What lengths do we go to to get our lo's off to sleep?

[monkeytrousers]

At the moment ds gets breastfed, put in a vibrating chair, rocked, sang to, shushed, patted, picked up/put down, calpoled, bonjella'd, tiptoed around and played rainforest music

DD gets changed and put into bed then a blanket put on top of her .. sometimes she even gets bathed first

(DS gets a bath, computer time with DH, bed, a story with me)

ds1 used to get a bottle put in cot and stroked on the cheek with the tail of a toy red panda and sung Frere Jaques a dozen or so times for his afternoon nap when he was about 2.2.

Nuts innit

ds gets bath, bottle, bed. We used to rock and hold the dummy in his mouth, breast feed him to sleep etc until about 8 weeks when we suddenly got it that if we just left him he would sleep

It's no wonder he can't sleep, monkeytrousers ... vibrating chairs, picking up and putting down, being sung to ... he probably wonders what he's got to do to get a bit of peace

Bath at 6pm

Quiet play til 7.30pm

Nursery Rhymes til 7.45pm

Cot at 8pm with bottle of milk

Sleeping soundly (9/10 times) by 8.15pm

DD gets given a bottle and dummy and put into bed.

If she's really stroppy and refuses to give in and sleep, then she gets to come back down for 15 minutes playing and watching ER (watching old er lots at the moment ), and then back to bed.

lol. I wish WWB but he jus wont get off on his own. Been trying for 9 months and now we just end up doing everything.

Kep meaning to get tough and only do pick up/put down but am too exhausted at 3am as this takes, on average, about 45 mins longer.

After a couple of false starts he generally settles down though for a few hours, at least..

By 9 months DD worked out the pu/pd meant cry=cuddle We ended up with CC then, and she got bored pretty quick.

If she doesn't settle after a few minutes of yelling now, we know she needs a little longer up cos she's just not tired.

i agree flamesparrow - if jess is still screaming after 5 minutes, we know she's not tired and needs to stay up longer.

usually once in cot, takes from me shutting her door to reaching the bottom step and she is out like a light

How I you all!!

We used to take ds for a walk in his buggy at 7pm rain or shine (or snow on some occasions). He was always asleep by the time we got back and it was a crucial time for me to get some exercise and dh and I to discuss the day.

We had to stop when ds would not fit into his buggy anymore with the back reclined. I really miss it. Now we do pj's two stories and then lights out at 7:30.

we have magic dust - dh keeps it in his backpocket and when dd shuts her eyes dh 'sprinkles' it on her head.

He's just gone down for a nap now. I tried just putting him in the cot but he's up biting the railing within seconds, trying to bounce on his fat legs.

Put him in vibrating chair and he started to do his shaky head sleepy thing straight away. I resisted urge to rock, sing, pat or shush and put him in cot when he was just dropping off.

We'll see how long this lasts!!

Is it only me and Suzy who go to extreme lengths then? I can't believe that...maybe they're all asleep.

i use twigletts routine!

put baby in cot. place blanket over baby. leave!

ds (7.5yo): shower, hot chocolate with a story, wee, teeth, cuddle, sleep @ 7.45pm

dd: bath, bottle, bed and sleep at 7.30pm at night and allowed to lie down on the sofa with a dummy during the day (where she is asleep now!) for one hour, no more.

dd 20mths, Upstairs, bath, milk, teeth, story, bed.
ss 7years, Upstairs, bath or wash, teeth, story, bed.

Awww, will your DH share some fairy dust? DD would love that.

dd1 (4) gets a story and then twiddles my hair for ten minutes and goes to sleep.

dd2 usually goes along with me when i'm getting dd1 off, then she'll have last bottle and go asleep in my arms.

I've never mastered the art of putting them down to sleep although i really should!

Smug mamas

Wish I was one of your number

I used to do all of the things that you describe, MT - and then I realised that actually it was the things I was doing that were stopping dd from sleeping. She kicked off, so I paid attention, she wanted more attention so she kicked off even more. And the more attention I paid, the more she wanted, and the more she kicked off. Eventually I realised that I couldn't actually give her what she wanted - which was for me to stay with her, cuddling her and singing to her, all night. So I stopped. Within three nights she was settling herself to sleep, and sleeping all night.

Does that mean CC though WWB? I don't think I've got the nerves for it!!

DS has a bath, a story, a breastfeed, then sits up, points at his cot, says "bed" and goes to sleep holding his teddy (having said "Ahhhh!" when he saw he was waiting for him in his cot). Yes, he is indeed too sweet for words [smug mummy emoticon]

And having read the whole thread, I now feel like an evil mummy who was bragging and trying to make MT feel awful

Have had awful trouble getting him to sleep in the past, MT - if that helps at all!