Just learning to self settle but still a few tears.....

[waffles1]

Recently my 11 month old ds refused to be rocked to sleep. Previously this was how we put him to bed and down for every nap and had done since birth. As he now likes to sleep on his front i guess that rocking to sleep was not overly comfortable for him.
DH & i were pleased to stop the rocking as ds is getting heavy and we were looking at ways to help ds self settle. However since refusing to be rocked we now put him straight in his cot after his night time bottle and he is drowsy but he always has a little cry (starts as a big yell as we leave the room then straight away turns to moany crying) before falling asleep, this only lasts between 3-10 mins but i hate to hear it. I know instinctly that we are doing the right thing as he is learning to fall asleep by himself and today he didn't cry for either nap which was a first. I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this and how long it took for the crying to stop as i would love for ds to just fall asleep minus the tears. We have been doing this for 8 days.

Sounds like it's stopping already.:) I think they sometimes cry a little as they settle if they're overtired at this age but it will get better and better.

Some babies do just cry a bit as they're going off to sleep. It sounds like he (and you) are doing brilliantly. There's a difference between distressed crying and 'I'm trying to go to sleep and will drop off any minute' crying, I imagine he's doing the second, you will know which it is. DD2 is 11 months, sometimes she'll go off to sleep with no crying at all, sometimes she'll grumble and cry a bit then drop off, and sometimes she'll be genuinely upset and need me to go back in and feed her/replace dummy/rub her back. Your DS might start going off to sleep without any crying, but I wouldn't worry if he doesn't, it's just normal for some babies and more an expression of tiredness than actual upset.

Agree with zimbah. Crying is a form of communication, it doesn't always mean your baby is in distress. Of course it's a horrible feeling to not go to your baby when he cries but it sounds like the process of him learnIng to self-settle is well under way.

Thanks all. It's been tough to not go in to soothe him but i know that it's most certainly not his distressed/pain cry and more of his grumpy cry! Actually feel really pleased that he's learning to self settle and will just continue as we are :-)