Couple of sleep / nap questions

[Scottishbump85]

Hey

I have two questions for you experienced mums out there! Or Dad’s :)

Firstly, did you get your baby used to their cot / own room by putting them down for naps there before transitioning them to their own room? My baby is 4 months old so I’m thinking forward to a couple of months when she’ll be ready to move into her room, so I’ve been trying to get her to take naps in there, which is mostly a battle (napping anywhere is just now actually!) I’m just worried if I don’t nail it, she’ll never settle at night when it’s time to move!

Secondly, how important is this “awake but drowsy” advice I’m always reading? My baby always falls asleep during her last feed, so I’ve never really had the chance to put her down awake! Wondering if I should switch up her routine and do bottle before bath to combat this? But this worries me cos she’s been sleeping through (with no night feeds) since she was 13 weeks and I don’t want to jeopardise that by giving her an earlier last bottle, if that makes sense?

All advice / experience greatly appreciated!

"Awake but drowsy" is TRIPE. Ignore it. Feeding a baby to sleep is one of the best tools in a parenting toolbox. My first always fed to sleep and I constantly panicked. My baby twins do not feed to sleep and it's hell and I'd give anything for them to be able to!

As for settling in their own room... I wouldn't pre-empt. Do what you need to do / feels comfortable now, and deal with any problems if they arise. DS had never slept in his own room, but he got shoved in there about 3am a week or so before his 6mo mark because he was loudly chatting to himself. He slept in there from that moment on with no problems.

Fucks knows :). I have two kids and it never worked with mine. My oldest was cuddled to sleep until she was 4 and goes to sleep by herself now.

@ReeseWitherfork Great username 😂

Thanks for your input! Great news that your wee one adjusted so well to his own room! Fingers crossed we are the same!

@Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas aww bless! I guess there’s no one size fits all! I just see so many judgey comments re. feeding babies to sleep etc!

Ah, the old 4 month sleep regression! This is when they start to develop sleep associations so be careful not to introduce anything you aren't prepared to keep doing! I didn't know at the time and my boy was fed to sleep. Took 3 months of sleep training to break THAT habit!

Yes, I let him nap in his room before 6 months, then put him by himself overnight after a week or so and he slept through. At 6 months they're not really bothered avout where they sleep, though, so probably wouldn't make too much difference at that stage.

If it's working for you to feed to sleep at night, keep doing it. when Baby was 6mo he usually woke up after the last feed, but because it was dark he could settle himself.

Honestly if I did it again I would look into some gentle sleep training between 4-6 months. The best way to stop bad habits is to prevent them from forming.

The advice I would give you is to be consistent with what you do. The method that works is the one you keep doing.

Good luck!

@Sbena thanks for your input! I don’t know how to stop the feeding to sleep thing as she’s sooooo tired by the end of the day that I literally can’t keep her awake during her last bottle 🥴

I’m not sure about sleep training. I’ve not read enough about it! I’ll need to have a look.

My little one is eight weeks and he goes to bed awake and settles by himself! But I am well aware that this is a total fluke as my other kids wouldn't sleep without a bottle so who knows lol.. they are all different x

@baxtersm wow that’s amazing! Hope that continues for you :)

My first napped in a little rocker chair in the living room, in her car seat but mainly on top of me...and only for very short times...

The second was the same...but slept longer....

Neither settled in their cot for a nap..the first rarely slept in a cot even at night....

Can't remember when they went into their own rooms but i do remember them both transitioning into proper beds at about 2/ 2.5 years....

Both slept properly and never had any form of sleep issues after that...

In my experience, sleep training and routines tend to be urban myths...😆

If your baby is sleeping through the night with no feeds then it doesn’t really matter how they fall asleep in the first place. Obviously if that stops working you may need to look at whether they are able to resettle themselves when they wake up, but if you have a system that’s working for you and the baby’s sleeping really well with it then don’t worry about it at all and just than the sleep gods. And during the night your baby will be waking at some point and resettling, so that’s suggests they’re able to do it already in which case you’re very lucky. My eldest went into her own room at 6 months without any big process. And the thing she was sleeping in (probably a cot by then) was still familiar to her when it came to going to bed. My other two had different set ups where we’d set up a bed in their room. So it was a case of me moving out rather than them moving into a different room.

At 4 months I was feeding to sleep and it worked, I did start introducing a dummy which is now how baby settles at night and for naps, would that work?

In terms of cot, we tried at 6 months and had a difficult time of it so went back to bassinet. Tried again at 7 months and no problem. So could just be a case of waiting till ready?

@nightshade thanks for your reply. I do find the whole sleep training thing a bit baffling! Don’t think our parents sleep trained us! Haha!

@Himawarigirl she can settle herself if she wakes during the night sometimes, other times she needs a dummy which I’m ok with for now! I’m maybe unnecessarily worrying! Typical me! Haha!

@Welshfiver she does have a dummy and I sometimes need to give her that if she wakes through the night or shortly after going down and it works! Ditto with naps. She can’t seem to nap without it unless we’re in the car! She does spit it out when she’s in a deep sleep though and thankfully doesn’t wake for it again.

OP your baby sounds like a dream. Sounds like you've got a really good set up. I worried about everything with my first, as did most of my friends, so I think your questions are perfectly normal. But I wouldn't be changing anything with what you've described. Sleep training isn't necessary, only if something isn't working for you. Check out Lyndsey Hookway on instagram.

@ReeseWitherfork I wouldn’t call her a dream! Haha! She’s a wee grump if she doesn’t have good naps during the day and it’s a battle I seem to be losing! I am grateful for the night sleep though!