Transitioning from walking to sleep to...not...

[KCMartha]

OKay, I've got a 17 mo. old DS who I generally wear down to sleep for his nap and bedtime. He's a busy boy and would really rather be playing than going to sleep! Wearing him down is effective because he's basically contained in the carrier and can only move around so much. However, it makes me really tired to do this, and some days it hurts. I'm realizing that I just can't do this forever. I need a new strategy. He will nurse to sleep but he has to be really tired for this to happen so it's not a great option. I've tried nursing on the bed and laying with him but he's so busy he just gets up and crawls, walks, plays, etc. It's not a super safe option because our bed's not on the floor. It does have bedrails but I'm always afraid he'll go right over.

Eventually we are moving to a different room with our bed on the floor and him in a different bed right next to us. I'm so anxious for that day but it's going to be a little while. So, help me come up with a short term solution we can all live with....please?

[Llee]

:bump

[raining_kisses]

I walked ds to sleep every day in the ergo until he was 13 months. I transitioned him to rocking on the boppy and nursing to sleep. I kind of hold him tight and sing to him. Some days the only way to capture him long enough for him to fall asleep is to turn on a baby einstien lullaby video. He will rock and watch that and get sleepy.

Hope you figure something out soon. I know how it is. :hug

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

I just reread your OP, do you need ideas for sleep locations. After I rock him to deep sleep, I lay him our bed. We also don't have ours on the floor, but I have a baby monitor on the bed and can hear him if he wakes or moves. Our bed is also a king pushed up into the corner, and I lay him down as far from the edges as I can. He has to move A LOT to get off the bed.

[KCMartha]

I walked ds to sleep every day in the ergo until he was 13 months. I transitioned him to rocking on the boppy and nursing to sleep. I kind of hold him tight and sing to him. Some days the only way to capture him long enough for him to fall asleep is to turn on a baby einstien lullaby video. He will rock and watch that and get sleepy.

Hope you figure something out soon. I know how it is. :hug

---------- Post added at 01:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:51 PM ----------

I just reread your OP, do you need ideas for sleep locations. After I rock him to deep sleep, I lay him our bed. We also don't have ours on the floor, but I have a baby monitor on the bed and can hear him if he wakes or moves. Our bed is also a king pushed up into the corner, and I lay him down as far from the edges as I can. He has to move A LOT to get off the bed.

Maybe.....?....:shifty If I could get him to sleep and then put him in his crib that would be fine by me. Right now that's our best option. I'm okay with him sleeping in our bed - I do use a monitor. But if he's on our bed I think I would have to check immediately, every time I heard him move/stir - that might get a bit old....

[Lady Grey]

Do you have a place to make a palette for him on the ground? I have done that a lot once they were mobile and the bed didn't feel safe.

[KCMartha]

Do you have a place to make a palette for him on the ground? I have done that a lot once they were mobile and the bed didn't feel safe.

I've considered that idea. The real problem (and the reason I am eager to move rooms) is our room just isn't very baby-proof-able. It is a lot of different issues. No matter how hard I think about it, I can't figure out a safe place for a floor-bed.

[KCMartha]

Okay, I've stared at our room a few more times and I think I have a couple ideas about how to make a floor-bed work. So let's assume that I have a safe sleeping area for him on the floor.

How should I go about transitioning him? Or do I just switch to laying down with him and nursing him there? I'm really worried that if I just lay down with him he'll just walk around and crawl on me, etc. He does understand "Lie down" but I'm not sure if he will do it for long enough to fall asleep.

[raining_kisses]

what worked best for us was rocking in the chair. He still needs to the motion to go to sleep. Then I wait until he is deep asleep, and I move him to his sleep location. Then I pat him a few more minutes and make sure he still deep asleep, then I sneak away. At first I had to go in and nurse him after 30 minutes, but now he sleeps a lot longer without waking up. It took him a few months to get used to it, but I guess that's to be expected. He used to sleep with his face smashed in chest, who would want to sleep alone after that? :giggle

[KCMartha]

I like the rocking idea. Currently that works if he is sleepy enough. If not he tries to climb all over me and the chair (are you noticing a theme?!). However, I think the reason for the climbing is there is a very shiny floor lamp right behind the chair. Perhaps if that was moved, it would be fine. I like the chair idea because it is one way of containing him, though, more so than the bed.


Oh - and yes, I am expecting this transition to take a while. That's part of why I've been putting it off....:bag

[LadybugSam]

I was going to suggest a rocking chair too. Maybe even wearing him until he settles down but is not asleep and then rocking him for a while. Making sure the room is dark is gonna be a BIG factor is helping him go to sleep. Right now the best thing for Toby (and me) is to have most of the lights off and read myself a book with a book light once he's calmed down enough to allow me to. It keeps me from getting impatient when i've been rocking him for a while and is boring enough not to grab his attention (watching TV seems to keep him awake longer)

On calm nights i can just pluck him down next to me on the couch and nurse him while i watch TV but that hasn't been working so much lately so i've switched to rocking and then reading a book.

[mamacat]

I think I might try the rocking or gliding and then maybe transition to rocking/nursing to maybe lying down on the palette while he is till somehat awake and listening to soothing music or a book on tape when he is a little older and try to make it a snuggling time when he has gotten drowsy enough to not want to climb all over etc.

[kwisie]

Am I reading right that he's 17 months old? My 17mo sleeps on my bed that's not on the floor. I simply taught him how to get off safely, which he got really quickly. When he's done with his nap, he just gets off the bed and comes to find me. :)

For going to sleep, I also let him roll around all over the bed if he needs to. When he gets off the bed, I promptly put him right back on. He flops around more and more until he just doesn't want to lift his head anymore, and then he'll nurse to sleep.

[raining_kisses]

I sing to him to keep his attention long enough in the rocking chair. I checked out this itsy bitsy spider book from the library that has a lot of verses to that song. The first one starts kinda action packed, and I sing it silly(while nursing him). Then as he keeps nursing, I slow the song down. The last verse is about the spider being so sleepy she couldn't hold up her head anymore, and she falls asleep. I sing it really slow and soft, then just start humming. The whole time I am singing I am patting his bottem and rocking, and I have my arms wrapped around him holding him close. All the movement and closeness mimics the Ergo and walking, and it helps.