Self settling how to

[Jenny3065]

Hi all,

Looking for advice and shared experience on self settling.

My story: bubs now 10 weeks old.
Breastfed.
Will go down at 7.30pm each night after the last feed at night which is on the bed, nightlight, quiet etc. swaddled and down in bassinet no problem.
Will then sleep until around midnight...the bassinet is close to my bed so she wakes me....by usually making unsettled noises and showing hunger signs. So feed and back down.... with nappy change too, this can take 40 mins
Wales then at 5am , sometimes 4am. Same routine...but harder to get back down... would like to have a few more hours of sleep!!
Usually has first morning nap at 9am.. but that's only for 30 mins.

Hard to get any other naps in during the day.
Cluster feed happens between 4pm and 6ish pm.

Any tips advice as we now go into 11 weeks....

Sounds completely normal to me! You're doing well to get those stretches of sleep.

I found my baby couldn't go longer than 1.5-2 hours at that ages before getting ready for a nap.

I always feed to sleep though. Which has now resulted in a baby who will not sleep any other way so try not to do that!!!

The last feed does go up to 7.30pm - so may be a feed to sleep - but always seems tired then

I make sure when it's morning time that I open the blinds and the house is bright....

I wasn't sure if making the room dark for day naps would cause confusion- I don't want to loose the 7.30pm guarantee (at this stage!)

I don't really use the blackout blind for day naps - room semi dark with normal wooden blinds......

Hoping to try for two 30 min day naps tomorrow feeling like that's so not enough

I honestly don't think there is an easy solution to this. I think your baby will either self settle at this age or they won't.
My first wouldn't, he sounded exactly like your baby. He was cuddled / breastfed to sleep constantly and was very difficult to put down. If I did get him down he would usually be awake within 45 mins in the day and 2 hours at night

My 2nd ds is 6 months old and since day 1 has self settled -in fact he's the polar opposite of ds1 and hates being cuddled! If he's tired he will cry and cry till I put him down then he stretches out and sleeps. He sleeps for a total of about 4 hours in the day and 7-7 at night.

If I could tell myself anything from first time round, it would be just to do whatever it takes to get sleep. Ds1 bed shared in the end as things got worse around 5 months. The age 8 months something just changed and since then (he's now 3 ) he has slept like a dream, on his own, never cuddled to sleep etc. Most babies need that reassurance that you are there and need your help to fall asleep, but once they're bigger they will have the confidence in you to start doing it alone (maybe with a small amount of sleep training involved)
I really do think that you till about 10 months or so, there is no such thing as bad habits as everything we did / currently do can easily be adapted up to around this point
Well done, you're doing great!