Crying before sleeo

[Ajahd]

Just to make it clear, I don't let my son cry it out.

He's 11 weeks old and has always cried at nap/bedtime. Nap routine is go upstairs, get into his swaddle bag and that's when the crying starts. I then cuddle and rock him. Bed time routine is bath, baby massage, bottle to fall asleep on, so he doesn't cry. He's only really started falling asleep on his bottle recently, so I know this isn't why he crys before naps as he's always cried before sleep.

He cries and struggles to break free. I can imagine once he's older it'll be a lot harder to keep a hold of him!

I'm very much in the mindset of 'he's only going to be this little for so long', so I'm quite happy to carry on as things are at the moment.

My question is, for those of you who had babies who cry before sleep, do they grow out of it? I love him so much, I would just love to have that nice moment before sleep where we can have a cuddle without it seeming so traumatic for him.

[sleepslikeababy]

Hi,

I have a now 5 month old boy who did exactly this, around the same age as your son. He used to cry and struggle against me every night...also coincided with the 4 month sleep regression. I started to dread bedtimes as it felt like a battle every night (and nap!). Then he learnt to suck his thumb, and by doing so, how to self-soothe a little bit. The crying and the fighting have recently stopped and he now closes his eyes and sucks his thumb in my arms until he’s asleep. I didn’t do anything...he just grew out of it.

[Ajahd]

Aww bless, that sounds lovely! He's recently finding his hands, trying to shove his whole fist in 😂 he is swaddled, so doesn't have access to his hands at the moment. I tried him with his arms out and everytime he started drifting off and his arms started to drop he would wake up! Will maybe give him another try with his arms out again when I'm feeling brave!

I can handle the crying, I just like to know there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm sure he won't be 18 and screaming at me while drifting off 😂

[Willow4987]

My DS does this. It’s a unique cry that he only ever does just before he falls asleep. It’s like his was of settling so I don’t worry as I know it’s part of him going to sleep.

[sleepslikeababy]

Mine was swaddled at that age too. Tbh it was a nightmare to get him out of it...mainly because I’m we went cold turkey with no swaddle, and moved him into his cot all at the same time. Two weeks of no sleep and then he found his hands and now his sleep is much better in general. I wouldn’t recommend going cold turkey like we did - but transitioning out of the swaddle definitely helped him learn to self-soothe. We don’t/won’t leave him to cry, it’s just something he learnt on his own. Maybe yours will too!