can you talk to me about pick up put down?

[BusyCee]

DC3 is coming up for onths and I'm belatedly getting her into a bedtime routine. She goes down ok but wakes shortly afterwards and howls. She roots for boob, I give in and feed her because I'm knackered and its a tactical answer. But it's not a long term solution I know.

Tonight I want to start pick up put down. I seem to remember this;

• first cries, sooth with voice and hand on chest
• if she carries on pick her and soothe in arms until she calms, then out her down
• repeat until she sleeps
• use the same phrases, eg, don't worry darling, it's just time for sleep, so she learns the words

Anything else I should recall...?

Great, well done! It's working! even though she isn't developmentally ready and you will fail, apparently

I am not an expert, only 1 child and little experience with other kids but I think
DS was very similar to your youngest in some respects.
What made the biggest difference for us was extremely strict nap routine. He had to have a little sleep after every two hours of being awake (at the latest). So if he woke at 7am, at 8:30 I would give him a quick feed and tried make sure he was asleep by 9. Sometimes his last nap would fall dangerously close to his bedtime but it never affected his nighttime sleep.
If he didn't get his nap, he would turn into crying, screaming, inconsolable mess and I was unable to EVER put him down if he was overtired.
Pick up put down helped us when we were going through a rocky patch of night wakenings but at much later stage.
Anyway, you have much more experience than me, so I'm sure you know what you're doing.
Good luck and hope it all soon works out with your DD's sleep

Sure you're all bored to tears of this now, but a quick update for you....

The Gods of Parenting are laughing at me. Ds2 is unwell and ds1 also looking like he's going to go under, so bedtime was all over the shop and as a result she didn't get consistent bedtime today. Suspect it's scuppered us, so will try again tomorrow, but if she complains I'm going to pause until everyone's better and I'm settled into work and resume in a week or so when equilibrium is restored.

I think pausing until everything is calmer is a great idea Busy. I hope your little ones are feeling better soon.

BiscuitMillionaire - absolutely no need for the passive aggressive strike comment.

I only have the one child, and he's not much older than yours, so I don't have much experience to offer. But I've also struggled with getting him from sleeping on me into his bed without waking up - one thing that's helped us is to put him in a sleeping bag before he feeds to sleep. It seems to make the transition smoother for him. You've probably tried this already, but if not, it's a quick thing that might be worth a shot when things calm down?

Thanks muminbrussels. It's a good idea...I'll Ferret than down from the loft!