11 week old reliant on extractor fan to sleep!

[Sethbornapril]

My LO is 11 weeks and is just beginning to grow out of his colic. In the early stages we struggled to get him off to sleep during the day so began to use the extractor fan as white noise which worked / works like a charm. The trouble is that now he has become reliant on it which makes it awkward if I visit friends or family for the day.
He sleeps in his pram when we go out but if I took him out for a walk every time he needed to sleep I would be out all day!
He is coming up for 3 months no and his cot is all ready for him but we cant use it during the day until we can get him to sleep without the extractor.
Any advice?

I expect, if you tried it, you could just put him down and not put on the fan. Might mean he takes a little longer to settle initially but he'd quickly get used to it. By 11 weeks he's probably used to napping at similar times. Maybe you could find a similar noise but quieter that you set up near his cot?

I have tried settling him without it but he just wont. He whinges and whines until I give in!
I dont like to leave him cry but as long as he is not upset how long is ok to leave him until I go to him?

You can buy cd's of white noise.

Other than that record the fan noise onto cd/tape/mp3?

I second the white noise cd's, they're great for getting some little ones to sleep and you can gradually cut down the time you play it for so they don't become dependant.

I third white noise and if you get a CD you can start it loud so it blocks other noise and gradually reduce the volume to allow other noises through the white noise until it's not needed anymore.

"He whinges and whines until I give in!"

If it's 'noise-making' rather than actual tearful crying or distress then I think you'd find a lot of babies do the same thing when they're put down to start with. I'm sure if you left him to it for a few minutes he'd stop quite quickly, with or without the background noise.

Instead of forking out for a CD just use a radio which isn't tuned to a station - very similiar in that it blocks out background noise - plus doesn't suddenly stop when CD ends.