# I don't know how to put my baby to sleep...



## kirei (Dec 2, 2004)

Well, I sort of do. But I don't know.... I think I need some ideas. I'll try to explain.

My baby currently sleeps through the night (roughly 8 hours)....... because she sleeps in the papasan swing!!!







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I don't know how else to get her to sleep...

It seems that there are only two ways that she goes to sleep for the night:
1. Papasan swing.
2. She falls asleep nursing, and I *somehow* bend over backwards trying to move a sleeping baby into bed. Half the time, she wakes up.

If she sleeps in bed with us, she sometimes wakes up 1-2 times. She nearly always sleeps 8 hours in the swing (and might even go back to sleep for another few hours after nursing).

Some nights, nursing just DOES NOT work. Because night time seems to be her fussy time... where she SEEMS to want to nurse, but won't stay on.







: She'll suck for half a second, pop up, whine, wiggle, arch her back, kick me, root... no matter what I do. On nights like those, my only option is the swing. She is not entirely happy with the swing, but it is usually effective in calming her down, and it definitely puts her to sleep, the majority of the time.

I mean... if this is whats working, I guess I should keep it up? But I wish I had some other options for getting her to sleep. I really wish I could just cuddle her to sleep...







... but, I don't know, she just isnt really a cuddly baby. And anytime I have tried to just lay her down (and lay down with her), she just gets cranky. It definitely doesn't work.

So! I'm just looking for some ideas. At least we have a method that works... but the swing wont always be there, and I'm trying to get her into bed with us more often. We don't have a crib... so its just the swing, or us. Oh... and I'm not interested in moving her from the swing to the bed after she falls asleep. Once my baby is sleeping, THATS IT! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! She can stay right where she is. :LOL


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## Ravin (Mar 19, 2002)

Honestly I would work on getting the hang of side-lying to nurse your babe to sleep. This was so much easier for me because in the earlier months she would only nurse to sleep or SOMETIMES fall asleep in the car, and "let sleeping baby lie" would have me sitting very still for uncomfortable periods or wearing her a lot while she was fast asleep and resorting to sleeping upright in a recliner so as to not wake her up.

Once we got the hang of side-lying to nurse, I could nurse her and once she was very asleep and latched off, I could "escape"--provided I hadn't fallen asleep myself in such a comfy position!

As for the swing, if it works when nursing isn't, go with it. She'll outgrow it soon enough. I had to walk w/ my DD in the sling and nurse her at the same time to get her to sleep when she was fussy early on...got very tiring.


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## Caroline248 (Nov 22, 2003)

Does she arch her back during the day or just at night? My son did this and it turned out he had pretty bad reflux. His reflux is much worse at night as well....could that be an issue with her?

~C~


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## kirei (Dec 2, 2004)

Just at night, and just when shes getting cranky / wiggly in my lap, when I'm trying to nurse her. I have no idea if she has reflux... O.O... how would I find out?


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## Alison (Feb 11, 2004)

Just wanted to say, your baby is still very little, and honestly, they do get easier, most of the time! I think it's that they don't know how to sleep well, not that you don't know how to put them to sleep, KWIM? And learning to nurse side-lying saved my sanity, as a PP mentioned!

Alison


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

Another vote for nursing side-lying. The sleep-saver!







Then instead of trying to transfer her to bed, you're already there!

-Angela


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## TiredX2 (Jan 7, 2002)

Wow, is your baby really only 3.5 months old and going 8 hours regularily.

Congratulations!

That said, I would definatley work on the side lying thing. With DD it took awhile to get used to it (so I thought it only worked with larger babies) but with DS I could do it right away (since I already knew how) so I'm sure you can get it to work w/a little work.

Good luck


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## desertpenguin (Apr 15, 2005)

Clues that your baby suffers from reflux are many, but not necessarily all, of the following:

* Wails and shrieks in pain, causing you to feel that he's not just crying but truly hurting
* Spits up after feedings
* Experiences painful bursts of nightwaking
* Most painful cries occur after eating
* Draws up his legs, knees to his chest, and arches his back as if writhing in pain
* Has frequent, unexplained colds, wheezing, and chest infections
* Often seems happier when he's upright rather than lying flat.

http://askdrsears.com/html/5/T051300.asp#T051303

You might try nursing him in a sling or *wearing him down* During the day, usually the only way I can get my ds to nurse is by walking around with him in the sling.


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## Bellaluna (Feb 14, 2004)

If you do try to get the hang of side-lying, as the pp's mentioned, and she doesn't fall asleep while nursing, you might try putting her in the swing after nursing, then when she falls asleep, take her out, side-lye and nurse again and she may stay asleep.

This is exactly how I get my 9 mo. old to sleep, only instead of the swing part, I use my wrap and bounce her to sleep on my body. For some reason, dd doesn't fall asleep the first time we lay down to nurse, but after she has fallen asleep in the wrap, I take her out, she usually half-wakes, and we lay down together until she's asleep (this last part usually takes from 0-15 min.). Then I crawl out of bed and am FREE!

By the way, I didn't get the hang of side-lying until dd was at least 3 mo. old. She is my first, and I really had to commit to it and try a few different positions before we were both comfortable with it.


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## kirei (Dec 2, 2004)

Actually, this post is about 2 weeks old now... :LOL ... but I can update you!

I have been able to nurse side-lying now! It has gotten a lot easier. I realise now that it just was a lot harder when she was teeny-tiny... but we're really improved with nursing and now it isn't hard at all.









She still sleeps in the swing half the time. We play it by ear..... if she falls asleep nursing (while I'm on MDC :LOL), she'll come to bed with me. If she can't seem to fall asleep nursing (sometimes she just gets cranky, wiggly, keeps popping off, etc...), I'll go ahead and put her in the swing, and shes out for the night. As long as we wait until 10pm or later for bedtime, she always gets to sleep.

And, yes, she sleeps 8-9 hours! She has been doing it since she was aboooooout.... 2 months old. Occasionally earlier, too. I realise that I was very lucky...














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