I need advice...sleeping issue

When DS was first born he was colic and the only way to get him to go to sleep would be to rock him. Jacob is now almost 9 months old and he still needs to be rocked to go to sleep. We did CIO and he sleeps through the night now but actually getting him to sleep is tough. We tried putting him in his crib when he was obviously tired (rubbing his eyes, yawning) but he sits up and cries...we even tried patting him on the back but he will not go to sleep. We really need to break this habit and probably should have done it a long time ago We also want to put the rocking chair away because he is now pulling himself up and is trying to pull himself up on the rocking chair. Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA!

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

How long do you rock him for? Can you wean him off of it - so go from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute? Maybe try that?

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

Posted by FireIslandLove

How long do you rock him for? Can you wean him off of it - so go from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 minute? Maybe try that?

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

That is a good idea...if he cries after we put him in the crib, do we wait and see if he falls asleep?

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

this is a hard one. At one point we had Matty going to sleep on his own - only crying for two minutes.

then, I started rocking him- its more for me- I love to cuddle him when he is sleepy- its the only cuddle time I can have with him- I love that he wants me to rock him to sleep. I would keep doing it but I am scared of what will be when we have a newborn in April.

If I decide to stop it, I would start decreasing the time till he was still awake going down in the crib- then yes, he would have to CIO- for him, I know it wouldn't take more than 10 minutes- but, not looking forward to it!

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

I read the book "Solve your childs sleep problems" by Ferber and it was very helpful in explaining how our children sleep. Maybe wait until DS is starting to look tired and take him in his room and do something enjoyable such as read story or light play. That helped avoid a lot of crying. Regarding the pulling up...I am also dealing with this with DS and I have been going into the room to help him down before he gets too upset. He's starting to get the hang of getting himself down.

Good luck

Message edited 8/21/2007 11:39:52 AM.

Re: I need advice...sleeping issue

thank you everyone!