Self soothing and bedtime routines

[studymama]

Please help! My DS is 3.5 months and will not fall asleep without being rocked/held and even then it's a battle. We have a bedtime routine in place which we do every night but it can take up to 3 hours to get him to sleep and atm he is waking up between 1 and 5.30 to party.

I've seen my health visitor who advised to try teaching him to self soothe but when I put him down drowsy he bolts awake and screams and will not be pacified until he is rocked.

He has a dummy but has just started to self administer it and he is combination fed.

If anyone has any ideas or tips on how to teach him to self soothe I would be really grateful.

Tia x

We would pat our DS chest to the rhythm of a heartbeat while ssshhhing until he fell asleep (also white noise on phone outside the door), then gradually just until he settled and would then leave the room. We did this for months, but has paid off as he is great at going to bed, he is 2.5 now but has been great from quite young, he even asks to go to bed, when tired. Perseverance is key.

@studymama what a helpful suggestion from your HV! Why don't you just teach them to self soothe?!

I feel for you, at 4.5 months we by no means have it nailed but we do the white noise, sleeping bag and the same sleepy song every single nap time to try to create sleep associations without us. I think the trick is supposed to be to do these at the same time as the existing method and then try to ease off the parent sleep associations. Is your LO overtired by any chance? What's your daily 'routine' like?

He is still very young to self soothe. Is there a reason why don’t want to cuddle him to sleep?

Chocolatey thank you so much for this advice! Tonight he went down without trouble but then woke a few times as we weren't there. I patted his back and chest in the rhythm o a heartbeat and it's the quickest and easiest he's ever settled! Thank you!!!

Just another idea. My DS started self settling around 6 months. He needed s little help from me shushing him, rubbing a soft comforter over his face gently. He hen eventually started doing it all himself, I could just put him down and leave the room!

Now he’s 8 months and I think a regression has hit us! Back to feeding to sleep.

Glad it helped Studymama, hope it wasn't just a fluke!