New mam who's not too sure what to expect!

[Cherelynn]

My daughter is almost 4 months old. When I put her down, either for her naps or at bed-time, she will cry for around 5/10 mins or lie and grumble for probably 15 mins before she drops off to sleep. Is it okay for her to cry and grumble like this, or should she just go down without complaint? I wondered if perhaps I am putting her down too soon as she is very rarely up 2 hours between each nap. I look for the signs of tiredness, yawing or jerking arms and legs, then take her right up. Perhaps I am leaving it to long? Sorry, I have never posted here before and as this is my first baby I'm really not too sure what I'm doing!

Any advice greatly received!

Hi Girls. Thanks for the thoughts about daytime naps. DS is definitely getting better with night time sleeping all round and its so much easier getting up twice or three times in the night for just a 20min feed and then straight back in the cot with little or no fuss.

As with daytime, you're right, if I get it at the right time, not overtired, he will settle within about 5mins. He still wakes after 30-35mins, but I guess a mixture of sleeping in the cot and then in my arms for the remainder isn't so bad. It leaves me hands free for a short time atleast. He LOVES being outside, it always makes him sleepy. I'll try him out there, but I may find it difficult keeping an eye on him.

Hope you girls are doing ok. Will let you know how next week goes! Have a good weekend.

Hi Karen, one thing that really helped me when I was listening to my babe crying and settling herself was to remember the long view - if we helped her to learn to settle herself now it would serve her (and us!) in the long run. One thing that I remember reading was that it may be loud and long and painful now, but it will be longer and louder and more painful when they are 3 or so. In my experience, children don't just sort their own sleep out as I originally thought, they need guidance. We did controlled crying with our 1st at 6 mths using the Gina Ford books (very controversial and doesn't suit everyone but great for us) and now (2.5) she has her nap and goes to bed like a dream. We did similar with our dd2 from about a month old and it is the same with her. The main thing that convinced me was that they were happiest when they had had a good sleep!