are there really babies out there who will put themselves to sleep in their moses basket?

[sweetaddict]

Just asking. Because my dd1 would never settle and now my dd2 (9weeks) is a clingon too. I'm now thinking it must be me. Where have I gone wrong?!

Nah, there might be one or two, but most little babies need the presence of a warm person to fell safe enough to nod off. Makes sense if you think about it - survival and all that.

Yes there are - but getting one of those is a bit like winnig the lottery!

I have 3 and one of mine did do this. I felt incredible lucky though. Yes, it's not a myth but no it's nothing you did or didn't do, just luck.

sorry but DS did and 4 wk old DD does too, apart from when she is settling down for her really big sleep in the evening when she gets a bit screamy. Do I win a prize? really, am sure it is just luck but do persevere. We prop ours up t one end she is slopng down a bit - hv said to with DS - helps with wind apparently

Makes me feel bit better thanks. Not you trixie though...lucky bugger.

Yes I've tried it all...propped up/put my pillow case in/rocked(that worked once!/swaddled/half swaddled/sleeping bag etc etc.. Just find it hard not to feel a failure - rod for own back and all that-every time I hold her to sleep.

We had 2 who did that from early on, then number 3 howled the place down and would only fall asleep with a dummy. Just when we thought we had the sleeping thing cracked. They are all different. Would recommend a dummy though, it saved our sanity.

I clearly won the lottery. Mine did. I only ever had one child. Was scared that a second would be the antichrist as punishment. In my defence, I also had multiple miscarriages, so that helped (if you know what I mean...wasn't nice at the time, but worked out for the best probably). DD slept through the night from about 4 weeks old too. I took her to the doctors because she didn't cry...ever. She's 10 now and still a fairly laid back little character. I'd love to be smug about it and say it was because I was a laid back parent, but I think I just got lucky...very very lucky. Feel free to chuck things at me...I try my very very best not to feel smug about things.

DS2 (10 weeks) will do it sometimes during the day. Nights are a different thing entirely though and then he has to be rocked, cuddled, walked etc etc.

Just to add, my dd was rarely put down during the day though and every nap was taken on my chest. I sat down a lot when she was little and her first word (after careful) was 'hand'. I constantly had to hold her hand when she was a toddler. She was a bit clingy in some ways, but she was a PFB and I couldn't bear to hear her cry, so I probably pandered to her something chronic.

Yes there are, and they are born that way, so chill. You're doing nothing wrong.

Ds1 - wanted me to piss off and leave him alone in a dark silent room - from BIRTH.

Ds2 - I put him down at my peril.

sorry, forgot to say about a dummy - they are great - there's a reason they are called pacifiers in the States - babies suck for comfort and it does help them settle, only thing with newborns is they let it fall out so you have to help them but once they are properly asleep they don't notice. DS (nearly 2) has his still but only for sleep-it doesn't come out of the bedroom - don't worry about creating a permanent dependence- you control when they have it.

Yeah, think to a certain extent it's the wee ones personality, but I DO see now that I hovered quite a bit with DD1 and 'interfered' with her ability to just get on with getting herself to sleep.

DD1 was 2.5 years when DD2 was born last summer, and for the first week I would sit beside DD2s moses basket and pat her gently to help her get off to sleep. After that, she was swaddled tightly, laid in her basket and managed (mostly) to get herself into the land of nod. She is a MUCH better sleeper than DD1 and slept through from about 9 weeks (albeit with a quick 'dreamfeed' at 11pm ish)

Guess what I am trying to say is that, while some of it IS just 'how they are made', your own ability to give them the time and space to get themselves to sleep plays a big part too!

Me! Me! I have one! She's my first (and possibly only as like huffy, I think they only come in ones). She puts herself to sleep, almost anywhere, takes the boob and the bottle without any problems, will wear anything, sleeps for 9 hours straight at 10 weeks old and smiles at everyone.

She also wakes me up humming tunes from the Sound of Music and brings me breakfast in bed (the last two may be made up).

I am sooooo lucky but it does make up for her father being a feckless womble.

I found keeping a hot water bottle in the crib when they weren't in it helped. I know a cold pillow makes me wake up a bit and reasoned that it must be the same for babies. I used to keep it wrapped up under the crib at nights and swap baby for bottle. Seemed to work as all three would settle in the crib. also had a muslin with a bit of expressed milk on tucked into the crib.

My DS was like that. I couldn't believe it! If it makes you feel any better he was a lovely easy baby but hard work as a toddler and by the age of 3 had developed a habit of waking up at any time from 4.30am and thinking it was morning and nothing I did would change that. DD on the other hand could not be put down as a baby. She didn't fall asleep other than in my arms until she was 5 weeks old. Then for some reason she would settle in the cot at bedtime but was still difficult during the day for a long time. I think a lot of it was down to wind/reflux with her though. She was an easier toddler than DS though and more often than not has to be dragged out of bed in the mornings now.

When I say she'd settle in the cot, I mean she'd fall asleep on me and not wake up screaming the instant I put her down in the cot.

Can u move her to cot? Ds never settled in Moses basket so moved to cot at 5 weeks and he's been great since then (now 6 months)

DD2 could. As one of my friends said it was like I had found the holy grail. She was the most sunny-tempered, easy baby ever.

Of course I relaxed totally and assumed I could start a routine any old time. I switched her from moses basket to cot at six months, all changed and she woke up four times a night for the next year at least.

So DD1 (highly sensitive) and DD2 (angel baby) were pretty much the same dreadful sleepers until the age of three.

Dd - didn't sleep unless I fed her to sleep and then continued to hold her. She'd do a 90 minute stretch in her cot at night after I'd fed her to sleep.

Ds1 - screamed at anything I tried to do to help him sleep, and stayed awake screaming for ages until I left him, and then he'd scream himself to sleep

Ds2 - would fall asleep anywhere and anyhow, when he felt like it (which was a lot). He was a shock! He'd be lying on the playmat in the middle of the living room with his brother and sister playing noisily around him and he'd just go to sleep.

And this is all very much reflected in their personalities now.

Mine is 4 months and always hated his moses basket (total waste of money). Held for every nap and coslept until about 9 weeks. We bought a 3 sided cot and tried him in it one night at 8pm and he stayed there!! We out him in asleep and he does wake up for his dummy and usually ends up in our bed from 5am! Still held for day naps though - trying to crack this next!