Any advice for getting dd to go to sleep herself...

[oneweemite]

Hi, new to mumsnet but an addict already! my dd aged 11 weeks and has gotten into the habit of being rocked to sleep. currently I have to rock her to sleep, and I mean completely fast asleep and then gingerly put her down in the cot. this can take up to an hour and my arms/back are suffering ++ because of this as I have to do this for all naps and bedtime and nighttime wakenings... She will go to sleep in her car seat or in her buggy but she wakens within 5 minutes of the movement stopping.
I tried the sshh/pat technique but this just hurt my back more cos I had to lean over the cot to do it. she has a dummy but doesn't sleep with it, just gets ready for sleep with it if you know what I mean
any advice would be great thanks

ive been rocking my ds now 2years to sleep in his pram since birth! once hes out for the count i move him up to bed. anything for a peaceful life. my excuse is that hes been poorly since he was born and he asks for his pram and bedtime, naptime and says "nun nite".

no excuses for my first son who i rocked inthe pram till he was 2half/3!

Will she take the dummy? Or will she take it but you are anti it ??

I had trouble settling my ds for the first 9 - 10 weeks. We used a dummy and he'd eventually spit it out when he was fast asleep (this could be an hour or so) - I never took it out as they recommend so that they are still drowsy - he would just scream and scream until he got it back; so it would be fixed firm in there until he was properly off. We would also have to do "dummy duty" going in and out putting the dummy in every time it fell out. It drove me bananas but it did get him used to his cot. So, a few weeks ago (he's now 14 weeks) I took it away at night. He cried for the first night for 15 - 20mins, second night it got less and so on. Now, I put him down wide awake, bit of moaning and off he goes - I even get a smile from him as the light goes off (!!!). I never thought I'd get to this stage. I wind down with him for a good half hour in his room before going down and use a lullaby light.

I still then gave it for daytime naps. Now, as he seems to have learnt to sleep without it, this appears to have worked its way down to daytime naps.

Your baby is still very little though and my own experience is that you have to do what you can for the first few weeks to get by. You can then see what your baby is like past that initial 12 week period - mine has changed such a lot even in four weeks - this week I have seen alsorts of changes and he is getting easier - then see what you think they can handle ie does she cry less, do you think you could leave her to cry a bit. I did one thing at a time and persevered with that - the rest then seemed to fall into place easier.
I'm not saying that this would happen to you but p'raps try the dummy for a bit longer. You really can get them off it if you are worried about it - you may have a bit of crying for a few days but my ds has also found his thumb in the last couple of days too and this has also helped enormously for settling with sleeping and naps.
Good luck and keep us posted !

thanks for the posts everyone!
7up thanku for that, keep getting comments from others that i'm terrible for rocking her to sleep so i'm glad others are in the same boat!

newmum36 I was anti-dummy pre baby but now i'll do anything for a quiet life!! hence the rocking to sleep she takes her dummy sometimes but other times just spits it out. if i put her down awake with the dummy she spits it out even before i've left the room !! ah, the dreaded sound of dummy hitting the cot if i go in and try to put it in she just cries and cries til i pick her up!! i've left her to cry once for 10 mins, going in a couple of times but ended up picking her up and she then fell asleep in my arms

hows it going? still rocking

Hi there, down for a nap so having a sneaky hour on mumsnet instead of doing the cleaning
yes 7up still rocking and think I probably will be for a while yet! last night was awful tho, in bed at 10ish, up 4 times before midnight, then up fairly constantly from 4 til 7 when I woke dh up and practically threw dd at him! don't mind the rocking when you only have to do it once a night but 10 times is a bit excessive