Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

If you rock your ds/dd to sleep, how to you then put them in the crib? Any tips? DS wakes up when i let go and put him in the crib, it usually takes about 3 tries...

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

I rocked my DS for naps and bedtime until he was 6 months old and let me tell you - it was rough. I would have to put him in the crib a few times until he actually stayed asleep.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

At almost 11 months we rock our DD to sleep every nap and bedtime.

I usually wait for her to be in a deep sleep, at LEAST 20 minutes...the I get her in a comfy position and place her in the crib gently and then place my hand on her back and rub lightly.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

Up until recently we rocked my son to sleep every night as well as for weekend naps (he's in daycare during the week).

He would drink his bottle and pertty much fall asleep in arms. We were very lucky in that transferring him was not a problem. And we had some crazy aerodynamic moves going on with the poor kid to get him down on his belly but he never woke...until his top teeth started coming in.

After a few days of having to try to put him down muliple times we decided we had to do something different so we tried CIO.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

I still do and DS is almost 8 months. I try to go with the "very drowsy but awake" thing but alot of times he is out cold and then I gently put him in his crib.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

DD is 10 months and is always asleep when put in her crib. Usually she falls asleep on the bottle (bad habit, I know...nap/bedtime usually coincide with eating time though), so then we carefully put her in her crib. I agree, it's tricky getting her in gently, esp. now that the crib is lowered. She will wake up if disturbed, she's a light sleeper. If she isn't having a bottle but needs a nap, we tap her back & bounce her to sleep.

We did have some victories that lasted about 3 weeks recently. I'd put her in her crib w/some toys when she was tired, she fell asleep for her naps on her own after a little whimpering (and slept much longer!). But, once she learned how to pull up to standing in her crib, that's completely over now We try & try, but it's over

Message edited 4/27/2008 8:54:20 PM.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

For us swaddling is key.
After DS last bottle, he gets swaddled, rocked and then after a few minutes of him being asleep, I put him down. At first I waited 10-15 minutes to put him down. Now I can put him down only about 2 minutes after he falls asleep. He sometimes opens his eyes but goes right back.

Without swaddling, he would start moving his arms and wake up.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

I rock her for maybe 5-1 minutes. After that she is awake but sleepy and I put her in her crib. I'll rub her back for a minute or so and then leave the room. She goes to sleep shortly there after.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

every time it's different. sometimes she needs to be rocked/walked/shhhhhhhed completely to sleep, then we gently lower her into the crib, with blanket rolls on either side.

Other times she will be rocked for just a few minutes and then will go down with ease.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

basically i would rock until i knew he was in a deep sleep. When i rocked him i would use the paci. I knew he was out when i could take the paci out of his mouth and he didn't wake up.
Once he was out i would tranfer to the crib.

Re: Spinoff to rocking to sleep...

Kinda silly, but when I put him down and I can see that he's awakening, I put my hand on his chest and bring my face close to his face kinda like I was still holding him to get him to fall back asleep. I also hold his hands gently to stop them from moving around so much.