To think 'put them down drowsy but awake' is a lie

[georgarina]

Has any baby ever done this??

Also feed, play, sleep.

Mine just don't sleep unless held or fed. As little babies anyway.

@WiggIyWoo formula fed from birth with my 2. In the very early days the sometimes fell asleep on the bottle but as they got more alert they would be put down awake

Worked a charm for one, complete fail for the second.

I agree that play, feed, sleep works better. If you play after sleep they bring milk back up and they are nice and sleepy after a feed.
The best advice I ever had is do what works for you. All babies are different.

Drowsy but awake I always hated that saying. I always made sure I put my second down for a nap when she was tiered but awake. She wasn't drowsy. She's now 20montns and mostly I just put her in her cot at nap time and bed time and she goes to sleep. Sometimes she kicks off and refuses completely so I'll give up and try again later.

I think that the idea of putting the baby down drowsy but awake is so that they can start to learn how to settle themselves to sleep independently. Settling themselves to sleep is, in my opinion, just as much of a skill as learning to talk, hold a spoon, sit up unaided etc. As with all skills that babies learn, some figure it out very quickly, others take more time and there's no right or wrong. My first was very clingly and a relatively poor sleeper, child no.2 and child no.3 were pretty good at going off to sleep, but maybe this was because I was better at giving them good sleep 'cues'.

@NeverSurrender

My first did not at all, but my second did put in his cot after bath, feed and cuddle. He would babble for a bit then go to sleep. As an older children he is a nightmare at bed time though!

Same for mine, as a baby I could put him down. Then he became mobile and we went through phases. He's 2 1/2 now, I don't cuddle him but he wants me to be in the room and now tries to stretch it telling me he wants water, needs the toilet 3x once in his bed 😂 I always say: only young once so it's fine, he always sleeps through once down though!

My baby now is 3 months and it's hit and miss, sometimes I can put him down and he conks out, other times he wants to be held.

Different with all of mine.
#1 worked at night, but never for day time naps
#2 never worked
#3 almost always worked

No difference to how I did it, just different personalities

It is just starting to come true for my current 12 week old.

Depends on the baby.
My youngest used to love his bed as a baby 😁 he'd get comfy and drift straight off.
My oldest, OTOH...

It was feed/sleep/feed repeat for both of my dcs until 6 months and beyond for dc1.

Very easy babies - I took up knitting to pass the time between feeds - knitted christening robe in 3 weeks from when dc1 was 8 weeks old - 5 hours per day knitting.

I was just very fortunate!

It worked with my first. I put her down for nps 90pc asleep then gradually earlier and earlier and earlier, we sang the same song so she had a good sleep association and it would make her calm and drowsy and she would go down sleepy but awake.

The second however would rather poke her own eyeballs out than stop crying for even a minute when in her cot awake, no matter what I did.

One of mine did this , the other two didn't.

I've got o be honest and say mine do but I know more that don't than do that so it probably mainly a lie

All three of mine went down awake as a rule. There were a few blips where a bit of patting or pram rocking was needed but these were short and my stance was it’s sleep time, you’re going down, this is a blip not the new normal. I think they settle better when put down and sleep breeds sleep. I swaddled in the early days.

I don't know how we got through that bit alive. I didn't feed my kids to sleep though - we ended up in a routine where they would wake and have milk, but that's more because they were a wee bit early (twins) and in the early days they would only wake up when they were starving.

It's a lie that ALL babies will go to sleep that way, or that it's the only or best way to put a child down for a nap or nighttime.

If you're looking for more input from families with babies for whom it doesn't work then I'd recommend The Beyond Sleep Training Project on Facebook.

ALL four of my babies were put in their cots fed, comfy, awake , left alone in the room and they peacefully went to sleep. Right from birth. Nobody cried themselves to sleep.

That was the norm back then.

It happens two, maybe three times to fool you into thinking that is is not a lie. With my first I was really surprised it didn't work, it was what they were supposed to do!

But all babies are different so it must work with some.

I was able to put down lo three of mine when awake and they would fall asleep. Both during the day for naps and at night.

Works for mine 90% of the time. He’s 5 months. As long as his tummy is full and nappy clean he puts himself to sleep. At approx 11pm. Then usually sleeps through until 6ish.

I don’t think he’d do it at 7 or 8 which seems to be when most babies are expected to go to bed.

He’s breastfed but has one bottle of formula in the evening which I think really helps. Highly recommend!! (Also I realise we are very lucky that we have an easy baby who likes his cot.)

Sometimes he’s giggly and alert when we put him down but as long as everything in his world is good (no teething etc) he quickly puts himself to sleep. If he starts crying I immediately rescue him and let him breastfeed until he’s asleep or happy. We didn’t want to make the cot a battlefield.

He can’t seem to put himself to sleep in the day unless he’s in a car/pram/sling.

Mine was fine with being put into bed awake, and falling asleep on his own, but that doesn't mean it works for everyone!

Absolutely depends on the baby. Both of mine went to sleep at night when plonked down wide awake in their cots at the allotted hour. (They had other, less desirable characteristics ). The annoying thing is when people tell you this stuff as if you're doing it wrong and they know your child better than you (see also: mine tried a tantrum once and I lay down on the floor next to them and screamed and they stopped and never did it again).

It worked for my dd1. She fell into a routine of eat, play sleep with no trouble and I rarely had to wake her from a nap. She slept 7 to 7 and it was as if she'd read the Gina Ford manual. I knew it was just luck! Dd2 wasn't so good at dropping the night feeds but still followed a basic routine. I always put them down asleep on their own.

Every baby is different but I always put mine in the crib / cot while still awake and never cuddled them to sleep (although they sometimes fell asleep at the breast when they were newborns).

Both of mine DID settle themselves very quickly. Maybe I was lucky but it was advice I was given and it worked for me.

Depends on the baby. My second has been able to self settle at bedtime since birth and only needs one feed at night. My first: no way till over a year old. Untill then she had to be in a deep sleep to be put down and woke multiple times a night.