Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice? ETA: Update... it worked!

My DD is 9 1/2 weeks old. I have been rocking her to sleep. She has to be completely asleep when I put her in the crib or she starts crying.

So tonight I am trying to put her down sleepy and let her fall asleep on her own. She fell asleep in my arms and when I put her down she woke up and started fussing. I waited till she started to really cry and I patted her side and sang to her a little trying to avoid eye contact and she calmed down. So I walked away and then she started crying again so I did the same thing. I let her cry for like 2 minutes before comforting her each time. It has now been 1 hour of me going back and forth. She is quiet now in her crib but not asleep.

How long should I continue this??? She seems to be crying less like she is getting the idea that she won't be picked up.

Anyone have a similar experience?

ETA:
It took an hour and half last night but she finally fell asleep. Her crying got less and less each time.

I tried it again this morning for her nap and it took 15 minutes!! She was yawning in the living room so I went to her bedroom and rocked in the glider till she was closing her eyes and then I laid her in the crib. She started to fuss in the crib as soon as she went down. I only had to comfort her once and it only took 15 minutes!! It felt like longer listening to her fuss and cry a bit but when I looked at the clock I was amaze at how quick it was!

I'm amazed at how well it seems to be working!!

Message edited 10/27/2010 9:54:35 AM.

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice?

Yep, I did something like this but I waited till about 11 weeks. Honestly I think I should have done it sooner. The first few nights, it was hard, DS didn't sleep for hours. But I kept going in calming, over and over. He eventually would fall asleep.

It took about 2 weeks, before I could lay him down and he would turn to his side, close his eyes, and ultimately fall asleep, without a peep.

If there seems to be some progress, its working, keep at it, be patient, your teaching a very valuable lesson without much trauma.

I had a few tricks. I learned never to pick him up, because that would wake him too much. I didn't close the door for the same reason. I just kept everything in the house pretty quiet and no bright lights coming in from outside the room. I gave him a few sips of water from a very slow nipple (this is my favorite calming method, but a lot of peds are comfortable with giving water to babies, mine was fine with it) Id give a paci soon after.

Just a heads up, sometime around 6m he was crying for my attention, then I needed to do real CIO. It worked like magic, took only 15 min the first night, and I think it was so easy because he really did know how to go to sleep on his own, he just had to want to.

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice?

I think you are doing the right thing! I did something similar with DD and she is a great sleeper! I waited until she was full on crying for five minutes (watching the clock since it always felt like much longer) before going in to soothe her.

I need DD to be a great sleeper b/c her crib is in our living room - she has to be able to fall back asleep if the TV wakes her up or DH wakes her up when he gets ready for work etc.

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice?

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice?

That's exactly what I do. It works.2 minutes is a little short.

Now DS actually stopped fussing when put in crib. They are smarter than we give them credit for at 9 weeks.

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice? ETA: Update... it worked!

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice? ETA: Update... it worked!

Re: Putting 9 week old down sleepy not asleep... any advice? ETA: Update... it worked!

Baby Sleep Solution gives some options to what you will do before 12 weeks. But if I remember, she says do not let them cry. Hysterics do not teach anything.

I know there is something in there that says, if you must, and you need to go back to work, yada yada, do CIO full blast, but it may not work.