Daddy soothing to sleep??

[cinnamonamon]

We are contemplating having my dh start helping put our ds to sleep. Up until now he has almost always nursed to sleep. The only exceptions to this is when he falls asleep in his carseat or the 4 times my dh walked him down.

He tried a couple nights ago, and lasted about 75 seconds. :LOL So has anyone else tried this? How long did it take, how did dh/dp's go about it, etc.

I'm not looking to nightwean him -- but some nights he doesn't just wake at 10 & 2 -- he keeps waking after his 10pm nurse every 5 - 45 minutes for 2 hours...VERY stressful. This is what I want to eliminate/reduce. After 2am I usually sleep in ds's bed with him (twin bed in his room on the floor) as he will wake up constantly unless I do. In another 4 or 6 months I might try to do something about this as well, but right now I don't think we're ready.

Part of my prompting is that we're playing with ttc, and I really would rather not try to cosleep with 2 babies, and when I am pg I am VERY fatigued, so I know I will need more sleep...kwim?

Anywho...any advice for my dh would be great!

[ekblad9]

We've always had dh put the babies to bed after they turned 1. And after they are out of the family bed (they didn't all leave that young) he will go to them in the night. If they fuss or cry for longer than a few minutes I will go in there. Usually they are fine, though. With ds3 dh would put him in the Ergo and walk him to sleep and then go lay down with him.

Good luck!:hippie

[EllieB]

My dh always put our ds (14 mo) to bed b/c the 2 of them are night owls and I'm usually asleep by the time ds is ready. He lays on the couch with him and they watch a movie. That always works for them. When ds is good and asleep, he brings him upstairs. The bonus is, since dh put him to bed in the 1st place, he's much more willing to accept him as a comforter during the night.

[Morgraine]

My husband puts on the same record everytime, lights down low and they dance until Cam is asleep. He is 25lbs, so they often use the sling. Try quieting the house down early in the evening. Get your little one into daddy's arms arms b/4 he is cranky.

[perditafoster]

After a bath and about 15 minutes of Baby Einstein, I nurse dd in our bed. If she doesn't fall asleep, I leave the room and dh lies with her until she goes to sleep. He can get her to sleep much easier than I can usually; he says it's because he doesn't have milkies and she gets bored with him!

[cinnamonamon]

Thanks for the advice, ladies. How do you get dc to stay in bed though? He will NOT stay laying down or in bed with dh -- and he will only stay there for me if he's nursing...gee...I'm trying to post a question and I think I'm answering it myself. I guess he could walk him down then put him down when he was sleeping. And if he won't go to sleep, then chances are he isn't ready to go to sleep....

But how do you go about teaching a child to go to sleep without nursing/strapped in carseat/walked down??