I'll start by saying both of my kids are the best when it comes to sleeping through the night. They both were sleeping 7-8 hours at 8 weeks old. Now at 11 weeks, our daughter sleeps at least a 10 hour stretch. I'd like to blame luck, and give the kids the credit, but maybe we're doing something right too.
We have a bedtime routine. It's really the routine for our son with some added steps for the baby mixed in. She starts to show signs of being ready for bed before 8 pm, but we put her to bed after our son since she takes a little more work to put down.
First we bathe one or both kids and get them in their PJs. We make sure both rooms are darkened and beds are dressed. Then we sit on the couch with them and read stories. The last book of the night, we put the pacifier in our son's mouth, which really puts him in a drowsy state. After he's put in bed I finish up nursing the baby and asses the situation. Our son would nurse to sleep at this age. My husband could just pick him up and lay him down. The girl is another story. Only about one time in twenty is she like that. Normally she appears wide awake, alert, looking around, even cooing. When she starts to put up any fuss we take her to her room, swaddle her tight, and start pacing around her room with a bounce in our step. The past 4 nights she has refused to let my husband put her down. We tried again tonight, and she just cries and cries. I can tell it's like she's saying she wants her mommy... The moment I take her she calms down and I can get her down in 5 to 10 minutes. Only half the time does one time do the trick. Usually you lay her down and she's there for 5 minutes then she starts whimpering again. I go in and do the same hold, bounce, and just wait. The final moments before laying her down I will stop bouncing and stand still. Try to do this while she's still slightly awake. I read in a book that if they fall asleep under certain conditions then they wake up in different conditions this can be enough to upset them back to being awake. So by pausing and standing still at least she'll know that sleeping means no movement. I lay her down and put my hand on her chest for a moment as she makes a little shift to get comfortable. When she doesn't open her eyes I know she's ready. Tonight it just took two tries, so not bad.
While it is cute to think that my baby prefers my scent, my special touch for getting her to sleep, it does make me worry if this becomes a trend. She needs to be able to cope with someone else putting her down in case I'm not there for any reason. Hopefully this is just a phase. I do know that our son doesn't require any rocking and hasn't for some time. I'll soon miss these days...
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