Self settles to sleep then wakes crying

[makeitpretty]

My 24 week old ds previously would only nap when carried in a sling or when out in the pram/car. Two weeks a go I began putting him in his cot for naps. I put him down awake and he will usually have a small moan and then fall asleep quite quickly but then within 10 minutes he'll wake up crying and will not settle unless he's in my arms. I've tried leaving him to see if he'd settle on his own, shush and patting but he will cry and cry until held.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can get him to sleep for longer? I usually end up holding him just so he can get some rest. I have tried swaddling his arms, white noise, comforter, nothing seems to be helping!

Oh, I can't offer advice but will be watching with interest as it's the same story here! My ds also goes down well at bedtime but is waking pretty much every hour in the night and not resettling in the same easy way. I don't understand why!

My DS is nearly 12 months, has been self settling at bedtime for ages but is still apparently unable to during the night...... Hopefully your babies will get it sooner than mine!

Ha, was just coming to start a similar thread. My 8mo won't self-settle when put down for night (need to shush-pat to sleep) and during night will need shush-patting back to sleep a few times. I thought cracking self-settling at bedtime would be the key to stopping nighttime waking, but perhaps not!

Nice to know that I'm not alone! My ds was also very unsettled when put into his cot at night. He would be crying every half an hour or so until I brought him into bed with me (I co sleep from 10pm). I bit the bullet this past weekend and let him cry it out and for the past two nights he's barely made a noise from 7-10pm which is a miracle for us. The first night we actually got to have dinner and relax in for peace in 6 months!

I'm thinking of leaving him to sleep in his cot all night now but he still (breast) feeds twice in the night and I can't imagine getting out of bed to get him when I can feed and doze in my warm bed! Lazy I know!

10 months here and exactly the same story.... Put down awake, goes to sleep, wakes 45 mins , or 1.5 hours or if we're really lucky 3 hrs later and unable to settle. He has a bug at the moment so it's been every 45 mins all night for the last 2 nights. I am exhausted. Hopefully someone has some good tips soon.

Hi OP,
Sleep has been a source of much anguish in the Riri household and we have tried all sorts to encourage 'self settling' both for naps and at night times.
Controlled crying seemed to work for a short period until we went back to square one again, we also avoided feeding to sleep where possible, sushing/patting, not picking LO up to bounce/jig about and also taking the dummy away-all to avoid the dreaded 'sleep associations'!
IME (and I know this is frowned upon by lots of MNers and there seems to be a stigma attached) the dummy is the only thing that helps settle my LO when she is distressed and is not in need of a feed.
There is research (can't remember the one I looked at but you could look online) that suggests children are not able to 'self settle' for a long time and therefore need 'help' to do this, so IMO you've done the right thing by trying comforters and the sling etc!
Anyway-my suggestion would be to try and dummy if you're not part of the camp that is completely against them as it can help a distressed baby to settle quite quickly.

Thanks riri. I have tried him with a dummy a few times when he was younger but he would only take it when he was hysterically crying and then he would suck at it furiously! I'm not opposed to trying one again but I've heard that some parents have trouble in the night from when their baby's dummy fall out...