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Mrs
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PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
How long does it take them to fall asleep?
My DD is 5 months. Since she was about 4 months, she has always self soothed to sleep. About 5 to 10 minutes of crying, and thats it. I don't come to her, and she just falls asleep until morning.
In the past 2 weeks, things have changed!!!! She started to cry for much longer. And, now I don't know what to do!!! Do I get her? Do I come in to re-assure her? How long is it OK for her to cry w/out getting her.?.
On one hand I don't want to 'undo' what I did. She self-soothes and rocking her and such just didn't work for us. It took her longer to fall asleep. But, is she now getting older and feeling abandoned? I am so upset right now pls help!
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Posted 5/18/08 12:15 PM  |
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Mrs
LIF Adult
Member since 6/05 1652 total posts
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
no one?  no one's baby soothes themselves to sleep?
Do you guys rock your baby? How do you put your babies to sleep?
Pls help!
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| Posted 5/18/08 1:09 PM |
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
Hi! My DD has always done this too. There are times lately, where for about a week or so, she will have problems going down for a nap (bedtime has remained the same). What I do is go in after 5 minutes, put my hand on her belly and/or rub her head and tell her it's okay and Mommy is here. Then, when I leave, she usually cries harder but then quiets down and goes to sleep. I wouldn't resort to rocking...just keep doing what you're doing. Does she have a mobile or something in the crib to soothe her? We have the Fisher Price aquarium and she loves it. It really does help soothe her. GL-HTH!! 
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| Posted 5/18/08 1:18 PM |
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2kids2cats
My babies
Member since 6/05 5229 total posts
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f
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
Does she have anything in her crib to soothe herself with? DD has her precious moments angel and she always would rub the sleeve. Now a little older she has that along with a blanket that she rubs her face on to fall asleep. It might just be a stage - they are ALWAYS going through phases!
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| Posted 5/18/08 2:16 PM |
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purplegirl
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Member since 5/06 2423 total posts
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
DD is a thumbsucker, so she basically cries for 3 seconds, puts her thumb in her mouth and falls asleep pretty quickly after that.
I'm sorry I can't help you more 
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| Posted 5/18/08 2:59 PM |
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
I rub DS's back when he cries. It is not often but teething threw him off a bit.
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| Posted 5/18/08 3:20 PM |
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jprimrose
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
You should get the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy child. I thought there were a lot of good tips in this book. Personally, I would not let my child cry it out at 5 months. I mean if they do a little 5 min cry it is fine, but not for long periods. My DS has been mostly a self soother, but times when he was cranky I would go in rub his tummy and talk to him. If he started screaming I would pick him up. I ma not sure of the exact age that is appropriate for CIO, but I am sure it is at least over 6 months.
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| Posted 5/18/08 3:31 PM |
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clwp
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Member since 10/06 2114 total posts
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mommy
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
I don't have much advice but I did want to ask at what age can you begin to try self-soothing? My DD is only 2 weeks old - I've been told that's way too young... but eventually I want her to learn to fall asleep on her own. She wails now if I put her down before she's sleepy and her schedule is so off anyway still. I have friends that warned me about rocking to sleep for too long and that it makes bedtime a nightmare when they are toddlers.
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| Posted 5/18/08 4:47 PM |
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KateDevine
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
Posted by jprimrose
You should get the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy child. I thought there were a lot of good tips in this book. Personally, I would not let my child cry it out at 5 months. I mean if they do a little 5 min cry it is fine, but not for long periods. My DS has been mostly a self soother, but times when he was cranky I would go in rub his tummy and talk to him. If he started screaming I would pick him up. I ma not sure of the exact age that is appropriate for CIO, but I am sure it is at least over 6 months.
My ped told us to CIO with DS at 5 months because he was still waking for bottles at that age. We did, but didn't stick with it and we had to FINALLY break the habit at 12 months and it was WAY harder!
To answer the OP's question, I'd try a lovey. DS has a blankie since about 3 months old and he loves it.
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| Posted 5/18/08 4:54 PM |
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Melbernai
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Member since 7/05 15652 total posts
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Melissa
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
My daughter has always gone to sleep from being awake, on her own, so I guess you can call that self-soothed. She doesn't really cry much now, nor has she in a long time (she's 2.5) but she did at various points.
The one thing I can say is that sleep patterns change. Sometimes just when you think you have a sleep pattern, it changes for whatever reason, be it teething, a little cold, a change in the routine, or even something that you'll probably never figure out.
My DD always had her "mimi" doll, and at that age we had a music box and mobile. I think it was the FP lights & sounds mobile. It was something she was able to turn on herself, and we'd hear her turning it on in the middle of the night when she'd wake up, and then she'd go back to sleep.
When some nights were bad, and we coudn't leave her in there crying, we'd go in, rub her back, tell her it's okay and we're here just in the next room, and she'd fall back esleep.
Good luck!
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| Posted 5/18/08 5:01 PM |
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Mrs
LIF Adult
Member since 6/05 1652 total posts
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
tnx for all your input.
DD has:
slumber bear - heartbeat
aquarium
pooh - that sings and does a light show
mobile
all are on.. and she turns them on.
i never tried anything in crib for fear of SIDS, but i guess i should?
i guess a soft bear as lovey?
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| Posted 5/18/08 5:22 PM |
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Mrs
LIF Adult
Member since 6/05 1652 total posts
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
Posted by clwp
I don't have much advice but I did want to ask at what age can you begin to try self-soothing? My DD is only 2 weeks old - I've been told that's way too young... but eventually I want her to learn to fall asleep on her own. She wails now if I put her down before she's sleepy and her schedule is so off anyway still. I have friends that warned me about rocking to sleep for too long and that it makes bedtime a nightmare when they are toddlers.
we started at 4 months.. slowly.
5 minute tops of crying, than 10..
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| Posted 5/18/08 5:23 PM |
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cjik
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
I wish I had more help for you. Matthew self soothes at night just fine. He usually watches his aquarium before going to sleep and sucks on his thumb. That seems to do it. He wakes up at night sometimes, but almost never cries anymore (but for a rare bad night). He will roll around a bit and usually winds up on his side sucking his thumb, goes back to sleep.
But for some reason, he cannot do the same for naps. He cries and cries. And I tried a short CIO a few days ago which made him hysterical. Not sure I want to do that again! Usually I have to take him for a walk or a drive to get him to nap.
If I figure out a way to help him nap, I'll share it with you!
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| Posted 5/18/08 6:47 PM |
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cjik
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
I was going to say, she may be going through a growth spurt, but it's hard to say. DS did around 4 months, woke up crying a few nights after he had been sleeping through the night for a bit. The first night, I didn't feed him and kept trying to get him to go back to sleep some other way. He didn't go to sleep, just cried and cried. I know you are not supposed to feed babies this age at night, but the next night I decided to offer him a bottle, and he took it. Same for the next couple nights. Then he started sleeping normally again. And when we went to the doctor shortly after, he had grown 2 inches! So I think he just needed more food than usual. And no harm done--he didn't start needing bottles to go to sleep after that.
I don't know if this is what is going on with DD, but just a thought.
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| Posted 5/18/08 7:13 PM |
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Mrs
LIF Adult
Member since 6/05 1652 total posts
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Re: PLS help! For those babies that self-soothe to sleep
Posted by jprimrose
You should get the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy child. I thought there were a lot of good tips in this book. Personally, I would not let my child cry it out at 5 months. I mean if they do a little 5 min cry it is fine, but not for long periods. My DS has been mostly a self soother, but times when he was cranky I would go in rub his tummy and talk to him. If he started screaming I would pick him up. I ma not sure of the exact age that is appropriate for CIO, but I am sure it is at least over 6 months.
Reading the book now...
My DD had colic - which he goes on to say are of the difficult babies to develop healthy sleep patterns in. His thoughts are to let her cry for an hour. That seems MUCH to me! As is, DD doesn't cry for more than 10 minutes - but lately as I mentioned it can go up to 20. Still under an hour, but seems accessive to me!
I started giving her a blankie and a bear to sleep with.. she doesn't use them. Should I leave it in, or just forget that? She used to suck her thumb to sleep, but stopped doing that.
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| Posted 5/19/08 9:05 AM |
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