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Original poster

Crying to sleep

4 replies

CanNeverDecide · 30/04/2011 21:46

My 9 week old can't seem to get off to sleep without crying for a bit, maybe 5-10 minutes. I have tried holding her, rocking/cuddling her, feeding her etc. She gets dozy but the minute I put her down she wakes up and starts crying. If I leave her (and I have had to do this to go and sort out toddler), she will settle after crying for 5-10 minutes. It's a whingy, tired cry - not upset/hysterical, but I don't know how to help her go to sleep without crying. I haven't got the time to hold her until she's in a deep sleep and also don't want to as I did this with my first and she became dependant on being held to go to sleep and it took a long time to teach her to self settle.

So how do I help her sleep times become more peaceful whilst at the same time allowing her to settle herself off to sleep rather than rely on me?

Or do I just need to let her have a little cry before drifting off?

OP posts:
jellybelly75 · 30/04/2011 22:58

I think leaving her for 5-10 mins of whingy/tired crying is absolutely fine. In fact, at 9 weeks thats really good if she can self settle herself that quickly :) My nearly 7mth old still usually has a bit of a tired whinge for 10 minutes or so before a nap and I am fine with that, as long as it doesnt turn into full blown howling, in which case I would always go in and check on her.

Its a much better for her to learn to self settle than to rely on you to get her to sleep, so it sounds like you (and her) are doing a great job already :)

RitaMorgan · 30/04/2011 23:01

I think some babies do need to grizzle/whinge a bit before they go to sleep - my ds wasn't one of them though, his cry would just escalate and get hysterical!

If you can, I would stay with her, maybe with a hand on her to reassure her as she drops up.

debka · 01/05/2011 07:50

If it's a choice between holding her and her crying and her lying in her cot crying- go for the cot!! My DD is the same, but now (11 weeks) she will often go to sleep in her cot without crying- if I don't wait too long before putting her down.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 01/05/2011 22:05

dd2 has always needed a bit of a cry before sleep, although at 6mo this is now down to a bit of a moan for a minute or 2.
it took us aaages to work this out, and she cried a lot less when we left her to it in the cot, than when we we trying to soothe her in our arms.

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