don't have to do this for long before he is sleeping on his own.

aehanrahan,

I was wondering if you could advise me since you have experience nursing to sleep into the toddler years.  I have a 15 month old boy who is still nursing to sleep for every nap and bedtime. I have never co-slept so have to transer him to the crib after nurse/rocking him to sleep. A couple of months ago he started waking up when I'd try to get him into the crib and not going back to sleep to finish the nap. So a had to modify what I was doing and nurse him on a mat on the floor next to his crib then sneak out.  This is starting to fail now and he is waking up shortly after I leave and not completing the nnap even though he is still super tired. He is rarely even falling asleep for his naps anymore (nursing w/music white noise and darkness) and its a problem, he needs more time napping and I need a break during the day.

So my questions to you are:

How did you know your toddler was growing out of the need to nurse to sleep and how did he then get to sleep?

How did you get you toddler into the crib without waking him up? Or did you have any techniques for lengthening naps?

Did your milk supply ever dip after 12 months?  MIne has a little and I think he has been waking up at night to nurse in order to make up for the missed calories.

Any advise?
Thanks!

[aehanrahan]

I just noticed that you replied to this.

Quoting AKAMommy72:

Babycakes22,

I tried this method a few times but unfortunately it doesnt work with all babies. Mine just became more insecure during his waking hours.  I think it also depends on the age of the baby, I think it may be too late for us. Mine is over a year and is very stubborn! He will cry for hours until I come back.  Hopefully you don't have to do this for long before he is sleeping on his own.

aehanrahan,

I was wondering if you could advise me since you have experience nursing to sleep into the toddler years.  I have a 15 month old boy who is still nursing to sleep for every nap and bedtime. I have never co-slept so have to transer him to the crib after nurse/rocking him to sleep. A couple of months ago he started waking up when I'd try to get him into the crib and not going back to sleep to finish the nap.  My oldest did this at about 6 months.  We had to just keep him in bed with us so we could all get some sleep.  So a had to modify what I was doing and nurse him on a mat on the floor next to his crib then sneak out.  This is starting to fail now and he is waking up shortly after I leave and not completing the nnap even though he is still super tired.  This happens with my youngest if I leave him alone in bed for too long.  He is rarely even falling asleep for his naps anymore (nursing w/music white noise and darkness) and its a problem, he needs more time napping and I need a break during the day.  He may need a new routine for naps.  My oldest started refusing naps all together around 3 years old even though he was crabby and needed sleep.

So my questions to you are:

How did you know your toddler was growing out of the need to nurse to sleep and how did he then get to sleep?  With my oldest, he just slowly stopped nursing to sleep.  My 20 month old still nurses to sleep about 99% of the time.  He nurses MUCH more than his brother did.

How did you get you toddler into the crib without waking him up? Or did you have any techniques for lengthening naps?  We don't have a crib.  He sleeps with us.  My oldest napped on his own just fine but the youngest has always needed me close to sleep well.  I lay in bed with him and nurse him back to sleep when he wakes up.  I get to rest and sometimes make up for lost sleep overnight.

Did your milk supply ever dip after 12 months?  MIne has a little and I think he has been waking up at night to nurse in order to make up for the missed calories.  My supply never changed but his sleeping and nursing patterns did many times.  He has gone through periods where he would cluster feed from about 4:00 to 7:00 every morning for a few weeks.

Any advise?
Thanks!

I'm tired and need to take my baby to bed so I can't think of anything else.  Let me know if you have any other questions.

[Des10ed2b]

that is exactly what i did with both of my kids, within 4 days my daughter had it down without an issue. it took about a week for my son. he still voices his opinion that he doesnt want to go to bed sometimes, but most the time, its smooth sailing! dont worry, babies are smarter then we think! your baby will get it down soon!

[ashleybgarcia]

How old were your children? OP, how old is your baby?

Quoting Des10ed2b:

that is exactly what i did with both of my kids, within 4 days my daughter had it down without an issue. it took about a week for my son. he still voices his opinion that he doesnt want to go to bed sometimes, but most the time, its smooth sailing! dont worry, babies are smarter then we think! your baby will get it down soon!

[ashleybgarcia]

By the way, this is called controlled crying. From my research it works fully within 4-9 nights. I have not done it bc my baby is too little.

[jatjones]

Hi Babycakes22,

Of course a lot of people have told me that this type of method works with babies. I'm really at a dilemma about doing this type of method to get my baby to sleep. My son is 6 months in a week and he just doesn't really sleep at all. When he does take his one nap in the day it maybe lasts about 10 minutes and at night he begins "cat nappng at about 9pm. He doesn't actually sleep until 1-2am. He still wakes every 3 hours to eat regardless of the time that he falls asleep too.

I really need him to sleep better but I'm more worried about the message this would send to my baby if I use this method to get him to sleep. How old is your baby? When you began to place your baby in the crib this you do anything beforehand to prepare him for it? When you checked on him after 5 and 10 minutes, did you only check on him by looking to see if he was okay, did you make yourself visible, did you talk to him or anything to provide comfort during this time? How long do you allow this to last at one time because my baby could cry for hours at once? I'm sorry for all of the questions but I'm just concerned about how this really works and how it affects the baby.

 

[tabbie-kat]

There are different techniques to do to get your baby to sleep but you have to do wat works for you, some babies catch on to the falling asleep in the crib when you leave them in there. I have started giving mmy babies a nice warm bath in the johnsons bedtime lavender bath then putting them on my bed and rubbing them down with lotion giving them a massage to relax them and let them know it is time to settle down and get ready for bed. my new baby (5 months) will take so much of her bottle and then try to roll over to snuggle up and go to sleep, or i rock her till she is half asleep then lay her in bed. My son is nother story (21 months) he got spoiled to being rocked completely asleep when he was younger, now he gets a bath with our daughter and then massaged to but he wont just lay down to go to sleep, unfortunately, so if i were u try wat i do with my daughter, she sleeps like dream. bt remember every child s different and have different quirks.

[Lizzette517]

their throat wont hurt. you're doing the right thing. this is all normal. maybe at night you can set up a bedtime routine  and giving her a bottle w/ cereal at night will help a lot. i bathe my little one before his last feeding and then its off to bed. he goes down at 10p till 9 am. no interruptions at night!!!

[Lizzette517]

Maybe the baby wakes up bcuz he's not getting his tummy full. at night try to put cereal in his milk. how many oz does he take of milk? has he started solids??

my little one is 8 months, and i do the 5-10min. thing during naps. but he sleeps throughout the night. he fill up his tummy, i give him a bathe with the bedtime johnson and johnson, lotion ofr a massage, and then the bottle. keep the house cold and he's out from 10p till 9am. no interruptions through the night.