Description
Rocking or cuddling your baby to sleep in your arms is a lovely way to bond and can help your young baby settle off to sleep easily. But if you now find yourself with a baby who won’t stay asleep, once you try and put them down in their cot, and who is waking frequently then it could be time to stop the cuddling-to-sleep habit.
The idea of getting changing something may be daunting but this tip sheet contains gentle, practical advice that can help you get your baby falling asleep and then sleeping in their cot rather than on you or in your arms.
Please note, we recommend you only buy one tip sheet at a time. The techniques from one tip sheet can often be used to tackle problems described in other tip sheets. Sleep associations can be quite similar even if the specific item (such as a rocking to sleep, using a dummy, or driving to sleep) is different. Feel free to contact us if you’d like advice before buying a second tip sheet.
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Philippa (verified owner) –
I’d been rocking my 11 week old baby girl to sleep during the day and at night since about 2 weeks of age. As she is getting bigger and heavier, I knew that I had to stop doing it not just for her benefit, but also for my arms and back! This tip sheep really simplified the approach and I went”cold turkey”, as Jo recommends, and simply stopped doing it one morning! The first time I simply wrapped her and then put her down in her cot at her scheduled nap time (I also follow the Babybliss schedule for 6-12 weeks). Tp my surprise, she went to sleep after talking to herself and watching the ceiling for about 20 minutes – no crying! And to be honest, since then, for most day naps she’s been a great self-settler. We are still working on nights, and most are going very well! I’ve stopped rocking her in my arms and now only if she needs help going to sleep to I use the Babybliss settling technique, which is so simple and really works! I highly recommend this tip sheet but also the schedule tips that Babybliss provide – they are stuck on my fridge! Thanks Babybliss for helping me to be a more relaxed first time mummy with a very happy (and rested) baby girl.
Jo (verified owner) –
Thanks Philippa. I am so pleased you found the tip sheet helpful.
Harriet (verified owner) –
My partner and I set aside the Easter long weekend (while the neighbours were away) to commence this process with our 4 month old son. We were feeling pretty emotional about it but shared the conviction that something needed to change – we chose the cold turkey approach as it made sense to get it over and done with quickly. Night one we had 16 minutes of crying, night 2 was 12 minutes and night 3 onwards it has taken him less than 5 minutes to settle. And he now self soothes by sucking his thumb – I hear him sucking his thumb in the night when he previously would have woken up! It’s such a relief as I was getting RSI in both wrists from all the picking up and carrying – my wrists are considerably less sore these days and recovering well.
Bel Boyce (verified owner) –
I’d been rocking my litte boy to sleep for almost 4 months in a rocking chair. This would sometimes take 25 min for day naps and an hour befor bedtime at night. We took the xold turkey approach and haven’t looked back. Sometimes there are a few tears, but mostly he just looks around and babbles to himself… for us it’s about getting him down BEFORE he’s too tired and cranky. I can’t express what a difference it makes to his bedtime, for us both, being able to put him down and walk away and actually eat dinner before 9pm.
Our next and biggest challenge is nights and his frequent wakings… baby steps.