How to get baby to sleep alone

[Sherilyns]

I cannot get my 3 month old daughter to nap anywhere but the baby carrier. Everyonce and a while she will sleep in her swing (but only if I get her at just the right amount of tiredness). At night I nurse her to sleep, put her in the co-sleeper, and then when she wakes up in the middle of the night we cosleep till morning. 

How do you put your child down for a nap? I've tried dark room, lots of white noise, and swaddling her, but she just fusses and squirms and then cries. I've also tried nursing her to sleep, but she just woke up after and also daddy can't do that.

[Knitting Mama]

It took my daughter until she was 5 months old or perhaps even a bit later to sleep by herself in the swing with any regularity. Sleeping alone just doesn't work so well for some babies!

[slgt]

I nurse her down, sometimes in the rocker but usually lying down. The only other ways she'll fall asleep are in the car, occasionally if she's being worn & we're out for a hike, and very rarely if she is just exhausted DH can kind of hold & rock her to sleep. Time is the biggest answer! DD#1 didn't really start falling asleep on her own until around a year.

[memz]

My DD slept in my arms for 10 months....and she will be 11 months this week...so it's been about 2 weeks since she started sleeping on her own. So what I do is change diaper nurse and then put her in our bed and lay down next to her, patting, shushing and signing until she falls asleep......and then I stay next to her reading, or surving on my laptop....here  so that I can put her back down when she wakes up after 30-45 minutes.... so not much help for you. I bought the no cry nap solution, and that gave me tips to help...and this is where we are after 2 weeks of starting....

So sorry for the rant...basically what I'm saying is you can try different things...but for me it just didn't work when she was younger...I had to wait it out until she was ready...

[GrungeBaby]

I would check out Dr. Sears website. The article I read on infant sleep facts was very helpful (IMO). My DD is 3 months old now and using Sears information is helpful when trying to get her to sleep alone.

[sssheri]

I read that article but nothing worked. I guess it just takes time. She won't nurse to sleep in the daytime either, even in a dark room. At least we have the baby carrier solution, so she isn't sleep deprived. I'm mostly worried about it because she is going to start daycare 2 days a week and there won't be anyone to carry her around. 

Originally Posted by GrungeBaby 

I would check out Dr. Sears website. The article I read on infant sleep facts was very helpful (IMO). My DD is 3 months old now and using Sears information is helpful when trying to get her to sleep alone.

[Peony]

Only 1 out of my 3 had the ability to nap off of me as babies/younger toddlers. I did the same thing with all, it was just all them. Eventually they were able to sleep without being on me, but it certainly was a long time coming. 

[Schae]

I suggest reading this link, it makes one feel muchh better. Every baby is different and will sleep differently.

http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/01/qa_11weekold_an.html

[sssheri]

Thanks! Super helpful.
 

Originally Posted by Schae 

I suggest reading this link, it makes one feel muchh better. Every baby is different and will sleep differently.

http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/01/qa_11weekold_an.html

[goldenwillow]

DS slept on me until he was 11 months old.  I was able to start to get him down by nursing then laying down with him in bed while nursing and gradually was able to get him to nap on his own for 1 to 2 hours. 

[BathrobeGoddess]

moved to FBNP...

[Altair]

I had some luck laying down next to my baby at nap time (we had a side carred crib at that time), nursing, then giving the pacifier and putting him to sleep by laying next to him ... then sneaking away.  If he woke up too soon I'd go back in a try to get him back to sleep (forget what book I got that advice from but it did help lengthen his naps in the long run). 

The best advice I ever got about sleep was "spend your time falling asleep with the baby doing something that relaxes you as well, because you'll be spending a lot of time doing it!"  So for us I decided I liked just laying down and resting with him and I tried to get him used to that from the beginning.  Every time we've needed to transition to a new way I've just done is slowly and gently and it takes a lot more time that way but we get there with minimal upset. 

[Sherilyns]

Update: DD is 6 months and is still not sleeping on her own at home. We got kind of lazy about it, but decided that everyone is happier  and more rested if she naps in the baby carrier (we co-sleep at night). Hopefully she will do it on her own time. At daycare though, which is only 2 1/2 days a week, she takes shorter naps, is rocked to sleep in a bouncer but I am sure she is crying herself to sleep. 

[moonfirefaery]

It's probably a phase that will pass... My babies wanted to be held constantly at that age and would only sleep in the baby carrier, only occasionally in other places. Try laying down with her on the bed or a pad on the floor until she falls asleep, then slowly moving away from her without waking her.

[Snapdragon]

have you tried swaddling her but leave the legs unswaddled, and then put her in a "travel"swing at the highest speed- and then push for a hwile to get a good swing? this is what worked for us when ds was that age