It's not working anymore

[sharvs]

I've been teaching DS to self settle for about 3 weeks now. The first week & a half went really well. I would see the tired signs, pop him in bed & usually within 5 minutes he was asleep. Lately though, it just isnt working. He gets himself so worked up that there is no way he will go to sleep.

After about an hour, i end up giving up & picking him up. He doesnt go to sleep in my arms, just settles down then I can put him down again. I only have to hold him for about 2 minutes and he is fine. I really dont want to get in the habit of picking him up because he is learning that if he screams long enough i will give in.

I want to persist with self soothing but it is really wearing me down. DF isnt home so I have no-one to back me up or take the pressure off. Should I keep at it? Just when I thought he had the hang of it.

[SnoozesWithCats]

Does he have a 'best' sleeping time? Dd1 was really sleep resistant for naps, so what we ended up doing was working on the first nap as "self-soothing time", and then for the other ones we'd just do whatever worked (generally babywearing or a pram walk) for subsequent sleeps.

I did a similar sort of thing with dd2 recently when she'd been sick and I'd gotten into the habit of feeding her to sleep at night and then she started waking 6 times a night :eek: ... just making sure that she self-settled the FIRST time really set her up for the night and she improved dramatically.

And the good thing is, eventually the 'first' nap/nightsettling becomes the ONLY one! :fingerscrossed:

I found just having that one time for "working on sleep" was much less stressful for me, and I was satisfied that at least she in theory knew how to do it, even if she actually wasn't doing it all the time

good luck!

[Mrs Little]

I agree with snoozeswith cats.

I found it too difficult trying to work on ALL of his day sleeps....especially because DH wasn't home. So i too worked on one sleep at a time. You might find this less stressful.

Do you think maybe your DS may need a longer wake time? or maybe a shorter one? They do say that bubs will find it MUCH harder to settle if overtired...OR..even if over stimulated.

I'd persist though. Any small change and they cotton on.....

Have u tried playing music? Do u read him a book before he goes to sleep?

Mrs Little & Son.

[Nan]

One sleep at a time is a great idea, sharvs. Also, maybe try not picking him up, but just speaking softly and stroking his head. This is what we would do after about 15mins. of crying with our DD and we found that just calming her down from being worked up got her off to sleep. Sometimes she would still cry for a little bit after we left the room, but because she knew we were still there and hadn't abandoned her, she was much happier and went of in a few minutes.
Love,
Nan. xx