learning to self soothe to sleep

Submitted by sak on Wed, 07/25/2012 - 15:39

I have a 10 week old who is exclusively breastfed. He's got into the habit of falling asleep on the breast at bedtime and for naps. Lots of people are telling me this is a problem and he should be learning to self soothe. At bedtime we have a bath, pyjamas on, baby massage if he wants and then he intensively feeds for anything up to hour and a half. I let him stay asleep on my nursing cushion after he's finished, for up to half an hour then move him to bed.

We haven't established a definite time for napping but roughly tends to be mid am, then just after lunch and sometimes mid afternoon but this can be very random. Again he tends to fall asleep on the breast but can wake up when I try and put him down, or he'll fall asleep in the car if I go out, or in the buggy/carrier if I have to walk the dog. I do try and watch for signs of tiredness - yawning, staring, pulling at face, but when I put him in the cot he'll lie there happily wide awake for up to 30/40 minutes, after this he'll get upset.

Any tips/advice on how I can help my little one fall asleep independently when I put him down in the cot would be gratefully received.

Many Thanks!

‹ 17 month old - suddenly the routine is going to pot!! 15 month old wont self settle ›

Hello,It's not a great

Submitted by Juliet on Wed, 08/01/2012 - 21:27.

Hello,

It's not a great problem at this age falling asleep on the breast but it is a time when you can start to introduce good habits. Falling alseep on the breast can lead to a baby only being able to go to sleep while sucking but this is not always the case.

What you could change slightly at the bedtime routine is to offer half of the feed before the bath, then do your usual routine and then offer the last bit of the feed. Once the feed has finished  try and settle in the cot. If he is cluster feeding then once he has finished try not to let him stay on the nursing cushion put place in the crib - you may need to soothe to sleep with patting but this helps to replace the sucking to sleep and then gradually do less and less until he is able to self settle independantly.

The same goes for naps - try and reduce the sucking to sleep association by observing for tiredness. Babies of this age last around 1.5 hours from waking before they need sleep again. Yawning can be a sign that they are over tired. See if you can do the feed after the naps but if this is not possible try and gently wake before placing in the crib - this will get easier as he gets older. If he is lying awake for 30-40 mins it could be he is over tired and unable to self settle.

 

Hope that helps a little and do come back if you need more help.

best wishes

Juliet

15 week old screaming at bedtime and naptime

Submitted by RuthB on Fri, 07/27/2012 - 20:22.

Hi

My 15-week-old daughter seems to have developed an aversion to her crib. We've been trying to implement a bedtime routine since she was 6 weeks old, which consists of a bath, feed, change and cuddle, then into her bed. However, she screams and screams when we put her into her crib. We've tried moving her bedtime so she's not overtired (we started before 7 today as soon as she looked tired) but that doesn't help. It's not just fussing but proper screaming. She also does this when I try to put her down for naps during the day. It's as though she's worked out that the crib means sleep and is terrified of it. I've never left her to cry, so I'm not sure why she's taken against it so much, but it's making bedtime and naptimes miserable. When she starts to scream I genearlly either pick her up and try to rock/cuddle her to soothe her (which generally makes her scream harder). or I end up feeding her again, taking her off before she's fullly asleep so she doens't fall asleep at the breast, at which point she starts screaming again. And repeat.

Do you have any idea how I might make  bed and naptime more relaxing for her? It's miserable for both of us at the moment. She sleeps in a 3-sided crib attached to our bed so we're right next to her - but this doesn't seem to help.

Any ideas much appreciated!