Right now, my little bestie falls asleep while having a bottle, in the stroller, or during back rubs and songs. I’m curious what it was like for those who did not sleep train–when your child naturally began going asleep on their own and how it happened the first time.
My baby is ten months old, and it has not happened yet. But I do not mind.
My two-year-old requires my cuddling to fall asleep, but there have been times when she has woken up in the middle of the night and does not require my presence to go asleep again. However, she requires confirmation that I am available.
“She needs the reassurance that I’m available” I literally laughed out loud, that was so funny and true.
Oh absolutely, lol. She once woke me up at 3 a.m. and asked me to join her in her room. We arrive, and she says “mama goodnight” before falling asleep in her bed. I even asked if she wanted me to sleep with her, but she answered “no” lol.
That so So adorable 
Sorry for not answering your question directly, but my LO will be four months old tomorrow, and I am still waiting for this to happen. I’ve been letting her FIO at bedtime, and she sleeps fairly well (grizzles for 5-15 minutes), but only if I put her down tired but awake after 5-20 minutes of rocking, butt pats, and sushing. All naps are contact still. She simply cannot connect her sleep cycles during the day yet, and her sleep cycle is only 20-30 minutes long, so I’d rather she sleep soundly on me than be constantly overtired. I’ll be here for 5-7 months, when her sleep should be well developed.
She was a great sleeper as a baby, and now that she’s 4.5 months old, she falls asleep on her own in the stroller or in the car, but only after being fed and changed, and she doesn’t poop right after.
Same here; I’ve been fortunate with an excellent sleeper for the past three weeks. Now, at 8 weeks, if he has problems falling asleep in my arms, I just put him in his cot with some white noise and he falls asleep very quickly. I believe he prefers autonomous sleep to contact naps 9 times out of 10.
Does he cry first or simply go down? My girls have just turned four months old, and I am debating whether or not to sleep-train them. Once she’s down, she sleeps soundly, but she constantly resists it and cries for 5 minutes as I rock her.
At this stage, it’s 50/50 if he tears first, but if he does, I allow him about 5 minutes to figure it out on his own, which he usually does. I can tell by his cries if it’s going to escalate and he’ll need my assistance settling, or whether he’s got it and will go asleep shortly.
At this stage, it’s 50/50 if he tears first, but if he does, I allow him about 5 minutes to figure it out on his own, which he usually does. I can tell by his cries if it’s going to escalate and he’ll need my assistance settling, or whether he’s got it and will go asleep shortly.
Is that a chilling sorrowful wail or a demon banshee “I’m getting murdered” (but I just don’t want to sleep) cry?
My baby was a great sleeper until three weeks ago. He provided us 11-hour nights most of the time. However, we are currently regressing. Does your baby fall asleep alone in her crib? Ours can also handle strollers and cars.
Around 12 weeks, baby began rolling both directions, so we removed the swaddle. It was a week of torture, but after she found her hands, she started sucking on them to self-soothe, which was the key. She can now fall asleep independently and connect sleep cycles simply by sucking on her hand.
What exactly does it mean to “connect sleep cycles”? I’m learning.
You’d be amazed at how much there is to learn about infant sleep! Connecting sleep cycles means your baby can have a brief wake-up at the end of a sleep cycle and then fall back asleep. For adults, a sleep cycle is about 90 minutes, and we don’t remember waking up because we’re already pros at connecting cycles! Infant sleep cycles, however, are around 40 minutes. I used the Huckleberry app during the first four months to track sleep and noticed my baby would wake up at exactly 37 minutes every time. Hand sucking helped her learn to go back to sleep without my assistance.
Oh, that’s interesting- I tried Huckleberry for a few days but wasn’t sure why I was using it. I have a pretty good sense of when his afternoon naps are already; they’re pretty much at the same times. It would be fascinating to observe what his sleep cycle timing is. Do you put her down to nap at the same time every day?
We’ve rocked our baby, played and sang music, given a bottle, and eventually settled into a nightly ritual of “book, milkies, brush your teeth, go to bed.” Now, at 2 1/2 years old, he started refusing to be held about 6-8 months ago and began going to bed and lying down on his own. Around that time, we introduced a toddler pillow (breathable, memory foam, thin), which he loves.
I also started telling him “no milkies at night,” and he could repeat it. When he would wake up (EVERY NIGHT FOREVER) wanting a bottle, he could now say “no milkies night” and eventually understood, going back to sleep on his own (after about a month or two of midnight tantrums). Since then, it’s been much better, with him either sleeping through the night or going back to sleep on his own when he wakes up.
Now, he falls asleep while we sit in a chair next to him (taking turns each night) and play music quietly over a speaker—the same few songs every night.
It’s been much better, but my wife and I had many arguments over the past year about whether to keep giving him milk in the middle of the night or try to sleep train.
Eventually, he just figured it out. I hope yours figures it out sooner.
Out of curiosity what songs are you playing for your babe?