Sleep Habits

I also rock my little one to sleep every night, but she usually falls asleep while taking her bottle. She's 13 mo. Does he have any kind of security blanket or stuffed animal that might make him feel better when going to bed? You hate to add something else to the list to "break" him of, but might help for now. Have you tried any of the self soothing techniques? Like the Ferber method? If you look online, there are a lot of good books listed that you can check out. I haven't yet, but plan to start trying one out once she's off the bottle. With another one on the way, you'll definitely need to get this nipped soon before you have 2 to rock to sleep :)

Try some music. When my girlies were babies (ahhh i miss my babies) I too rocked both of them to sleep but I also had music playing. Disney Mostly, something soothing. :)

My Babies are now 17 and 13 and they STILL listen to music before going to bed. :)

Good Luck

It irks me every time I hear someone say that loving their baby was a bad habit. There is NOTHING wrong with rocking your baby to sleep. I cannot advocate making your baby scream himself to sleep. How can that be a good thing? Especially to the point of vomiting.

When my son was a babe, we did rocked him to sleep until he was about 14-15 months old. Then we started offering him a bottle of water in bed. We also had a very tight nightime routine. There were nights that he would lay in bed and talk and play for 2 hours. He is 5 now and sleeps great. With my daughter, now 21 months, we co-sleep. She gets a bottle and then I lay with her til she falls asleep. Still tight routine. Then, I can get up. I don't know why people think that a couple can't have time alone or be intimate while co-sleeping. My husband and I have a great relationship. And, very great sleepers.

Have you tried converting your son's bed (if possible) to a toddler bed? Does he stay asleep all night once down? There is also nothing wrong with staying in the room with him until he is sound asleep. Patting or rubbing his back. That's why converting the crib would be easier. And, is he teething? I know my daughter is.

Again, please don't call it a bad habit. For some reason, he needs you and you are doing great by responding to that need. Even if right now, you don't understand what it is.

Oh my goodness this sounds just like me! For my first child, I rocked her to sleep! I could've kicked myself once my second child came around, but I was bartending 5 days a week and just wasn't around to even "know" what healthy sleeping habits were for her. I mean, MY sleep habits were all crazy as it was! Anyway, she was only 15 months when my son was born and I started realizing it just simply wasn't going to work. I'd rock or walk her to sleep, and then it never failed, as soon as I'd get her to sleep, my son would cry and wake her up, so it was constantly moving from one child to the other and I KNEW at that point that I HAD to have it all wrong. So, here's what I did. I know you said you have tried to just leave him to cry, but really, you didn't. IF you go back into that room before he cries himself to sleep that you have completely defeated the purpose of the whole process. I talked with my pediatrician and she said "You have to let her cry it out." So, I went home and did that, and guess what, she PUKED from crying so much! So, called the doctor back the next day and she said, "I know this is going to be very hard, but the important thing to remember is that you're doing this for your child because she NEEDS to have healthy sleeping habits. So, tonight, when she is crying, just let her cry herself to sleep no matter how long it takes. She may puke, she may not, but if you go in there because she pukes, she will puke again tomorrow night because THAT's what brought mommy into her room" So, that night, she did her usual standing up in her crib and screaming and crying until she puked, but within a couple of hours, she had fallen asleep. I went in, literally crawling on the floor because I didn't want to ruin the whole process I'd just suffered through, and cleaned up the small amount of puke on the floor. Well, the next night, she did puke again. Then, gradually over the next few nights, she got to the point that I could lay her down and although there were times she'd cry at first, she fell asleep on her own and slept through the night. I'm telling you what, those nights were HELL, but I'd do it again over and over if I had to. You can imagine how different I did things with my son. I NEVER let him fall asleep outside of his crib if I was at home. Plus, I started him in on a nap routine at 3 months, which is the same time I went from him sleeping in a bassinette in my room to his own crib in his own room. That child is the world's best sleeper I swear! I have NEVER had any problems with his sleep habits. So, start your 2nd one out the right away, we all learn from mistakes.

Now, my kids are 4 and 5, and they go to bed at 8:00 sharp. They sleep ALL NIGHT and have all of their lives (besides that first 15 months for my daughter). They wake up around 7-7:30. It's great because my husband and I have our own time just to each other every single night. I know it's helped us through a lot. We have plenty of time for talking, intimacy, or just plain relaxing together. So, do what you have to do make it through hearing him cry, but do it, you will be the happiest rested mommy in a matter of 3-5 nights from now!!!

Read "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. He is a practicing pediatrician who specializes in infant/child sleep issues with over 25 years of research. At 20 months old he should be able to fall asleep without you rocking him, but since that is what he is used to it will be a big adjustment for him and will not be fixed in one night.

Feel free to send me a PM if you'd like more advice. I'd be happy to assist.

We have a 20 month old that we still hold and/or rock to sleep. We will sometimes lay her down before she's entirely asleep to no avail also.

A few things that do help...I know you're prego with #2, maybe husband could step up and start doing the night-time routine and rocking him to sleep? My husband puts our 20 month old to sleep while I put the 4 year old to sleep.

We do have a humidifier in their room that has a nightlight built-in (it's a Sunbeam humidifier) and that has some soothing appeal to both daughters.

Music might help too. Also make sure he has a full tummy.

Good luck!