Good sleep habits for 4.5 week old

[Sephy]

My DD is alright at sleeping, and wakes a couple of times at night and naps lots during the day. At night she sleeps in her cocoonababy in a crib by our bed, and during the day usually in her carrycot.

She pretty much always falls asleep at the breast and I have the scary transition from my arms to the cot to manage - I dread it every time and am worried she'll end up too dependent on me to sleep.

Any tips for what I can do at this age to help her settle herself? If I put her down alone she doesn't usually cry, but often just stays awake looking around etc, despite having yawned like mad before being put down.

Hmm, my DC wouldn't settle themselves at this age. I empathise with the anxiety you feel when you try to transfer her from your arms to the cot. Often, I ended up sleeping with DS2 curled up on my chest, whilst I was propped up on pillows.

No advice, sorry, but it sounds very promising that your DD already lies down without crying, to be honest.

Hope you're not too tired. It's unbelievably tiring at this stage. Bet she's unbelievably gorgeous though.

Interested to see what people say on this. I feel like it is probably too early to worry, but am not an expert. My DD is 8 weeks and always feeds to sleep at night and for most naps. I don't think she is capable of self soothing but sometimes get concerned I am wrong and am setting myself up for problems.

At this age I really won't worry! Get past 8 wks and look at it again.

Unlikely to be picking up any 'bad' feeding habits at 4.5wks.

roller honestly you are not setting yourself up for any problems. Just enjoy it. My daughter was terrible until about 15 wks and then..bingo within a few days we'd cracked it.

It's too early to worry read this to reassure yourself. babycalmblog.com/2012/07/06/the-fourth-trimester-aka-why-your-newborn-is-only-happy-in-your-arms-30/ sorry not sure how to link on phone

Oooh look I did it

Thanks daughter I think it's having the confidence to ignore the millions if baby books I seem to have read!

That's a good article Scariest. I do most of it be ause it really is easier! She hates swaddling though.

thank you - I totally agree with roller. this is easier, and not too difficult at the moment (I'm getting lots of sleep while she naps during the day!) but all the books have scared me into thinkin I should be doing it differently...

Thanks for the reassurance :-)

What did you do at 15 weeks daughter?

It's bloody tough, everyone has a sodding view and feels they must tell you what you should or shouldn't be doing!

Best advice I was given was 'the book wasn't written for you or your baby, it's a guide'

What we did at 15wks was...leave her to cry for 2mins. Longest 2 mins of my life, DH had to literally almost pin me down. After 2 mins she stopped. Amazed. 2nd time she woke we left it another 2 mins. Again she settled herself. That was it, slept right from that night.
She was sleeping till 5:30am and then started waking up at 2:30, 3am and so on, you get the idea. So whist I hated the idea of leaving her to cry, it would appear she would wake up, making a few crying noises and before she had any time to settle herself, I would jump out of bed and rush to her. So clearly I was the problem.....as I was waking her up properly.

That's good to hear - I think I could cope with setting myself up for a few 2 minutes of pain :-)

Should of added, if after 2 mins dc is still crying. Go in, but don't pick them up, just pat their back and gently sooth them. We didn't offer any milk just a small amount of water.

The next night go to 3 mins and so on. But don't let them cry for any longer than 5 mins.

My DD was much older when I did this. She just needed a bit of reassurance, then was fine.