am I setting up a bad sleep routine by cuddling and rocking to sleep?

[lizzymcfizzy]

I have a six week old that I rock and cuddle to sleep. This has worked well until she turned 6 weeks and got bad wind. Now she takes forever to go down or wakes not long after I've put her in her cot.

and I don't know if its the wind or that she prefers to sleep in my arms and has gotten to used to it.

Is it bad to cuddle your baby to sleep at this age? Should I be putting her in her basinette while still drowsy and let her put herself to sleep?

[Seekrit]

No way!

Babies aren't designed to sit in a corner and cry. They're designed to be cuddled and to be close! It's the western civ. that decided babies should put themselves to sleep!

Keep cuddling her, keep her close. :)

[Ange&Seth]

If you feel comfortable with what you're doing, then no, you're not doing anything wrong at all :no:

Bottom line in parenting - if you don't feel comfortable doing it, then it's not right for you.

:thumbsup:

[cwsmum]

Do whatever works :)

I cuddled/rocked my DS to sleep til he was about 9mths old, then he decided he didn't want that anymore and just wriggled and played so I started putting him into he bed awake.

DD never really liked to be cuddled to sleep so pretty much from birth she was put in her bed awake most of the time and she put herself to sleep.

I don't think it's a bad habit, certainly no worse than a dummy (which DS had til 13mths) or feeding bub to sleep (something else DS did til he was over 2yrs old)...DD didn't do either of those either.

You could try putting bub to bed awake and see if she settles herself, try to make sure she gts rid of all the wind before you do tho. Just do what makes your bub happy, different bubs need different things.
My DD went thru a stage of only sleeping in her rocker for her day sleeps that lasted for 2mths, then all of a sudden she refused to sleep there and wanted to be in her bed again.

Good luck, hope you work things out soon :)

[Baby Girl]

In my experience... short answer "yes", politically correct answer "no"....... that is only my opinion from my 2 very different children!! I cuddled and rocked DD1 until she was almost 3 and she is still hard to put to bed and she is 4 1/2. I used to let DD2 self settle, she never cried herself to sleep because she had always been swaddled and put to bed and then I left the room, it was just what she knew from day 1 and it worked for her but it never worked for DD1 and eventually I got stressed about it for a while but I had to keep cuddling until she was ready to give it up for my own sanity.

I have always said do what works for you and bub and what feels right for you and bub. None of us are at your house at bed time so we are not affected by whether you cuddle bubs or not.

Good luck and enjoy your bubba while she is still so tiny. And chances are 2 weeks down the track she'll change her routine completely anyway!!!!

[no1pearl]

hiya - i just put a few words in a thread called overtired newborn.
Take a look, there's relevance.
(sorry i don't know how to copy it and bring it here for you)

but basically do what you want. if you don't mind and enjoy it and think you can handle it for the next ? years - just think, you won't be doing it when she's 16 anyway!

do check out the other post.

[lizzymcfizzy]

thanks girls!

[Becteria]

Lizzy i do whatever Hendrix wants he is so small and just needs the love and reassurance (prob much the same as Neve?)

Miss you in the thread... :hugs:

[Little Gorilla]

I have cuddled/rocked and re-cuddled and re-rocked my son for the past 2.5 years.

I don't mind as he slept through the night from about 6 weeks (with a few bumps in the road here and there).

The only thing I am finding is I'm getting a bit of back pain now that he is getting heavier.

[hayleylea]

i rocked - well more so cuddled/patted DS's bottom to get him to sleep for almost 12 months and then he decided he didnt want that anymore and he quite happily goes to bed by himself now. Its really what you feel comfortable doing..Mummy knows best :yes:

[Roxy]

I rocked/cuddled/patted both children to sleep for a long time - and they are fantastic sleepers. They now go to bed and self settle most of the time (they still ocassionally love one of us to lay with them), but they sleep through and love their beds.


Babies aren't designed to sit in a corner and cry. They're designed to be cuddled and to be close! It's the western civ. that decided babies should put themselves to sleep!

Keep cuddling her, keep her close.

So true! :thumbsup:

[SilverStarfish]

Here's a awesome thread you should check out :yes:

For those who rocked their babies to sleep. (http://www.bubhub.com.au/community/forums/showthread.php?t=81122http://)

[lizzymcfizzy]

thankyou girls for your opinions. Neve suddenly decided that rocking wasn't for her (unbeknownst to me) and we spent a week of hell not being able to put her down and her getting overtired.

I then tried a gentle hands on karatine settling method which she took too immediately :D

There is no crying, just placing her in the basinette while still awake and then getting her to learn to sleep by herself by rocking the basinette, singing to her or stroking her face then leaving the room and coming back and repeating when necessary.

its been a godsend.

Thansk for the link faeml, I'll be sure to tell her about my experience