Used to Self Settle But Won't Now

[bambino]

DS used to self settle quite well. It took some time for both of us to get him to do it, but eventually we got there. This lasted for a good 2 months.

But now he refuses to SS himself all over again. He would rather be rocked to sleep on my shoulder. Although I like the bonding this creates, I just don't want to spend all day rocking him to sleep.

So I have tried to re-teach him to SS. We just spent the last half hour trying to do this....put him the cot awake, sing a little then walk out (which is what I used to do). Well it didn't work, he got himself all worked up crying and screaming. So I would go in and pat his little bum and sing to him, but with no response. So I picked him up for a few minutes till he stopped crying, then put him back down again. As soon as he noticed I was putting him down he would start crying again, but I persisted and put him down anyway and let him cry for a bit longer before doing the process all over again until finally he got soooo tired from crying that he fell alseep (in the cot).

There's got to be a better way to re-teach him to self settle.....is there ??

[cheekypossum]

Hi Bambino


How is it all going now? I just found this thread....I am having the same problem

Chloe was fantastic at self settling.....she is 8 months old.

Since a week ago she has just refused to be put in her cot awake.....

I have tried controlled crying but after 20 minutes we both ends up in tears.....it breaks my heart to let her cry like that.

I just feel if we keep rocking her, she will get used to it and want it all the time

[alanasmum]

It could just be a phase.

DD is almost 10 months old. When she was a tiny bub she had to be rocked to sleep. At around 4 months old she started self-settling.

Then at about 7 months she changed all of a sudden and started wanting to be rocked to sleep again. It probably lasted around a month or so but she eventually went back to self-settling.

The approach I took over this period of time was to put her down and give her the opportunity to self-settle, if she didn't I would cuddle her to sleep. But eventually she just started self-settling again. I also introduced a cuddly toy/blanket which I give her when she goes to sleep.

Best of luck. I hope it's just a phase that your bubs are going through.

[bambino]

:wave:

Unfortunately not muched has changed as yet, although he does sometimes SS at night if he is really really tired.

But this morning I put him back to bed and he was chatting to himself for a bit and his eyes were getting heavier, but just as he was about to drop off, he woke up and cried a bit, so I picked him up and gave him a cuddle, put him straight back down and patted his bottom and he went to sleep.

So :fingerscrossed: this could be the turn around we're looking for.