My Daughter Needs to Be Rocked to Seep

Hi G., I feel for you .have you tryed to maybe get some soft music to put in her room and maybe try and see if she will go to sleep on her own? sorry to say you might have to let her cry for a little bit then maybe go in and rub her back or her tummy for a bit then walk out let her fuss for a little bit,then start over again but not as long the next time maybe start doing this first with her naps ,start the music so she starts hearing noise in the back ground so then she wont wake every time there is noise. it will pass but i would start now before she starts getting older.good luck and just dont rock at all start the method of putting her in her crib.

It's not going to be easy but you need to teach her how to comfort herself to sleep. I would start practicing with nap time and then work on night time once she starts to get the hang of it. Find something that helps to comfort her that she can have in or around her crib when she falls asleep. My son was a "swing sleeper" too for the first three months, it was the only way we could get any rest. Finally we realized that he was comforted by satin feeling objects, and found a small "satiny" mini-blanket in a hand me down box. He fell in love and has slept with it every night since he was about 5 months old, he's almost three now. Anyway, get her so she is almost asleep by rocking or whatever you need to do but then put her down in her crib for her nap and make sure she is awake (her eyes are open) when you lay her down and leave. That way the last thing she sees is her crib. Unfortunatly there's going to be some tears involved. Offer less and less physical comfort on each attempt and make the intervals between trips longer. Good luck, you'll get there.

Unfortunately, I think you will have to let her cry a little. She is unable to pacifier herself because she hasn't been in a situation that allows her to do so. You have to allow her to teach herself. I don't mean to let her cry for hours on end. But, maybe put her in her crib. Sing to her. Pick her up and then put her back in her crib.

I guess there are no good answers. We always want to console our babies and hate to ever see them suffer. But we also know that we are their teachers and if they don't learn now, it will get so much harder as time goes on.

I'm sorry I couldn't help more. Good luck!

There's always the Ferber method...but 6 months old is kind of early to be worrying about the rocking to sleep thing. Mine is a year old and needs to be nursed to sleep and depending what is going on in his life can wake up anywhere from 2 to 25 times in the night. He sleeps with his Dad and I and we are just starting to think about transitioning him to his own bed now that he is starting to develop communication skills. I know rest is important (the reason we co-sleep), so you can either try to teach to self-soothe now, which can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of weeks (and usually requires letting her cry it out a bit), and be non rested for a brief time....or you can rock to sleep each time, or you can co-sleep so you don't have to get up and down to get to her crib. You'll find something that works for you, I'm sure.

It's all temporary and will go away in time. :-D

I think you really need to think about how you want things to be first and foremost because if you are happy, your child will be too. My pediatrician (Dr. Rene Bravo) told me with my first baby that babies need to learn how to comfort themselves and go to sleep on their own... just like anything else. If you consistantly do it for them (rocking them) then they don't have to learn how. The older they get the harder it is. With my first son, I followed the doc's advice... made sure he was dry, fed and tired... kissed him goodnight, laid him down, left the room and shut the door. With my watch, I stood at the door and didn't let him cry longer than 5 minutes... went in and patted and rubbed his back... spoke in a soothing voice... etc. and then left and closed the door again (it's important not to pick them up) kept repeating this until he went to sleep. Let me tell you it was excruciating!!! I stood by the door with my watch and it was the longest 5 minutes ever!!! but by the 3rd time he suddenly stopped crying. I was like... "oh my gosh! is he okay?" I had to crawl in the room and peek over the crib to see if he was still breathing... of course he was... lol. My first son slept through the night from then on (3 mos). My second son has a completely different personality... much more strong willed and I ended up (as you) rocking him to sleep a lot and used the baby swing too. I loved doing it for a while but, that gets tiring and I ended up using the same process on him at a year old. It was much harder (took longer) and I felt even more guilty but in the long run he learned and now also sleeps through the night. My opinion is the sooner you do this the easier it is on them. My doc assured me that as long as they are not sick, wet, hungry... etc it doesn't hurt them to cry for a little while. They need to "learn" how to comfort themselves and fall asleep on their own. I think it's just that this lesson is harder on us than it is on them cause it breaks our hearts to hear them cry... but I believe it's really for their own good in the long run! Babies love to be tightly swaddled too, you should try it! Funny, my mom's name is Georgiann C!

G., You've gotten some good advice with which I agree. At the same time, I'm a grandma and I always loved rocking my granddaughter to sleep. I was frequently at my daughter's house. I still believe that it's OK to rock our babies to sleep if we are comfortable with that. I also know that at some point they do need to learn how to soothe themselves and that is where allowing them to cry for a bit is important.

I have another idea that worked for my daughter and granddaughter. She put my granddaughter's car seat in the crib and then fastened her into it before tucking a blanket around her. The seat would rock some if my grandaughter kicked, especially when at naptime she sometimes put it on the floor.

I think this worked because it helped with my granddaughter's reflux problem and because she felt wrapped up and snug. From the time she was born she needed to be tightly swaddled.

Another insight is that when I was there I was anxious about the crying and I wanted to rock her. My daughter said that when I was consistently not there she went to sleep much more easily. Babies do react to anxiety and tension. M.

I know what you are going throu... i have a 7 month old baby girl with the same problem....for the longest time she would only sleep in her swing... now i can get her to go to sleep in the crib.. but she likes to sleep on her side... so of course she wakes up like about 3 hours later because i think her arm fell asleep... I have to do the same thing rock her to sleep and make sure is so passed out before i can even think about laying her down in the crib..... i know that i haven't given any advice... but i just thought that i would let you know that you are not the only one out there that has a baby that likes to be rocked...hope you get some sleep soon.... best of luck...

try "on becoming Baby Wise" its a book, i have both my kids on it, it works great

My son is 20 months, and I rocked him up until he was 16 months. Since then we have been laying together (in his twin bed), and I stay there until he falls asleep. It takes him about 20-45 minutes to fall asleep. We read books, sing songs, and finally he falls asleep with his arms around my neck! It's very sweet! So, even though he is almost 2, I don't mind being with him while he falls asleep. He will be grown up so fast, and then he won't want me there anymore, so I'd better take advantage of it now! Of course, he still wakes about once or twice each night, but all I do is sit next to him for a few minutes and then he's fine. I've accepted that I will probably never get a full night's sleep again! So, I guess my advice would be to keep doing what you're doing. If you don't want her to "cry it out" (which I never wanted my son to do either), then you will just have to be there with her. Cuddle with her and cherish the time you have while she's still little. They grow up so fast!

I just saw a rocking crib on Ebay. Maybe investing in a crib that rocks may help.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Million-Dollar-Baby-Mini-Rocking-Crib...

Just a thought.

You have gotten a lot of good advice.

I also rock my daugter to sleep as I sing Silent Night. She's 19 months old now and has sung along with me for a long time how. Her voice goes up and down perfectly with all of the notes. I wouldn't change our cuddle time for anything in the world.

I handled my son in the same way, but he was a little more difficult. He would wake up like your little one, once the rocking stopped. The best I could do with him was get him used to a different rythm by patting him on the back.

I started patting him gently while rocking him and then carefully layed him down in bed (still patting him). Then, I'd lay next to him and continue rythmicly patting him lighter, and lighter, and lighter until I felt like he was in a deep enough sleep. Then, I'd slip away.

The great thing about getting him crossed over to the patting was that, if he cried, I would only have to come into his room and pat him on the back without taking him out of the crib/bed and sitting down to rock (kind of a disruption). He could go back to sleep in a matter of seconds with my touch.

But, I took months to transition him like this. There was a long stretch of time from initiation to freedom.

If this works for you, let me know. Wouldn't it be nice to just rub baby's back with a couple pats (just to let her know that you are there) and off to sleep she goes?

THIS MAY SOUND SILLY. I BOUGHT A OUTDOOR SWING (FISHER PRICE BLUE AND RED WITH THE YELLOW STRAPS) AT TARGET. I HAD MY HUSBAND SCREW TWO LOOP SCREWS IN THE CEILING IN THE STUDS (TO HOLD WEIGHT)AND I TIED HER IN IT AND ROCKED HER TO SLEEP. WHEN I KNEW SHE WAS OUT COLD. I THEN TRANSFERED HER INTO THE BED. IT LOOKS SILLY IN THE HOUSE BUT IT WORKS.

My son is 14 months, still needs to be rocked or walked to sleep and rarely sleeps through the night. I too am not comfortable with letting him cry (though under pressure from others I tried it a few times and it was a disaster everytime - just doesn't work for some kids), so I lose much sleep. I actually don't mind his bedtime routine that ends with rocking and humming - he's out in 10 minutes. Think of it as special quiet time. However, I am reading a great book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers" and I have learned a lot about sleep cycles, sleep solutions, and much more. The author also has the same book "For Babies." I highly recommend it and so do a lot of other moms. Good luck.

My daughter is now 5 but I remember this time well! A friend of mine suggested that I strap her into her car seat and place it securely on top of the clothes dryer and put a clean tennis shoe in with each laundry load. The white noise and the rhythmic bumping put her to sleep in minutes.
Obviously this won't work for night time but it sure gave me a couple of 90 min breaks during the day. Good Luck!

I think at some point, although it's not easy, we need to let our children cry and it doesn't do any harm to let them cry a bit. I will let my daughter cry herself to sleep most of the time, but I do have my limits. If she is in there screaming then that's one thing but if it's just crying (even loud crying) I leave her. Almost all of the time the crying will last for less than 5 minutes and she'll fall asleep.