Help with settling

I would try putting him on his side and rubbing/patting his back to help him drift off. After a while he will learn how to sleep by himself. Failing that you could pick him up and rock him until drowsy and then pop him in bed and do the patting/rubbing, oh and shushing they love that.
Other things you could do would be to go for a walk at his nap time as being in the pram normally helps or if you have a sling use that as they love to be close to you and your movement will help him drift off.
Good luck.

What i do with Caden sometimes is lay him across my arm on his tummy, so that his head is resting kind of in the crook of my elbow and I have my other arm between his legs and I rock him back and forth while walking round the room, sometimes i will say shhhhh while Im doing it and it calms him down and he will drift off to sleep most times, its also good when he has wind.

Another thing you can do is, swaddle him up nice and firm and sit down holding him long ways in your lap on his side with his head resting in the palm of ur hands and rock him side to side quite quickly while saying shhhh over and over again and i swear this really works, DF tried it for the first time when caden was about 2 weeks old and he settle almost instantly and fell asleep(this trick is from the "happiest baby on the block" and u can actually find the video of a dad doing it on You tube, thats where DF found it).

I know its sooo hard when they wont settle and they are over tired and you are tired and its very frustrating, just remember babies like to feel secure, thats why swaddling is good, so if you swaddle him and hold him close to you while rocking and shhhing him he should eventually get sleepy and nod off

Edited by CadensMum

swaddling is great - worked a treat for Sophie. I got a great wrap from The Sleep Store. Their website is great and has lots of advice and articles for children of all ages about sleep. Also if you buy from them it usually arrives really fast - great service and a follow up email to see if the product is helping/working.

Thanks for all the wonderful advice. I thnk he must have just been having some unsettled days because he's been alot better lately. Much of your advice I am already doing but will definantely check out the sleep website and also I will feel better about rocking him etc. I was worrying about starting bad habits but have had several people say don't worry about that now.

at what stage should you start to worry about habits forming? Daniel used to be really good, but is now needing rocking or physical contact to go to sleep, esp for his naps during the day. I don't mind it too much (actually, it's quite nice!), but when should I be trying to change it?

Caden never falls asleep on me, unless we have been in the car and I am carrying him through the supermarket or something then he will be asleep in my arms, but he hardly ever falls asleep on me.

Flissty, I started quite early at getting caden to self settle, when he was real lil, like 2-3 weeks old, to start with i would rock the bassinet or rock him in my arms, but after he was 3 weeks old I would pop him into his bassinet awake and swaddled, and then leave the room, he would cry for a bit and I would just keep an ear out, and if he cried for longer than 5 mins id go back in and stroke his head and whisper to him and shhh him and then leave again and eventua;;y he learnt to self settle, and now he knows that when he gets swaddled tight, put in his cot and the mobile turned on, that its bed time, and 8 times out of 10 he will fall asleep without a fuss
I think its good to get them used to not having you "help" them go to sleep when they are young so that when they are older they will go off to sleep easily, rather than being used to mum rocking them etc to sleep.



Edited by CadensMum

Sheena, I agree with what you've said. 9/10, Daniel will go to sleep at night with no help - we have a routine, with his last feed being him swaddled and the lights down. We let him cry for 10 min (less if v distressed crying), then pick him up and calm him down. He's great with his nightime feeds - goes straight back to sleep after a 'pitstop'. I'm struggling with his daytime sleeps - he is now only having 2-3 45 min sleeps, and thee are often on me/others or with rocking to persuede him. We haven't been good with swaddling him for day time sleeps, so will restart that.

WE need to move him from his hammock (which is hired) into his cot in the next week - eek.

I remember my MW saying babies usually sleep 16+ hours a day - do you want most of that at night or during the day! Since Daniel goes for 12 hours+ at night (with refuelling breaks!), I figure I can't complain too much about his catnaping during the day. But sometimes, I'd just really like more than 45 minutes to myself. Selfish mother

Have you tried resettling him when he wakes as two months is pretty young to only be having 45 minute sleeps??? Thats almost like one sleep cycle then waking instead of falling back asleep?

Maya only ever did 45 mins at a stretch during the day, I didn't push it coz she slept 12 hours at night from about 7 weeks so I could live with the crappy day sleeps!

We did resettling after one sleep cycle with the gremlins as they needed more sleep, they'd be grumpy and irritable if they got up after one sleep cycle, but they were about 4-5 mths by that stage. I got some good tips from the Sleep Store, I think they're under tips for babies 4 mths +.