Sleeps training?

[Elderflowergirl]

I'm a FTM and have a 10 week old DS. At 6 weeks he hit the stage where he stopped napping of his own accord in the day and getting overtired if he didn't nap. The only way I can get him to nap in the day is in the sling or in the car (i.e. movement sleep). I also feed him to sleep at night and during the night. clearly I don't want to be doing this forever but am I setting myself up for trouble down the line? Is he too young to teach self soothing now? Will I probably have to do controlled crying come 6 mths to teach him how to get to sleep himself? I feel like I've opted for the easy option at the moment but don't know if it's worth perservering now by spending ages on the bedroom trying to get him to nap there in the day. Any advice gratefully received!

[FATEdestiny]

Is he too young to teach self soothing now?

Yes.

Your baby will always need to feel comforted and secure to go to sleep. Well, certainly up until school age he will.

You can, in time, teach a baby to access his own comfort and security - by sucking on a dummy, by snuggling into a comforter toy, by self-stroking, tickling that kind of thing. The physical ability to do these sorts of self-soothing things happens somewhere around 6-9 months old.

Until then a baby is likely to need some form of help to access the comfort needed to go to sleep - because a young baby physically cannot do these sorts of things.

For now, you need to accept you have to help baby sleep. There is no other possible way for it to happen because your baby needs you to help physically. The key is to develop habits that will be easier to wean off.

Have you tried a bouncy chair and dummy for daytime naps?

[Elderflowergirl]

Thanks for the reply. I'm a week in now of my attempt to get him to nap in his bed. On the first day my parents in law helped out and, amazingly, my mother in law got him to settle himself to sleep so I know now he can do it. It is not crying to sleep. If he is fed, clean nappy, not too overtired, relaxed, happy lying in his crib then he takes himself off. I've now seen him do it a few times, I just hadn't given him the opportunity before. I don't know what age he has been able to do this from but he's done it twice before when we couldn't get him to sleep and put him down and then went to sleep ourselves to wake hours later to find he had settled himself. He doesn't do it everytime and often does need comforting to sleep but I am going to give him the chance when I can to settled himself. I googled videos and there is a particular thing they do of turning their head side to side and about 10-15 minutes they are asleep. Amazing!

[DrNWeeks]

10 weeks is very young, so is 6 months for that matter. There are many options beyond controlled crying that take longer but are easier on the heart strings. There are things you can do now while continuing to enjoy your baby (and take the easy route sometimes). My first podcast is a good introduction to this: www.practicalresearchparenting.com/2015/02/03/episode-1-baby-sleep-or-lack-of/