2 Month Old--how to Put down a Baby Awake W/out Crying?!

I agree with Gina that putting oneself to sleep is a LEARNED skill. At 2 months old, your baby is still too young to understand why his needs are not being met when he cries. He needs you to come and comfort him when he cries so that he can establish a trusting relationship with you. Also, at 2 months he is not able to move around the crib to find a way to soothe himself. If the bink falls out, he can't find it and put it back in.

At two months we were still bouncing our son to sleep. He loved being swaddled, used a bink, and has a white noise machine in his room. When he woke in the middle of the night I nursed him back to sleep.

Around 6 months old we used The Sleepeasy Solution. It's a cry-it-out method with frequent check-ins. Within three nights our son went from needing 1/2 hour of bouncing to lull him to sleep to putting himself to sleep with no crying. He also went from waking 6x a night to sleeping straight through from 7pm to 6am!

It wasn't easy letting him cry it out, but because he was old enough to wiggle around his crib, he could find his lovie (a soft burp cloth) and his bink to soothe himself to sleep. We have the luxury of a video monitor, so we could actually see that he was trying to figure out what he needed to go to sleep.

My advice is to tough it out with your little guy for the time being, and to use this type of method if you're still having problems by 6 months. The Sleepeasy DVD is available on Amazon, and they say you can start the program as early as 4 months, but it may take longer.

I think sleep training is tough, but a necessary part of life for many babies. We did not use this program with my daughter, and she still wakes frequently during the night, needing a tuck in or snuggle to get back to sleep.

Whatever you decide to do, be consistent, and good luck!

Congrats on your third baby! Sounds like you are doing great.

One thing that helped me to know is that sleep is infact NOT innate! I thought it was. Sleeping is a LEARNED habit.
So I think it is hard for little ones to learn to sleep on their own. Especially without crying. I tried everything so my little one would not cry, but she was the type of baby too who needed the binky put back in a hundred times, and if slept on me would wake the SECOND I moved a muscle. It got to be so tiring and overwhelming.

I finally decided to sleep with her in HER crib. I just layed down next to her (I put a stool next to the crib so I could sit down and lay my chest down next to her). I just talked to her and rubbed her belly and head. My husband would do the same thing.

It took a few nights for bedtime and the middle of the night for it to work, but took much longer for naps. YOu might have better luck with naps than me as my LO was just a bad napper.

I also know that her sleep habits changed as she grew older and sometimes the sleep training had to come into play a few more times. She is now 13.5 mos old, and I suppose sleep training will be an issue until she is old enough to drive..... HA!

I also thought the sleep thing took a while. I could never let her cry by herself. I know some babies are born better sleeper than others just as some are born with blue eyes or red hair. We can do what we can to help them get the sleep they need. Good luck!

read the Dr, Sears nighttime parenting book!

nurse him, burp him and change him right before you put him down and then rub his belly and talk quietly and calmly to him. I know you say you would like to get him to sleep without a binky but keep in mind that they now recomend putting babies to bed with a binky because it reduces the risk of sids.

I am the mother of 4 (6 and under) - and have never been able to let any of my kids cry it out. I think you need to listen to your heart, not what everyone else tells you is the right way to do it. There is no right way - just a right way for you and what you're comfortable with. I agree with one of the mother's who responded that some kids are good sleepers and others are not - we are definitely night owls in this house (the whole clan), so bedtime usually takes a while, but I know I won't be going off to college with them to get them to sleep. I did not have one baby sleep through the night - and I'm fine with that! Enjoy your little guy - they grow so fast (my baby is already 9 months). I am a huge advocate of the pacifier - and if your baby likes it, you are very lucky! He'll eventually be able to plug himself up. I wish my youngest two took it (my best sleeper is the one who loved his pacifier). The pacifier is an easy, independent (eventually) way for your baby to console himself (my son had his until he was a little over 3 - I was worried because his teeth seemed messed up, but within a few months, they were back to normal.) So, stick with the paci (much better than relying on his thumb or a bottle). Enjoy him!
T.