Need Some Input on Putting to Sleep 12 Month Old

J., I know it will be hard to listen to her cry, but get back into your routine. I would cave everytime with my first so I am deffianately not casting stones, but after numbers 2 and 3 came along I realized that I did number one a great disservice giving in so quickly. I am not promotting you not caming her by reassurance or an occassional "You're okay, go to sleep now darling,' or whatever, but put her in her crib tell her it is sleep time and slowly being to make your exit. Once you establish the routine of allowing her to get back out of the crib and rocking after being put in the crib she will remember it and very little will soothe her otherwise.

J.,
I think if the night-time routine is working for you, then go with it. Your little girl may have noticed that everything was off schedule these past two weeks with you being off work and so perhaps she will return to her routine once you do.

If that isn't the case and you want to look at helping her find a new routine, there are a few schools of thought. One you could let her cry it out over the next few days until she gets the idea that she needs to sleep on her own. For some people (moms and babies) that works well. For others it's difficult. I think it really just depends on personality.

Another approach is to follow the Baby Whisperer method. I used this with my second and third boys and I loved it. It was nuturing and loving, but also got us out of rocking and nursing to sleep. Essentially you pick them up when they cry, love on them a bit and then put them back in the crib. The first few times it can be LONG and even tedious (up and down, up and down), but they aren't left alone and yet they still learn to put themselves to sleep. I'd check out her book (or better yet find the book on cd at the library).

In the end, the time does go by fast and you want a routine that will help keep everyone happy and healthy. Follow your heart and you'll find a path that makes sense to you.

Hope this helps!

Hello,
I will tell you what I did with my 19 month old. She has just finally started sleeping in her bed all night long. We put her in her bed and put on some music. Then for the first week we would take turns sitting in the rocking chair next to her crib while she fell asleep. She is now going to sleep by herself for nap and bed by herself, we put her in and tuck her in with her blanket. We then put on the music and dim the lights. By the way she sleeps in the same room as her 3yr old brother and twin brother. The experts say that if you are in the room with them even though they are crying it is okay. The are just crying out of fustration of learning something new. Teaching her how to go to bed by herself is a great skill for her to learn. Good Luck. The first night was the hardest. But it only took a week of being consistent for her to sleep through the whole night after going to bed by herself. It even worked when she spent the night over my sister in laws.

From personal experience, I cannot take the crying that comes with crying it out. If you can, I know several mommies who have been successful with this. I subscribe to the Baby Whisper's school of thought, though, which teaches babies/toddlers how to put themselves to sleep, basically from the minute you come home from the hospital. Anyway, I haven't had to deal with sleep training at this age, but there is a great book that will walk you through how to get your little girl to fall asleep on her own - The Baby Whisper Solves All Your Problems.

My advice to you is let her cry it out.As wonderful as this time of bonding has been for the two of you it has hindered her emotional progress.Your chld should more than be able to calm herself down and put herself to sleep by now,this is something that most 6 week old babies know how to do if allowed.She needs to learn to self sooth NOW or else she will be 5 and still need YOU to sooth her some how in order for her to fall asleep.It is realy still cute and cuddly for you now because she is relativily little but if you dont break the habbit now your cuddly one year old will quickly turn into a spoiled 5 year old demanding you to still put her to sleep.I can say this with absolute certainty...because I have a girlfriend who has a now 6 year old who is in the first grade and still needs there nightly ritual of lieing together with him being able to play with her hair while he falls asleep and cannot fall asleep without it!!! The novelty has more than worn off for her,but she still doesnt want to let him just cry it out for a few nights so I am convinced he will be 12 and still needing some kind of comfort from her to fall asleep.It is creating a depandant child,instead of a confident self sufficiant person.Good luck!!!

Get this book "The Sleep Easy Solution" by Jennifer Waldburger and Jill Spivack. My son is 11 months old and I'm returning to school so he had to learn how to sleep on his own in his crib. Whenever I tried putting him in before he slept for 30 min max and was up again. So, he always ended up in my bed.

Yesterday was the last day of his "sleep learning" and it worked like a charm. I started last Monday. This book is great. I thought it would be a lot harder than it was. It only took him 3 days to learn how to put himself to sleep with no crying. The book says you'll see results in less than a week.

The method used in the book is called the "least cry" method. It is not cry it out, but there is a little crying involved. But it's not bad.

Which ever method you choose I wish you the best of luck. It's not gonna be easy but it will be one of the best things you do for your little girl.

They are only little once I would enjoy very minute of it and not do the crying it out thing. She is getting big enough that she might enjoy you reading her a bedtime story while she is in her bed or sitting in your lap while you rock. You could also put on music or sing to her. Night time is a special time with kids and I find as mine get older that having some quiet time with them at the end of the day makes for a good time for them to talk about things that they don't or won't during the day. You don't have to give up cuddling your baby at night and it doesn't sound like you are doing anything wrong. Follow your heart and enjoy your little girl.

I would continue to just put her down and maybe just pat her for a few minutes. If that isnt enough, then you might have to let her fuss after the patting for a few. It will take more than a couple of nights for her to adjust.
I am working on getting my 2 and 3 yr old to sleep in their beds all night and we are on day 8. Last night was the first night they both stayed (but my son made a quick attempt for our room at 3am) I am hoping by the end of this 2nd week they stay.
Good Luck

Hello!
I found the book, "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Dr. Ferber to be very effective. He has a gradual step process and chart to allow a child to learn to fall asleep on their own. He also does a great job of explaining the importance of children falling asleep on their own which allowed me to get through the heartbreaking crying that is present at the beginning. He also addresses other issues such as sleep walking and nightmares for when kids are older.
Hope this helps!

I didn't read the other responses that you recieved. I did have this problem with our first, Dylan. I loved rocking him to sleep and it didn't matter how long I had to rock. Then we found out #2 was on the way. I still rocked him, but as I got bigger it got harder to hold him. When I was about 7 or 8 monthes along I decided it was time for him to go to bed on his own. I used the cry it out method. You may or may not agree with tis, but it worked for me. I went in every five minutes the first night, then every 10-20 minutes the other nights. I would tell him it's okay, i love you, kiss him and lay him back down and walk out. It took like 3 nights for him to get it, but he finally did. Mind you my husband works nights so I did this on my own.

I too am a teacher and we literally just went through this at my house with my 12 month old. The problem we had was that our daughter was used to going to sleep in our arms with a bottle (which wasn't good for her teeth). Since I was off for the winter holiday break I took the chance to break my daughter for the middle of the night bottle and to teach her a new routine to put herself to sleep. She fought us putting her to bed while still awake and we had to let her cry it out. After about a week she is now going to sleep on her own with NO crying. I know it is hard letting them cry but if you go in too soon they think "Well if I cry long enough she will come in and do what I want". We are still fighting the middle of the night bottle issue but that is getting much better as well. We've even found that my daughter is sleeping later now that she is putting herself to sleep and has been in a better mood. Granted the first couple of days weren't fun but we are all in a better mood now. Good luck!

CIO isn't a bad thing. I would keep up with that. Your daughter needs to learn to soothe herself to sleep. Right now, she goes to sleep in your arms & when she wakes up she's not where she was so that's startling.

I always rocked my babies to sleep when they were little. My dad told me they won't always be little and won't always want to be rocked, so enjoy the time you have with them. My oldest "baby" is now a freshman in college. They do eventually grow up, but you can never get the time back from when they are babies. For some people, putting their babies to bed before they're asleep works for them. I think it's whatever works best for your individual situation. Good luck!