Rocking baby to sleep

[BriansLovie]

Who rocks their baby/toddler to sleep? My son is 18 months old, and has been having sleep issues for the past month. He will not fall asleep by himself often (has maybe 4 times in the past month). I have been rocking him to sleep if he cries, which is pretty much every night. He rarely takes naps. Before this sleeping issue began, he was a great sleeper. He would be happy when I put him in his crib for bed, and go right to sleep. It's a complete turn around now. I unfortunately resorted to a modified crying it out... and I hated doing it. It just tore at my heart and I would be irritable the whole time. I hated doing it but didnt know what else to do. I've read you cause future problems with sleep if you rock your child to sleep all the time. Anyways, cio didnt work anyways. He's still not going to sleep by himself! Do any of you have any advice on how to get him to sleep without crying? Is it bad to rock your child to sleep all the time? I must admit, I have missed rocking him. It takes me back to the days when he was a newborn. :heart

[BriansLovie]

Oh, wanted to add. We don't really co sleep. Sometimes I bring him into our bed if he wakes in the middle of the night crying, but on a regular basis, he sleeps in his crib.

[hey mommy]

I did.. For 23 months. He slept in his own bed most of the time too. I would rock him, then lay him in his bed when he went to sleep and when he woke up he'd get in bed w/us. Until he got bigger and started kicking us out of bed, then I'd get him back to sleep and put him in his bed.

[MarynMunchkins]

You know, I've rocked kids to sleep and left them alone, and IME, none of them sleep well until after all their teeth are in. Once you get to 20 teeth, I'd be concerned. Before that, I just break out the Hylands. ;)

[AmyDoll]

What's your bedtime routine look like? My boys both have a nice wind down routine - bath, lotion, pjs, books... I nurse my 16 mo old to sleep - but it's a combo nurse and rock.
:shrug I don't worry to much about what *they* say - babies are little for such a short time and I'm going to hold and love on mine as much as I can!

[Weezie]

My whole family are rockers- all 6 of us children, and all of the 15 grandchildren are rockers. My almost 3 yr old will ask to be rocked if sh doesn't/can't fall asleep with a book, prayer, and music, and our 13 month old rocks/nurses to sleep/nap/ to be comforted. We have no regrets. When the children are ready to be independent, they'll show you. Til then, our glider.recliners are getting lots of use, and many a night have we both slept in them at the same time... :)

[Marzipan]

I rocked/nursed my dd to sleep for the first two years of her life, and then I laid down in the bed with her until she fell asleep for awhile. Now, I go in, sing her one song, and leave, and she falls asleep on her own. I wouldn't trade any of the precious memories I have of parenting her to sleep-- and she has managed to figure out how to go to sleep on her own :) You're not going to ruin anything if you rock him to sleep. :):heart

[HomeWithMyBabies]

I rocked my first every night until my baby belly was too big from my second for him to feel comfy. At about twenty months old I'd rock him and he'd point to the crib and want to get comfortable on his own. My second gets nursed and rocked to sleep still at 27 months old, but he doesn't have to be out as solid for me to put him down anymore.

It's not bad to rock them. They're only small for a short while.

[hey mommy]

One thing I wanted to mention: Please don't think a child is ever to big to rock. I have fond memories of coming home from jr. high and high school, crawling into my moms lap and rocking w/her after a hard day. Heck, I climbed into her lap and rocked w/her when I was there this past June! LOL. Enjoy it while they are babies and stay put b/c as they get older, they don't want to anymore. C doesn't like to rock w/me very much anymore. :( I miss it. A LOT!!!

[expatmom]

You know, I've rocked kids to sleep and left them alone, and IME, none of them sleep well until after all their teeth are in.


I agree.

We are rockers :rockon

[Mother Duck]

I or dh rock our 2yo to sleep every night - I personally love the closeness :heart We were rocking the 5yo too until fairly recently :heart

[Tanyia]

I rocked/nursed dd to sleep until about 4 months ago, one day she announced she just wanted to go to sleep in the bed with no rocking :shrug

[BriansLovie]

Update for you ladies! I think we are making progress here. For Jacob's nap yesterday, I laid him down, he fussed for a few minutes as I was leaving, always does. But then he started jibber jabbering away, like always LOL. It took him 40 minutes, but he finally fell asleep on his own! He did wake up after a half hour crying, so I got him and he fell asleep on my shoulder for awhile more. Last night I put him to bed like normal. Of course he fussed for a few minutes after I left him, but then he just started talking like he did at his nap. Forty minutes later, all was quiet. I looked in and he was asleep! This is major progress! He woke up at 5 AM crying but I just brought him to bed with us. I dont mind that at all. I am so proud of my boy!! (Simple thing to be proud of, but when you're desparate!) :heart

[Oliveshoots]

I'm glad you're pleased with the progress! :tu :hug

Just wanted to add, I still rock my almost 3 y.o. many nights. If she doesn't fall asleep after story time in brothers bed (then I transfer her to her crib, until whatever time she calls out for me to bring her to our bed :giggle) she will ask to rock. Sometimes, mid rocking, (she gets uncomfy because she's so tall and the chair is kind of crowded) she will say "I want to way in my twib" so I'll lay her down, tuck her in, give her her lamby, and rub her back or sing to her until she's asleep.

I used to rock ds all the time, and now that he's 4, he's lost interest (unless he's sick and just wants to be held.)

I think at 18 mos it's fine to rock them, for many of the reasons shared here already. But if you're making progress with another method you feel more comfortable with, then I say go for it! But if you're uncomfortable with any amount of crying or distress on his part (or yours!) then don't feel like you're "undoing" anythign by rocking him.

:hugs

[CapeTownMommy]

Before dd was born, I (stupidly) bought into the whole "you'll spoil them if you rock them to sleep" ideology. But by the time she was about 3 months old, all that was out of the window, and we've been rocking her to sleep ever since. And you know what? The last 3 nights in a row she's woken up when I put her in bed, rolled over, played with the bedding a bit, and gone to sleep. I think we may even be close to where I can just cuddle her a bit and put her down awake. I don't regret it for a second.

[Beth1231]

I love rocking Anina to sleep. :heart That's the time that I pray for her and wind down with her so we can both get some sleep.

[joy]

You should totally do what works for you guys!
If you need to start doing it again - here's my support: We still rock our little guy to sleep - he's 25 months. It's just a warm, lush end of the day. I know he appreciates it, in that he doesn't fight it - we just get cozy and then read a book, turn of the light, I pray, and then we just rock until he's asleep or nearly asleep. It's one of those things I joke that "I'll stop doing it when he can ask me, in a complete and grammatically correct sentence, not to." :P~ It's one of my favorite things in the world.