3 month old only settling in sling

[Inlander]

Hello

I’m looking for some advice on getting my 15 week old DD to sleep without resorting to a sling. At the moment, for every nap and sleep at night I get her to sleep by bouncing on the ball with her in a sling and white noise on. During the day I can’t transfer to the sleepyhead otherwise she’ll wake after about 10 mins but at night I can transfer her and she’ll sleep anywhere from 3hrs-8hrs (longest stretch). She’ll just cry in the pram and car seat during car trips. I have a rocker but she hates that too.

How can I gradually get her to fall asleep without use of the sling?

I have tried desperately to feed her to sleep in bed or while I’m sitting on the sofa so I can watch tv or sit for a bit but feeding to sleep only seems to work if she wakes for a feed in the middle of the night. My back is killing me!

My DS is 2.5 and feeding to sleep worked like a bloody charm and would knock him out pretty quickly but alas they are two completely different children!

I have also tried a dummy but she just gags and spits it out (I’ve tried two different kinds!)

3-8 hour stretches?! You are very lucky. The sling is a small price to pay for that glorious amount of sleep! Mines nearly 6 months and wakes hourly 😭

Have you just tried holding her upright against you and bouncing on the ball? So the exact same position but just no sling?

Also around this age both of mine started to get much more fussy about going to sleep and would fight it. It was important that we were on a dark room with no distractions. Before 3/4 months I could just watch telly and get her to sleep but then she started being too interested in everything.

Don’t bother 4 month sleep regression is coming 😬

@Newnews to be fair the 8hrs has only happened twice and I have no idea why but yes definitely lucky to have experienced this! I don’t mind the bouncing at night, the day time nap bouncing just takes up so much time I feel like she just lives in the sling.

I have tried holding her while bouncing but it just doesn’t seem to work as well as the sling.

@FTEngineerM nooooooooooooooooooooo noooo I thought these mega short naps was the start of the regression. My DS never had the 4 month regression. He just wakes at 5am no matter what

3hrs is glorious. My DS still wakes hourly at 2. My advice would be to roll with the sling, get a better supportive one if necessary (I loved my Tula). I used to walk around for 20 mins until DD fell asleep and then sit on the sofa with the sling, I'd have to lean back a bit weirdly but she stayed asleep and then I could put the TV on and watch box sets. I used to hate it but now I look back at that time and realise it was my last 'me time' until they're both 18!