in giving up on NCSS and feeding DD to sleep?

[Nowutterlyconfused]

After a fairly promising start last week, we've had a bad weekend trying to get DD (14 weeks) to go into her cot drowsy and go to sleep on her own. She's absolutely furious at every nap and every evening and we've both ended up in tears. In addition, she has in the last two days suddenly starting waking up at the end of every sleep cycle, which she never did before. I'm shattered and afraid I've made everything worse rather than better. DH points out that if she's not happy and I'm not happy then it doesn't sound like a great plan, which is reasonable. Has anyone actually got this to work and is 14 weeks just too young? I don't know whether I'm pushing poor DD faster than she's ready to go. Is it actually the case that I'm being ridiculous and that most people are in fact feeding/rocking their DC to sleep at this age?

Oh how true, Jean. They really can...

yes feeding here too, i will top her up, usually, then DH took over and sat with her whilst she dozed off, her head was against his heart beat...he still does this and she falls asleep within ten mins as she is tired then she goes into her cot. ( next to us)

mine is just over a year and its no sweat at all.
this isn't how we did it with first dc but it feels natural and right.

we are very happy with the rod and feel little tiny babies get a raw deal in the UK where we are usually told to leave them to cry alone in their own beds from the get go, it heartens me to hear of other mums also giving this little tiny being some support and love in their baby hood.

I did NCSS (exactly by the book) at 12 weeks. It took 6 nights but then she just got it. I only did it for night time though. Day time naps in the cot didn't get going until she was 8 months but because the nights were so good I wasn't bothered.

She's now 22 months and has always been a good sleeper. Keep trying if you feel up to it. Try to identify sleep cues. Stick to a routine. It can be done!

Stick to routine but don't expect everything to have an effect right now, 14 weeks is very young and your expectations are very high. My DS has always been a good sleeper but he really didn't 'self settle' until about 7 months and even then it was hit and miss. He's done really well and self settles fine at 14 months and I put that down to following routine to the letter so he was always relaxed and knew what was coming next, but I didn't expect the self settling part to work right away because most babies don't know how to put themselves to sleep. I think NCSS is great but I'd use it more to put the foundations in place for what you want to work in the future. Setting the routine is the most important thing at this point, not the end result. Don't put yourself through the stress of things not 'working' and just be pleased for the times they do, time flies and the next thing you know your 14 week old will be 14 months and won't want cuddling and holding making you feel like your baby doesn't want you and that you regret not doing more of it.

Doesn't every breastfed baby feed to sleep? I mean, if someone else can rock them to sleep that's great but never worked for any of mine.

I always fed them to sleep.

They are Almost 10 and 4 now.

I don't have to do it anymore.

Fuck the rules and the routines and all the rest of it, enjoy having a baby snuggled close while you can.

There's a big growth spurt coming up at 4 months, about 16/17 weeks. Lots of cluster feeds, fussiness and frequent waking. That's a time for extra feeds, not trying to train self settling. Knowing it's temporary, and that no action is required to fix it as all will revert to normal by itself makes it much easier to deal with.

i read and used ncss when ds was 9m but wished i had read it earlier, i think what all sleep advice has in common is trying to get enough sleep during the day to not have overtired baby at night, i found that a zip up sleeping bag seemed to be helpful as an association with sleep, as was a soft toy monkey.
to actually answer your question , he was fed to sleep until at least 9m and had a feed just before sleep until 18m, i don't think it was the feeding to sleep that made his overnight sleep worse, as he got older he wasn't bothered about overnight feeding. others have said this and i agree go with what works for you.

DS goes in his sleeping bag and has just started going into his cot awake after his bf. He's 20 months and crucially its a long time since he's woken for milk in the night (sickness or cold yes, but there's nothing you can do about that).

I'm happy, he's happy and he'll usually settle for a beaker of warm milk and a story when I'm not there. I'm sure he'll stop when he's ready.

We fed my ds to sleep for 18 months ( breast then bottle). Then he had a bottle till 32 months.He now sleeps through and mostly settles himself, likes me to stay for a few minutes. IMO at 14 weeks you should just give them what they want.

So, go for it-enjoy the sleep and the cuddles.

I meant he had a bottle at bedtime till 32 months, just didn't fall asleep.

I had a sleep consultant who wouldn't see us until DS was somewhere between seven and nine months. Go with the flow for now, have the NCSS techniques in the back of your mind and look towards them nnr the future rather than rigidly sticking to them right now.

14 weeks?? I am still feeding to sleep at 24 months!

and she CAN sleep by herself - with daddy and at the nursery... but when I am home it's no hassle for me...