Cranial osteopathy

Having spent nearly a year with ds staying up for 14 or more hours and still waking in the night went to see cranial osteopath - miraculous! after his first session he slept through the night, effect wore off over a week but he ended up having 5 sessions over 3 or 4 months and went on to have a fab sleeping pattern. Until he was nearly 4 he would have a 2 hour sleep every afternoon and then sleep for 12 hours every night with no waking.

Grobags were a great find too, in fact because he got so used to not being able to climb out of the cot because he was wearing one, he never got into the habit of leaving his bed in the night, would just call us - he still does it now at 6 - he never leaves his bed in the night!

I think the NCSS is great for a newborn. It told me what is normal and how to encourage a good sleep pattern without tears. Its nice to have a book that does not see having a child sleeping for a solid 10 hours at 10 weeks the most important thing in the world.

My dd is much like CMOTdibbler ds. Its essential that second borns learn to be flexible to fit in with the needs of older children.

Babies are babies for such a short period of time. The first twelve weeks are really hard, but it doesn't last forever.

I agree with likesunshine that you have to see what works for your baby.

boobs, co sleeping, going with the flow, and knowing that little babies need to feed frequently.

I don't do routine, and DS will sleep anywhere (dark or not) and like a log.

I agree that if past 6 months or so you feel the need to do something the NCSS is great

There are no solutions in my opinion. They are either good sleepers or they are not. That conclusion is drawn from my extensive research of three babies and what I wanted to scream at all those 'helpful' people who suggested all sorts of ways to help DS2 sleep - all of which I had tried and none of which worked!

comfort blanket toy thing and mobile - did trick with DS2 - DS1 was a terrible sleeper. You've just got to find what works for your baby.

I agree with nellie12 - routine, good feeds and dark room! My first was hopeless at going to sleep, I knew nothing then about routine or blackout, but with the second I learnt that the combination of routine and very dark bedroom ( easyblinds are fab ) worked a treat. I started at around 2 1/2 months to get organised, and it all fell in to place - a few hiccups naturally, but on the whole it works. Good luck.

in those initial days when baby won't settle in a moses basket/carry cot we found a sheepskin invaluable - mum sleeps on it first to transfer her 'smell' then put it in the moses basket and because it's so warm and snuggly and smells of you it may help baby to sleep.

Routine helped us enormously too - imo babies like to know what's coming next and they pick this up from a very early age. My dd at 8 months is a great sleeper.

as cherry choc says bedside cot and if ff then milk stuff prepared and by bed for night feeding. feeding in the dark and very little stimulation when night feeding. Dont change the nappy unless you have to. worked for mine anyway

breastmilk

vibrating bouncy chair

My dd would not go into a moses basket or sleep anywhere but in my arms or right beside me when she was very tiny. I used to envy those mums wheeling their sleeping newborn around! The sling was so useful for me though, I used to email friends and talk to my mum in the phone while she slept in it.

Then at the age of 3 months she became a fab sleeper and self-settler, which is probably due to genetics as another poster has said, but I can still tell you what we did just in case it helps!!

Apart from the MAM dummy, on a more serious note the other thing I found invaluable was our bedside cot from Mothercare. Have you heard of co-sleeper cots? I found when she was teeny tiny sleeping beside me was very comforting to her and in a way it helped her with self-soothing later because she wasn't in a moses basket where she couldn't stare at me until she nodded off. Then we progressed to short periods out of my arms and in her pram during the day, which became longer periods. Swaddling her in a bedsheet helped a lot with the transition from mummy's arms and she found it very relaxing.

I found any music or mobiles or anything "stimulating" had to be removed or else there was no way she'd sleep, so no cds or toys. In fact I had to cover the hood of the pram with a sheet or park her facing the corner of the living room so she couldn't see anything interesting at all! I found the Baby Whisperer book very useful for understanding that babies need to sleep very often during the day and become overstimulated very easily - my dd did anyway! Any time there was a peep of discontent from her, I declared "Right, down for a nap", lol!

Anyway, it either worked or I was just lucky and have a good sleeper! She did go from not sleeping out of my arms at all to sleeping wonderfully in her cot and pram, but then the dummy did have a lot to do with it too!