How long to settle to sleep? - Infant Care (up to 18 months old) Message Board

Spanish · 10-05-2005, 01:50 PM

How long does it take you to settle your little one to sleep at night?

My DD is two months old and settles to sleep really well anytime except in the evening. After her bath and a cuddle it can take up to an hour of crying and wimpering and being carried around before she will finally go to sleep in her basket. Does it take others this long to settle their babies? If not,does anyone have any tips for how to get her to settle more quickly?

Spanish

Kiedy · 10-05-2005, 03:35 PM

My DS can be fussy too, but I stick to my routine. At 10pm I put him in his room, turn the lights off and sometimes I need to go back in many times too. It takes anywhere from 30min to 1hr for him to fall asleep, but occasionally I will be rewarded by having him fall asleep immediatly. I've read that it's good to have the babies fall asleep on their own, so I put him down when he is still awake and not while I'm feeding or carring him.

But all I can say is what you already know, IT WILL GET BETTER.

JenW67 · 10-05-2005, 06:16 PM

Hola Spanish,

I was having a really hard time getting my guy to go to bed at night. He is 3 months old. I talked to his doctor and she said that he is old enough for him to start to cryi it out and we have been donig that for a week. I am lucky because at night, he hasn't cried for more that 15 minutes. It has really changed our evenings around here. Instead of my spending an hour walking, rocking, singing, and pleading he goes to sleep pretty quickly after I nurse him and hold him for a few minutes. It is hard to listen to him cry but he does go to sleep pretty quickly. It is nice to spend that time with my husband now.

During the day, it is a different story. I have a hard time getting him to nap in his crib. I have let him cry a couple of times but it goes on forever and I don't know how worthwhile it is to have him cry for 45 minutes to get an hour long nap.

Anyway, if you have time, check out the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth. It has some really good hints.

Hang in there.

-Jen

Spanish · 10-06-2005, 08:08 AM

Thanks for your replies. Is two months old too young to let her cry it out? DH said last night "if she's crying in her bouncy chair and crying when she's being carried around why don't we just put her in the cot and let her cry there?" I was tempted to agree but I find it sooo hard to hear her wailing...it's just so pathetic sounding and I feel like such an awful mum to leave her crying! My own mum keeps telling me that letting her cry doesn't harm her and that if she's tired and overstimulated then if I keep picking her up and carrying her around it will just make it worse.

Having said she settles fine at other times the last couple of days I've struggled to get her to go to sleep during the day. She starts grizzling and yawning so I know she's tired but if I put her in the cot she just howls. So I pick her up and put her in the papoose on my front and she'll drop off almost straight away. But the moment I try to take her out of the papoose and put her in the cot she wakes up and cries again! Today I spend a while trying to sooth her without picking her up and it did no good so I walked away and let her cry for about 6 - 7 minutes and then went back and tried to soothe her again but she just kept crying. So I picked her up and put her back in the papoose and waked around for a while but she just wouldn't settle back to sleep. I changed her nappy and fed her and she was awake and happy for about half an hour after that. I put her in her bouncy chair and she started grizzling so I just kept bouncing her gently and she's finally dropped off now. But that's 2 1/2 hours since Itook her out of the papoose and put her down in the cot!!!!

I just feel like such a hopeless mum. I think I should be able to understand what she wants and be able to settle her down but I just can't. I don't want her to only sleep in the papoose during the day because it's so limiting for me and I don't think it's a good habit to get into because she should be sleeping lying down. I'm not overly happy about her sleeping in the chair but it's better than nothing I guess.

Also am I being unrealistic to expect her to start getting into a routine by now? Every day seems different. Some days she'll be awake and happy and play a lot, others she sleeps almost all day and other days (like today) she just grizzles most of the day and i can't seem to do anything to please her. Also her feeding and sleeping times are so varied that it's impossible to plan anything.

Ah sorry about that, I'm feeling a bit low today and I just needed to vent. Any reassuring words would be very much appreciated!!

Spanish

JenW67 · 10-06-2005, 09:05 AM

Hang in there girl.

If it makes you feel better, ask your doc. if she is old enough to let her cry. You may want to just try 5 minutes or so. It does feel horrible while they are wailing but my experience is that Liam is much happier when he sleeps more, even if he had to cry to get there. He is eating as I write this (one handed no less!) and is dropping off to sleep, just in time for a mid-morning nap. While I know he is better off sleeping in his crib or even his carseat, I aginuze over moving him because it means he is likely to cry. So, I know how it feels and it is not easy.

Babies are difficult to figure out. Just when you think you have their routines figured out, they go and change them. If your daughter's doc. is sympathetic, he/she will listen and give you some suggestions.

Hang in there and keep venting.

-Jen