I would be grateful for any ideas on how to stop rocking our 16 week old DD to sleep and get her to go to sleep on her own. Also, how to extend catnaps into proper length naps? I am feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of advice out there (Baby Whisperer, No Cry Sleep Solution etc). And she is getting a lot heavier and my back is about to give in...
For the first 12 weeks of her life I was stuck to the sofa as she would nap on me after feeding and would wake up immediately if we put her in the moses basket or pram (although she would sleep in the basket at night). If she woke in the night, I would feed her and then it would typically take between 1.15 and 2 hrs each time to get her back to sleep (a combination of rocking and feeding). She was also quite colicky/windy in the evenings with lots of crying.
We are now able to get her to nap sometimes during the day (not on me!) by swaddling her and rocking/bouncing her to sleep (feeding to sleep seems to work less and less). The rocking can take anything from 5 mins to 30 mins (usually with a fair amount of loud crying) and she will then typically nap for 45 mins and wake up cranky. She occasionally naps for longer (2hrs or so) but I can't see any pattern as to when this is (although it is usually only in the morning). At night (and when she wakes in the night) we do a combination of feeding and rocking (and it still typically takes an hour and a half to get her back to sleep). Though once asleep we are very lucky as she can go for long periods at night.
She is a fantastic baby but so much happier (understandably!) when she is well rested. She generally feeds well and is gaining weight. She was born 2 weeks' late (I was induced and had a C section). She doesn't sleep easily in the pram or car (health visitors don't seem to be able to believe this!) although will sometimes drop off after 10 mins + of high powered screaming (and then wakes up after 30 minutes or if the motion stops). We often end up having screaming meltdowns when out and about which I think is down to overtiredness.
Any ideas/experience in weaning the rocking/extending naps/encouraging sleeping in prams much appreciated!
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How to stop rocking to sleep/extend naps - 16 week old
49 replies
Galapasnickle · 09/06/2011 17:54
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