So my son is now 5 months and I'm trying to encourage him to nap in his crib (as opposed to on top of me or in his stroller or in the car). All of the sleep books say to put the baby down while he's "drowsy but awake" so baby won't think that the crib is what makes mommy disappear. But he is not having it, he just cries the minute I start to put him down and keeps crying. My question is, has anyone ever successfully put down a "drowsy but awake" infant? Any tips on getting a 5-month-old to take regular naps in normal places?
How does he do at bedtime? Can you put him down awake then? My son is 3 months old and we have been putting him down drowsy but awake for the past 2 months at night. At nap time though we are working on it because generally he has to be rocked to sleep before we can lay him down.
Personally, since he sleeps so great at night (9:30 PM - 6:30 AM) I can deal with needing to work on the nap time thing!
This can be a frustrating process, but my husband and I were completely successful. Our son was sleeping through the night at 3 months old! My suggestion is to stay at it. It's understandably difficult to hear your child cry, but you know that he's OK. Try building up to longer periods of time before you give in and go get him. We did 5, then 10, then 15 minutes, but that's the longest we would let him go at that age without going in to reassure him that we were there. We even learned to differentiate his cries, so that we knew when he was actually bothered by something. If you don't give in, he will and eventually learn that sleep time is a good thing. Our son is now 1 1/2 and goes to bed so easily that we're thankful we worked at it. We ask him if he's ready for night night and he walks into his room on his own and reaches for the crib. It's so nice to end the day peacefully so that his Dad and I have some alone time. Good Luck!
Make sure you have a good routine first. That is the most important thing. You could try following the pick up put down technique in the Baby Whisperer book. I highly recommend that book. Also, you could try just standing by the crib with one hand gently on your baby's chest. That is what worked best for my daughter when she had a hard time falling asleep. She is is 11 months and almost always falls asleep independently, starting from the day she was born, believe it or not. She went through a tough phase starting at about 5 1/2 months, when she just didn't want to fall asleep on her own anymore. I think it is because she got her first cold, but I am not sure. Anyway, I would wait until your baby is a little older before trying the Ferber or Weisbluth methods. Hope this helps! Drowsy but awake is possible!
M.,
Sorry to tell you I never had any luck with that. We rocked our daughter to sleep after reading books. Despite what we were told, she did learn to put herself back to sleep if she woke up at night. We were told that she would never learn to do that if we didn't put her down awake -- which obviously was a crock.
Your son just wants to be with you, so if you leave he doesn't want to be by himself. Best of luck!
Good Luck!!! I honestly think it is the child. I have 5 children and only one of them would let me put him down while he was still awake. He just enjoyed time by himself and still does (he's 8 now). What I would do for my other children (and still do for my 3 year old) is have them lay in my bed and I would lay next to them that way when they fell asleep I was free. The good side to this method is that they STAY asleep, the bad side to this method is that sometimes I fell asleep first!
Just rock him to sleep you can not spoil a baby and he will learn to self sooth. Try a warm lavendar bath and music (Mozart or Baby Einstein) Every child is different. While my older one could be placed in his crib kissed goodnight and left to enjoy his music and toys in his crib, my younger one needed to be rocked to sleep. They are 2 1/2 and 5 now and both sleep in their own big boy beds with no difference from the different way they were put to bed as babies. GOOD Luck:)
F.
I would think that you know about what time your son starts to get drowsy, and maybe that is when you should put him down for his nap. I would rub his back and gently talk to him or sing. It has been a long time since I had little ones: I have 7 and am 49 yrs, old, but have 6 grandsons already so I am not that much out of practice, but I don't have any of them on a regular. It seems that our world is such a busy one, and babies know that and want you all to themselves even when they are asleep. They also know when they are being "rushed", so if he is going in to nap at the same time and the same place everyday, he will eventually accept it.
My son cried for a solid 40 min to an hour the first few times, he eventually fell asleep from exhaustion. I also put on soothing music. We like anything "Rockabye Baby"- especially Green Day versions!
I have to agree with the other comment that it depends on the baby. I am lucky that my daughter (now 10 mos) goes to sleep fairly easily in her crib for both naps and nighttime. She slept in a co-sleeper with us until four months, though. Prior to four months, she would not nap in her crib. It was almost always the swing. Now, I nurse her prior to sleepytimes and then put her in her crib. Generally she is drowsy but awake, but quite often she falls asleep while nursing.
All of this is to say that drowsy but awake is possible, but it may not be what works for everyone. If putting him down while he's asleep works, then do it that way. I really don't think he'll think the crib is evil. Also, he may not be developmentally ready for that transition. The older my child gets, the more I think you find what works for you and go with it.
I think this depends on the child and your timing. We really struggled with my daughter (now 4 years old) and I finally followed the baby whisperer, I got her used the crib by letting her play there when she was awake and then every time she cried out I would pick her up then back down as soon as she stopped. We must have done this 30-40 times each nap time until she finally got it. It took months. For my son, now 2 yrs old, I read Healthy Sleep Habits very early on, which really helped me understand the sleep cycle, the sleepy ques, and how much sleep they really need. I got him on a good schedule at around 4 months. Per the book, you put them down for their first nap between 1 and 1 1/2 hours after they first get up in the morning. Then he would get his next nap about 2 hours after he woke up. He would usually nap after every 2 hours of wake time at that age. You also have to pay attn to the sleepy signs. If you wait too long, you can forget it, you will have a struggle. So even if he doesn't look tired, put him down. I also let him play in his crib while I would take a shower to get him used to it and I got him a mobile that he loved. It can be very frustrating, esp when you have a working schedule and then they drop a nap as they get older. Just hang with it, find his schedule and it will work. Good luck.
