Rocking to sleep

I need advice on how to (if it’s possible) avoid bad sleeping habits from forming. I have a 9 week old who can only do day naps and being put down for bedtime in the evening with a lot of time and support (rocking, feeding, bouncing, walking around with him) even when he is showing signs of tiredness / exhaustion. This is regardless of if we try a contact nap or a sleep in the bassinet. During the day his wake windows are anywhere from 45 mins - 2 hours, but I generally notice around 45 mins he is constantly yawning and struggling to keep “happy”.

During the night he feeds and goes down easier afterwards as he tends to fall asleep on us before we transfer him back to his bassinet. He wakes between 1-3 hours.

We won’t do any sleep “training” until he is old enough and able, but I would like to ensure the consistent rocking and bouncing we do not doesn’t mean that later on he can’t be put down without help. Do the habits starts to form now already, or is it only as they get a bit older? Is there any advice on how to help a newborn his age fall asleep without the insistent moving and bouncing? Happy to continue to do so for as long as it gets him the sleep he needs, but open to suggestions (we would never leave him to cry to sleep)

Read more on Peanut

The views expressed in community are solely the opinions of participants, and do not reflect those of Peanut.

Learn more about our guidelines.
Add a comment
Avatar

I don’t believe you are forming any bad habits. I did nearly all the same things with my son until about 5 months old when I decided to start some light nap sleep training.. when I decided to do that, I started with my hand on him and gently rocking him and eventually moved to not doing that, to putting him wide awake in his crib! … I had a nurse in the hospital on day 1 tell me to not rock him ever because it was a bad habit and it nearly broke me because all I wanted to do was hold my son for forever — I will never forget her comment. Your baby is only little for such a short time so enjoy these precious moments!

Avatar

No such thing as bad habits.. every child who was rocked to sleep grows out of it naturally x

Read more on Peanut

Trending

in our community

FREE BABY NECESSITIES!

Extra Diapers my baby girls grew out of. Message Me.

Avatar

2

8

What to do 😩

My daughter is a side sleeper. I put her down on her back every single time and she rolls onto her side and will fall asleep. She's never rolled over onto her tummy yet but I'm paranoid waiting for the day she can and I won't sleep again until she can fully hold her head up 😩😩😭😭 she's 2 weeks and 5 days old.

I've tried constantly moving her back onto her back, every single time she moves onto her side or fusses until I let her. Once she's on her side she'll drift off into a peaceful sleep. I'm forever constantly checking her to see if she'a breathing or rolled onto her tummy and gotten stuck.

The picture is of the position she will get herself into every time. With her hand under her head. I'm lost for ideas please help 😭😩

Avatar

4

10

Genuinely confused🥴

My relationship with my MIL is really confusing. I got pregnant pretty quickly into my dating my husband, and she was excited through my pregnancy, but kept making comments to my husband about being in the delivery room.

When I gave birth, she drove 3 hours and tried to get in, but my mom and husband didn't let her in while I was in labour. Literally 8 hours after, she showed up in the hospital room to meet the baby. My baby was struggling with latching at that point, and she offered to "help" and grabbed my boob before I could say anything. I'd also ended up having an episiotomy and forceps delivery, so there was still literal blood and poop leaking out of me. She spent the rest of that visit filming a video holding and talking to my daughter.

I moved on cos I had a baby to focus on. My husband and I moved in with my parents temporarily as we'd just moved cities, but the whole time we lived there she would tell my husband that he's not a "man" because he's not providing (he is now and suddenly she's so proud🥴). She'd also make shady comments to me, and try to tell me about what I should and shouldn't do for my baby and this included things I strongly disagree with. She would compare her access to my baby, even though we lived with my parents and she lived hours away. My husband spoke to her even though he didn't understand the issue, and she stopped making comments to me.

The biggest issue for me is that she has always smoked during visits with my baby, and even once around my baby. I have made my husband tell her to stop three times, and each time, she'll stop for the next visit and then carry on smoking from the following visit. Even worse, my husband quit smoking since we had a baby, but on each visit, she still offers him a pack of cigarettes.

She has also been asking about when my daughter can sleep at her's since she was born, she's 12 months old now and I've never let her sleep over, but it's caused a lot of tension between me and my husband. I just don't think that she would respect other boundaries I might set.

Besides that, she's started being really nice, so I worry that im just overreacting or something. What do you think?

If you have any advice for me, I'd really appreciate it.

Avatar

5

Best bottles for 12m plus?

I need to take away my child’s baby bottle and replace it with a 12m+ one but which brand is best? I already tried Nuk and he found it too heavy

Avatar

3

Wake windows

How long are your babies up for between naps? My bubs can probably do 1hr - 1hr 45 max but will only have 30-45 min solo nap or up to 3 hours contact. I’m trying not to focus on wake windows much but interested to know. My boy is 9 weeks now, 10 next Wednesday

Avatar

8

Is thier a sleep regression around 6 months ?

My little girl turns 6 months on the 19th June …this week in particular we’ve had to rock her to sleep for day time and night time sleep , I was trying to transfer her to cot but this can’t be rocked so we’ve kept her in the next to me …just wondering if anyone is going through similar ? Is this a phase ?

Avatar

5

Read more on Peanut