Transitioning rocking chair sleeper to bed sleeper.

[Curious]

Dd has gone to sleep in the rocking chair while nursing for basically her whole live, almost 17 months. The past month or so has been hard because she jumps up and down from the chair, and makes her rounds, even if I darken the room. She stays close to the chair and the run around intervals get shorter and shorter until she comes back up to my arms for good, nurses, and falls asleep, after about 45 minutes. Then we move her to bed.

While running around the chair, she sometimes lays down on the carpet next to the chair, and stays like that for a few minutes (maybe it's seconds) so last night I figured, what if I was in the bed and she laid down like that...and fell asleep?

So last night I took her to the bed after the first 5 minutes of this. Dh was working so it was just me being very boring (I don't talk or play). She played on the bed, in a similar pattern, with frequent returns to me to nurse, until she fell asleep. It still took 45 minutes. But I feel like this is the right track, after all, at some point she'll go from falling asleep in the chair to falling asleep in the bed.

It will be harder when Dh is in the bed, because he likes to talk and play, but I'll worry about that another time. But eventually even he gets tired and becomes still and quiet.

Can anyone offer suggestions to make this work better? Does it sound like the normal progression of sleep habits?

[Curious]

No responses in over a day: Are we so totally weird that no one can relate??

[Oliviasmama]

Sounds encouraging to me. I know i am just sleep deprived and so not responding to alot. I too have a rocking chair sleeper. IN fact last night that is the only place she would sleep, so we both slept there!

[Threefold]

Sounds exactly like ds, who is 24 mo.
We sometimes fall asleep in bed, but generally I have found that he needs the motion of the rocker to help him drop off more quicky. Some nights we will move from bed to rocker, bed to rocker, until he finally falls asleep. If he does this often enough so he is frustrating me, I will say, "okay, this is the last time we'll move, now we're going to fall asleep in the rocker/bed". That almost always works, but not if I try it right off the bat. He went through a phase (lasting maybe a week or so?) a few months back when he would hop off my lap, run around, try to play, etc, with the room dark and me in there being very boring. Eventually, he just stopped on his own and now, though it still sometimes takes him 45 minutes to fall asleep, is generally very clear that he wants to fall asleep. Infrequently, he will request that we play and I just gently tell him, "not now, love, it's sleepytime. We'll play in the morning". This may be stating the obvious, but there is a big connection for us betwen bedtime routine (specific bed time, pjs, brush teeth, three stories, lights off)and the ease with which ds falls asleep. Unless he is exhausted though, bedtime for us does last a good solid hour, sometimes more. I have come to accept it as ds's way to wind down, process his day and have some quiet time with me.
As far as transitioning to falling asleep exclusively while in bed, I guess I've assummed it will happen naturally when ds is too big to fit comfortably in the rocker.
So, either you are not totally weird, or I am too!

[Curious]

Thanks for the responses.

I figured I'd let Dd let me know when she was ready to move to bed, and I always figured she'd be older. But 2 nights out of the past 3 I've taken her from the chair, back to bed, and today, she showed for the first time that she understands that when she's sleepy, the bed is for napping. She pointed me to the bed for both naps.

I guess this is a good direction, if she is moving toward the bed, because Dh and I are talking about TTC later this year,, and one thing that worries me is the prospect of rocking 2 squirmers to sleep.

[Curious]

Originally posted by Curious
Thanks for the responses.

I figured I'd let Dd let me know when she was ready to move to bed, and I always figured she'd be older. But 2 nights out of the past 3 I've taken her from the chair, back to bed, and today, she showed for the first time that she understands that when she's sleepy, the bed is for napping. ven though the rocker motion seems important at times, she pointed me to the bed for both naps.

I guess this is a good direction, if she is moving toward the bed, because Dh and I are talking about TTC later this year,, and one thing that worries me is the prospect of rocking 2 squirmers to sleep.

[ignit]

My 10-mo-old used to fall asleep for the night anywhere, but now needs a dark quiet room. Still gets down from the bed & crawls around for a while and so on. Takes 20 to 45 minutes to get him to sleep. Glad to hear I'm not the only one! I find the darker and quieter, the better. Rocking helps as does a full belly and bedtime routine. I have gone to turning off the nightlight and going for complete darkness to curtail his activity. I haven't been particular about bedtime, but I wait until he indicates he's ready, then take him into the bedroom. Glad to hear mine isn't the only baby up at 10 and 11 at night! Most people I know seem shocked that we 'let' him stay up past 8:30 - but that seems to be a period of intense activity for him and I wouldn't begin to know how to get him to sleep at that time. He seems to have about 3 hours of high energy after dinner, then gets tired and begins to pull on his ears - his sign for 'ready to sleep'.