PLEASE give me advice on getting my 15 week old to sleep!

[eenysugarplumfairy]

Hi!! Here is my millionth thread asking for advice on this parenting lark.

My 15 week old DS still needs to be rocked in his pram almost continually to get him to sleep. This means I never get anything else done!

Anyone know how I can break him of this habit?

by stopping! Sorry don't mean to be flippant but that is how to do it. My DS also loved being rocked to sleep ... anyway set aside 3 days at home (bit dull i know) and then when it is time for DS's nap time, put him in his cot (or wherever he has his sleep) and draw the blinds and say it is naptime, tuck him in and leave ... he will no doubt cry so you need to go back and soothe ... every 2 mins or however long you feel comforatble with leaving him.

I did this with my DS when i stopped swaddling him for his naps - we had a lot of crying at naptimes but by day 3 we had cracked it. The good thing was that as he got better at soothing himself in the day he was also easier to settle at night too.

You can do it - just make the decision to do it and stick to it! when you have sorted it you can take him out etc in the pram again ...

by stopping! Sorry don't mean to be flippant but that is how to do it. My DS also loved being rocked to sleep ... anyway set aside 3 days at home (bit dull i know) and then when it is time for DS's nap time, put him in his cot (or wherever he has his sleep) and draw the blinds and say it is naptime, tuck him in and leave ... he will no doubt cry so you need to go back and soothe ... every 2 mins or however long you feel comforatble with leaving him.

I did this with my DS when i stopped swaddling him for his naps - we had a lot of crying at naptimes but by day 3 we had cracked it. The good thing was that as he got better at soothing himself in the day he was also easier to settle at night too.

You can do it - just make the decision to do it and stick to it! when you have sorted it you can take him out etc in the pram again ...

15 weeks old is very young to expect him to settle himself. I certainly wouldnt leave him crying in his cot at this age. Does he go to sleep whilst feeding/being cuddled?

I'm in two minds about this Eeny.
Part of me says to stop rocking as he doesn't get rocked in his cot, but then a prma and a cot are different things to the wee lad...

Not sure...

perhaps all naps should be confied to the cot, with monitor on and parents free to do their parent thing?

give it a try maybe

thanks for your thoughts. I wouldnt leave him to cry I'm afraid. I just cant do it. I will try though to get him to sleep in his cot more often...

Oh my god sugar plum - this is my exact problem!
Glad someone else in this boat - sorry! Last night I rocked him to sleep in my arms, placed him in cot and he slept for only 30 mins and then I spent 2 hours trying to shush pat to get him off in cot again. At 9.15pm gave in, put him in pram and within 6 rocks he was soundo. Feel soooo bad as my fault for causing habit. Weissbluth who writes Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child says 12 -16 weeks is ideal age for breaking sleep habits. Claims takes 3 days. But its soooo hard. I never leave him though, stay with him whole time with hand on him to re-assure him. Got this advice from huggiesnz.co.nz Its Time to Sleep programme. Found this by typing "Settlig baby in cot" into Google. My 12 week old sleeps in his pram all night and must admit, he doesn't sleep too bad but he's getting too big for it and the rocking time is increasing. But I do agree with Taylorama, we have to break this habit somehow and best thing to do is set aside 3 days when you can commit to whatever sleep programme you feel comfortable with.