Rocking to sleep

[Whiffle77]

Hi all,
I have a 4.5 month old who's sleep is pretty good - rarely needs a night feed any more, might need some resettling occasionally but not always.

He isn't a big fan of sleep in the day. If it was up to him im not sure he would sleep! But he gets very cranky without it. So I generally sing/rock/shush to sleep. He has four naps a day, one longer one and three 30-40 mins or so generally. Time of day varies as I do wake windows/sleep cues. Most naps are contact, with some in the pushchair or car. I do put him down occasionally after he has been asleep 20 mins or so, but it will mean a shorter nap.

I dont mind this at the min but he is getting bigger and heavier, and it would also be great to have some nap time for me!

Any tips for getting him to fall to sleep not in our arms? Prefersbly in his next to me. Is he too young to try?

Anyone?

You could try a cosleep nap, so he is going to sleep close to you but not being rocked.

This could be moved to a sidecar cot nap.

Another option is baby likes movement to sleep is to move daytime naps to a reclined bouncer. This allows you to wean off needing contact to sleep, but keeps the movement. Then over time gradually reduce the tempo and length of time you bounce.

What happens if you try and resettle when he wakes from a nap when he's put down? He's young enough that if you persevere now with cuddles and back down that within a week or so they'll get it

Following as im in the same position as you

I was exactly in the same position as you. My DS would ONLY sleep if rocked and I had to be standing up!

What I did was gradually reduce it. So gradual that he wouldn't notice over time.

So first instead of pacing up and down the room, I stood still and rocked, shushed and patted his bum. Then eventually sat down and rocked, shushed and patted. Then just held him and shushed and patted and no rocking.

I'm currently trying to sleep train but it's not going very well. However most of the time I just need to hold him and pat his back or bum. It's much easier than having to rock him continuously as that guy really tiring! He's 6 months now

Sorry, that *gets really tiring!