5mo - really need to stop bouncing to sleep! The joints are suffering!

[DodgyKnees]

I've read so much stuff on self-settling and things that I've confused myself about what our 5mo dd should be able to do and what we should be doing to get her to sleep more quickly! Talking for naps, mainly, but it's starting to take longer to get her to sleep at night too. Both DH and I are knackered.

Currently, it's taking at least 25 mins to get her to sleep (except the rare occasions when she falls asleep drinking her milk). I try to wear her out with lots of active play (she's learning to roll atm) and keep an eye out for sleepy signs.

When they appear (or 1.5-2 hrs after she last woke up), I read her a story, then take her upstairs to her cot, close the curtains, turn the fan on and put her blanket round her, telling her it's nap time.

Then begins lots of bouncing her up and down (I pick her up when she gets grizzly), putting her down when she's calmer, picking her up and feeding her, bouncing some more, putting her in her cot and repeating her until she'll stay asleep in her cot without wrestling with the mattress.

I know she should be drowsy rather than asleep when I put her down, but she really won't settle unless I go through all this palaver. Is this the time to start leaving her for 5 mins, 10 mins, etc? What did you all do around this time to get your baby to sleep more quickly?

It's the bouncing up and down we really want to kick. Both our backs are suffering! She's a heavy 5mo!

When I decided I wanted to stop rocking to sleep (a bit earlier than this - 7-8 weeks my back was already killing as she was quite a big baby) my partner and I would put our DD down in her cot (drowsy and awake) and shush/pat her until she fell asleep. She would often wake anything between 5 and 20 mins later and we'd have to do it all over again, but we never took her out of her cot unless it was for a nappy or time for a feed. We had to hold our nerve because she would cry and grizzle for quite a long time, and we'd have to return a lot but they key was settling her to sleep in her cot, not on one of us. After a couple of weeks of this, the time spent shush patting got less and less and we braved just popping her down and leaving her. She'd still grizzle but would fall asleep on her own within 10 minutes. Even now at 7 months old she still grizzles and whines and chats to herself for a few mins while going to sleep, but as my partner calls it she is just 'working it out' and needs to do it to fall asleep.
So I guess my suggestion is try moving on to settling in her cot (not CC or CIO) and try shush/pat to see if it works for your little one. This should allow you to still comfort your daughter but also save your backs!