Those of you who rocked your baby to sleep...

[mrsjuan]

How long did you have to do it for? I mean in terms of how many months / years before they didn't need it anymore rather than how long you were rocking before they went to sleep (though that would be interesting too!)

DD (4.5 months) won't feed to sleep except for sometimes in the middle of the night, nor will she settle herself except in the car or sometimes in the pram.

I rock her to sleep at bedtime and whenever she's tired in the day and I love doing it - it feels very natural and I like the closeness.

...but - I suppose what I'm after is some reassurance that I won't still be doing it when she goes to university!

Well, DD is 3 and half and I don't think i have rocked her to sleep for a good 2 and a bit years.

You will probably have lots of people come on and tell you you need to teach her to self settle but IMO, there is time for that.

If it is working for you, carry on doing it. When it stops working for you, then you will find a solution (as I did).

With DS1 he began to settle himself to sleep at around 12 mths . With DD2 it took a bit longer - I go to bed with her now and stay until she has fallen asleep.
Many (MIL etc) have told me I caused this becasue I insisted we never left them to cry. Maybe this is the case but the up side is once asleep we don't hear from them until morning. I rarely have an argument about getting them to bed. neither have had bad nightmares or night waking episodes and so far we have had ony one bedweeting incident. I don't know if the two are related but if I was doing it again I wouldn't change the rocking, patting to sleep etc. I also loved doing it - if felt right for me.
One other thing to think about is when you feel like you want a night out for the forseeable future, you might have some problems unless you put DC to sleep before yo go or you have a very sympathetic babysitter who will do the rocking etc!

Thanks. I hadn't thought of the babysitter issue but it would probably be my mum or MIL who would both relish the opportunity . Bedtime is much easier than the naps at the moment anyway as we have a rocking chair which we sit in while I sing her a song or two and she's gone in less than 10 minutes.

I know now I've said that it will take hours to get her to sleep tonight

I rocked/cuddled DS to sleep (when he hadn't fed to sleep) until he became too mobile and wriggly to want it anymore, around 11mo. His sleep habits have had quite a natural evolution, e.g. going from wanting to be held until he was asleep to wanting to be put down so he could stretch out and wriggle. These days I'll put him in his cot and rub his back a bit while he flumps around and gets comfy, then off he goes.

It is lovely, rocking and cuddling them. Even now I sometimes have trouble putting him down

I've rocked or bfed all my 3 to sleep. At about 12 months, DD2 started making it clear when she was ready to go down in her cot so we went with her wishes. DD1 was much more difficult, and really only started going to sleep by herself when she was in a proper bed (~2 yo) though it started with DH lyong on the bed with her till she went to sleep, then gradually leaving her by herself. In all honesty, she'd still like someone to stay with her till she fell asleep now (she's 5.5).

DD3 is 15 months, sometimes goes down in her cot (because she's not sleepy and wants to play) but more often gets rocked to sleep in the rocking chair.

Like Carmel, once ours are asleep, they usually stay asleep! And, having done more or less the same thing with all 3, they've dealt with it in their own way.

Am of still having a little snuggly baby to rock to sleep.....

We rocked DD to sleep until she was about 12 months, when she suddenly (literally, one night) decided she didn't want to be rocked any more. Now we just put her down and she chats to her bunny in the cot before falling asleep. I never minded doing it and we were set to carry on for a while - I didn't really expect her to just start self-settling out of the blue but glad she did.

That all sounds quite positive. I hate to think of leaving her to cry so it's good to know that most learn to settle themselves eventually.

I am hoping that the rocking will gradually evolve into more of a cuddle before she gets too heavy but I'm lucky in that she's tiny for her age and so shouldn't be too bad for a while.

Funny to read this just after I have put DS down and in 2 minutes he was asleep - he didn't want me to rock him for he first time ever - he pushed me away. So at 7.5 months he has decided it is too uncomfortable to be rocked to sleep. We have both loved it until now but I have been worried about when to stop - he decided by pushing me away! No need to worry... but I must say it is a liberation for me and my back!

I am going to get a rocking chair so we can rock and read until he is too tired and then I will put him in bed and he will finish off with a little crying and fall asleep.