Falling Asleep
I need help.
It is now time for me to begin teaching Zoe to fall asleep in her crib, on her own. I have been letting her fall asleep in my arms while I feed her or letting her have a bottle (even though I know she's not hungry, she just wants to suck) when she's crying so that she'll fall asleep. I need to break these habits early but I'm not sure how to do it.
Here are some problems I'm running into:
--Zoe jerks in her sleep so we swaddle her. The problem comes when she falls asleep in my arm not swaddled yet. I can't lay her down as is because she'll be awake in 10 minutes from jerking. But when I swaddle her she wakes up.
--Zoe will fall asleep in my arms and when I lay her down she wakes up, is wide eyed, and wide awake. What do I do in this situation?
--How long should I let her cry in her crib before picking her up?
Help.
P.S. Before sitting down to write this post I laid Zoe on the floor on her tummy (after she had been crying in her crib for about 10 minutes...I was trying to get her to fall asleep). She just fell asleep. OH MY GOODNESS! That has NEVER happened. New dilemma: she's on her stomach...what about SIDS? Should I let her sleep like that? Yes, I will. I'll just watch her like a hawk. Maybe I'll have to let her take naps on her stomach during the day. What are your thoughts?
It is now time for me to begin teaching Zoe to fall asleep in her crib, on her own. I have been letting her fall asleep in my arms while I feed her or letting her have a bottle (even though I know she's not hungry, she just wants to suck) when she's crying so that she'll fall asleep. I need to break these habits early but I'm not sure how to do it.
Here are some problems I'm running into:
--Zoe jerks in her sleep so we swaddle her. The problem comes when she falls asleep in my arm not swaddled yet. I can't lay her down as is because she'll be awake in 10 minutes from jerking. But when I swaddle her she wakes up.
--Zoe will fall asleep in my arms and when I lay her down she wakes up, is wide eyed, and wide awake. What do I do in this situation?
--How long should I let her cry in her crib before picking her up?
Help.
P.S. Before sitting down to write this post I laid Zoe on the floor on her tummy (after she had been crying in her crib for about 10 minutes...I was trying to get her to fall asleep). She just fell asleep. OH MY GOODNESS! That has NEVER happened. New dilemma: she's on her stomach...what about SIDS? Should I let her sleep like that? Yes, I will. I'll just watch her like a hawk. Maybe I'll have to let her take naps on her stomach during the day. What are your thoughts?
posted by Melanie @ 9:54 AM
9 Comments:
At 2:56 PM ,
Jean said...
Well, the only thing I can really say is that I rocked Scott to sleep for his first years. After you were born you were going to sleep on your own in your crib and sleeping through the night while Scott was still being rocked and waking up during the night. So...good luck! I really do hope someone has an answer for you.
At 3:00 PM ,
Lisa Mae said...
Mel,
Since you are asking....I will e-mail you my thoughts and experience with Cole.
At 8:46 AM ,
Scott McMurtrey said...
when sadie was a puppy, we just put her in the kennel and she'd whine for a little bit but if we acted like we couldn't hear her then she'd give it up and go to sleep.
shasta, on the other hand, was much different. she sleeps in the bed with us and before she goes to sleep she has to clean out our ears with her tongue. and she has a long, skinny, anteater like tongue. so after four ears she's pretty tired and ready to go to sleep.
in conclusion, either completely ignore zoe and she'll eventually sleep when she needs to, or let her lick your ears so it tires her out.
At 12:42 PM ,
Jean said...
Scott, you are the funniest person I know. How do you come up with these things? MOM
At 12:47 PM ,
Jean said...
...and why do my comments always have a little trash can in the corner and no one else does?
At 9:17 PM ,
Travis and Lisa said...
hehe.
At 4:46 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Mel, email Brittany at brittanyarchibald@gmail.com She had those questions and somehow seemed to figure it out, including letting them sleep on their tummies.-jw
At 11:42 PM ,
Anonymous said...
I have been thinking hard on your question. I don't think I really have an answer, but I will share my findings. With Stephen (being our first) I wanted to do everything just right....he took a pacifier for the first 6 to 8 months so we would just lay him down in his crib with pacifier and eventually (not at first) he would go to sleep. The hardest part is not going to get the baby when they start crying. You have to suck it up and let them cry. ( I have heard it is okay to let them cry for 15 to 20 minutes) Stephen eventually learned it was his nap time and would go to sleep without much fuss. Now that I am on my 6th child I have completely gone another direction (and probably not the right one) I now enjoy the peace of my bedroom and the excuse that I need to nurse Amber and get her to sleep on my bed for naptime. She does sleep in her crib at night, but only after I have nursed her to sleep or cuddled with her while she goes to sleep. Anyways, good luck Melanie....I doubt I was much help. Sorry. Aunt Katie
At 1:10 PM ,
Anonymous said...
In case you are still struggling with this (which you probably are if you are anything like me), here are my thoughts. I ended up buying 5, yes 5, baby sleep books and read them all. Then I took out little tid bits from each that I liked and that would work for each of my babies (different things work for different babies, even siblings.) I found that having a consistent routine and crying it out works best. However, I never let my babies cry for more than 15 minutes at a time (it breaks my heart!) Like your mom though, Daniel is still hard to put to sleep, but Ella has been going to bed like an angel since she was 6wks old. Go figure? Also, Daniel slept in his carseat for a good long time. Mostly because of acid reflux, but I also think he liked the feeling of being "held." I would just put his carseat in his crib. :)
Good luck. Miss ya!
TeriAnne
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