[fennho]

bekyboo44
thnks for sharing...it's comforting to know they will eventually learn to fall asleep by themselves without me forcing them to any "sleep solutions" marketed out there...i just cant or rather dont have the heart to.

AG2007
when u say your gal "make some noise" was it crying? Or just babbling? tks for sharing too.

[AG2007]

She's mainly babbling. Sometimes she does cry softly and I leave her for a couple of minutes. But if the cry becomes stronger I go back in to comfort her. I can't stand hearing her cry!!!!

[fennho]

Originally Posted by bekyboo44

My son was fed to sleep (breastfeeding) until he was 10 months old. It basically meant he didn't go to sleep by himself, or sleep through the night until he was ten months old.
Was pretty tough at times but what he needed, which is why we did it.
I tried everything to get him to sleep by himself befe then but nothing worked....and then he did it by himself when he weaned himself!!

Bekyboo
when u said he suddenly did it by himself, do u mean one fine day he suddenly just go to sleep by himself without u nursing him? Can u explain how it happened? Thks!

[barbwong_130]

Dear Fennho,

I recommend that you join some of the la Leche League meetings in Hong Kong. At the meetings you will be able to find lots of mothers who don’t like the idea of letting their babies cry and how they cope with life.

You’ll also find mothers there with babies of many different ages. I liked going because there were a couple of mothers with babies a bit older than mine and so I always knew what to expect next.

Children do learn to sleep longer as they grow older – with or without your help. I fed all mine to sleep and they all sleep through the night now. For mime it didn’t happen all at once. First they would sleep all night occasionally and then after a month or two they’d mange to sleep two or three nights a week without waking up and finally they’d only wake up if something had upset them in the daytime and now they sleep through no matter what.

Barb

[AG2007]

out of curiosity, how old are your children barbwong_130?

[fennho]

hi barbwong

I was more concerned over the "going to sleep" part rather than the "staying asleep" part. Was asking abt mommies that nurse their babies to sleep, how & when they babies learn to fall asleep on their own in the future cos I'd hate to implement any cryitout method to "train" her

[barbwong_130]

AG2007: My youngest is six and the older ones are teenagers. I’ve really enjoyed having a late baby. It seems that she is all joy and very little worry – it is as if I worried too much about the first that there is none left for this one!

Fennho: I fed all my children to sleep (when I was home) until they were about two years old. But even if your baby is weaned earlier than this you still need to be there to help them go to sleep. All my children have had a nighttime routine, of sorts, which usually consisted of a bath and books read to them in bed.

I think it is unrealistic to expect children to go immediately to bed when you say” OK, it’s bedtime now”. (In my experience they never do anything immediately even if it a trip to McDonalds!) So some sort of help to wind down from the day to get into the mood for sleep is usually required.

I try to spend time with each child for a while before they go to sleep. Even my eldest daughter who is now a grown up still likes me to lie on her bed and chat for a while before we turn in. It is a time to talk to each other without anyone interrupting. We don’t to this every night, maybe only once a week but it is a habit that has grown out of our original bedtime routine together.

What helped me deal with the amount of effort needed with parenting was when I realized that I wasn’t sacrificing myself by spending time with my children but actually building a relationship with them. In the end all parenting boils down to communication. So helping your baby to get to sleep in a way you are both comfortable with is building your relationship for the future, and as such, can not be a bad thing.

[fennho]

hi barbwong
may I ask if u nurse ur babies to sleep only for the night or for their afternoon naps as well? I am currently nursing my gal to sleep at night but strangely, during the day after I nurse her and she sort of fell asleep and I try to put her into her cot she will wake up but at night, she will continue to sleep..

So now my problem is getting her to sleep for more than 1hour during the day. She is currently being rocked to sleep in the swing but the rocking motion needs to be constant in order for her to STAY asleep...even then she will still wake up within an hour.