Sleeping (Baby) - Baltimore,MD

My son started sleeping through the night at about 9 weeks old. Leading up to this, we would have a couple nights of full nights, a couple of waking up. She is learning, and you just need to be patient. You can try to let her go a little longer when she wakes up in the middle of the night to see if she can put herself down before you get there.

As for going to sleep, I used Babywise, and it worked great for me (my own modified version). And I started it at 3 weeks, but I know that others will argue that that is too young. Neither of my children have had an issue with sleeping through the night early with that method or learning to self soothe. Good luck.

It is my opinion that a 2 month old baby should NOT be sleeping through the night. Her tummy is too small to hold enough food to get her through that many hours.

With regards to rocking, nursing, feeding, holding your baby to fall asleep, this is a GOOD thing. She needs your closeness and comfort above all things, you are developing a bond and trust she will need to be confident and independent in her life!

Congrats and enjoy, infancy go SOOOO fast!!

:)

At 2 months old, it is not uncommon for a baby to need to be fed or rocked to sleep. My pediatrician told me when my son was little that I should start putting him in bed sleepy but awake when he was about 4 months old to begin teaching him to put himself to sleep. I did, and he learned quickly! Right now, go ahead and rock your daughter. She is still going through the "fourth trimester," and needs to feel close to you. She may not be ready to go to sleep on her own, and at this age, that's not unusual. It's okay, you'll have plenty of time to get her into good sleeping habits.

ADDED: When your daughter is about 4-5 months old, here is what you will want to do: rock your daughter until she is almost asleep. My husband and I used to call it "blinky blinky," because our son would be closing his eyes sleepily and then open them again. Then, put her down into her bed. SLOWLY, as she adjusts to this and learns to put her to sleep, you will need to rock her less and less until you can put her in bed wide awake and she will put herself to sleep. Remember that everything is gradual and each child has their own timeline and pace. Your daughter may catch on in a couple of weeks or it may take a few months. Good luck!

Babies.... everyday and every night is different.

Feed her, on-demand. Always.

Are you nursing or using Formula? Regardless, always feed on demand....

She is also going to bed too late. 10:30 pm for a baby is way late. And even for a grade school child.

And does she nap during the day??? She is so young... a baby this age, usually naps 3 times a day....

ALWAYS nurse her on demand.
Infants also have what is called "cluster feeding" which means they also at times need to feed even every single hour. Normal.

Or, try a "sleep sack" for her. If you look on Amazon for example, you will see it there. Many babies sleep better that way.

Your baby is SO young... and they do not have any sort of "pattern" yet.

all the best,
Susan

They can be so frustrating at that stage but remember they will not be little for long. With my first son we held him to sleep standing every night and it took sometimes hours for him to fall asleep and I gritted my teeth and dealt with it. SooooOOOooo frustrating but we could not let him cry himself to sleep. finally we reverted back to the baba when he was 12 months old b/c i was too pregnant and my back could not take it. now my 21 month old goes to sleep in a baby swing unless he falls asleep on his baba. it all sounds crazy us not letting him soothe himself but we know that in the end he will learn and he knows that we will always be there when he needs us. it sounds like a parenting nightmare...but here again they are only little once, you can only hold them for a short period of time before they are too big to hold. the only thing i would do over is not putting him to sleep standing...we wised up and have a rocking chair for my ds2. god bless

You said yourself "she is only 2 months old". Still very young and not quite in an established routine , sometimes they will have a solid chunk of sleep sometimes they will wake and want to feed every 2 hrs. So for now just feed on demand whether you are formula or breast feeding.

As for the sleeping , she is not too young to break this habit , if you don't want to rock her to sleep then stop , now stopping cold turkey and expecting her to fall asleep by herself might be a bit much , so maybe start her off by putting her in the bouncy chair or rocking seat , this eliminates you from the routine but she is still being rocked. Also you could try swaddling , babies like to be swaddled.

Good luck

I highly suggest Dr. Weissbluth's book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. At two months, it's not uncommon for her to have three nights in a row good sleep and a few not so good. You are doing great....don't worry about the rocking habit, she will be fine and so will you. I rocked all three of my kids until they were about three months old, and by four months they all went down for bed and naps without any rocking.

It's not too late to reverse this. I've read that babies are not capable of starting habits until four months. It's best to put her down while she's sleepy but still awake. If you can stand it, let her cry for a few minutes. This worked with my daughter. I let her cry 10 minutes, picked her up and loved on her, and let her cry 10 more minutes (repeat). Now she usually goes to sleep within the first 10 minute cycle, but it took a couple of weeks. If you're uncomfortable with CIO you might read The Baby Whisperer.

When she is around 5 months old-she will be able to get herself to sleep with a little prodding, in the form of letting her cry. Two months old is pretty young to sleep through the night-I am envisioning a thousands sets of eyeballs riveted to your letter trying to figure out your secret! It's difficult-but try to keep her up a little more during the day and perhaps she will sleep a bit longer at night. She is growing and the demand for food and calories is going to be met-on her terms! Good luck-it is exhausting.

Try rocking her to sleep as usual, but when you put her in the crib, jostle her just enough to wake her a little. She'll be drowsy, know you're there, and, hopefully, be able to fall back to sleep on her own.
Good luck. Sleep issues are so tough.