So those of you that DON’T do CC or CIO..

How does your baby sleep? What do you do to get them to sleep? I want to get my 7.5 month old to sleep better without leaving him to cry. He did sleep really well for awhile but not now.

I might not be too much help as Spencer has been self settling since about 4-5months, but what I did when he was little to teach him to self settle, was, once he was older enough that he didn't just fall asleep feeding then I would rock and shush until he was drowsy and then put him in his bassinet, if he didn't drop off to sleep then I would pat and shush him with him still in bed, and if he got upset then I would pick him up and rock and shush and then put him back to bed when he was drowsy and content again.

After a while of doing this I would then put him to bed as soon as he showed tired signs and would just pat and shush with him in bed until drowsy and then leave him, and go back/pick him up if needed. At one stage he would get upset if I left the room so for a while I would sit next to him until he fell asleep and then I phased that out the same way, so would stay until he was just dropping off and then once happy with that I started leaving straight away.

Now he self settles 99.9% of the time but on the occasions that he doesn't I normally get him up for an extra cuddle and then put him back to bed, if that doesn't work then generally I will just sit next to him for a while. We also have a babytad in his room that can play up to 6 mins of music so sometimes we put that on for him.

Our routine for all his sleeps is that I change his bum if needed, put him in his peke moe (sleep bag type thing), strap him into the safety sleep, kiss him and say night night and leave.

When Cooper was younger I did a jiggle/sway/shush combo. I'd make sure I was holding him really tight and would make sure his arms were pinned against me, in a non harming way.

He self settles really now.

With Keziah I find swaddling her (one arm out) and giving her a bottle & a clean nappy just before bed helps alot.

One of us sings to her bedtime song and puts her down .. sometimes we can just leave her, if she grizzles one of us sits with her and sings her lullabye through a few times ... we will also rock her if required (only works with her bassinette though .. we cant shake the cot lol)

If she is overtired I usually pick her up, hold her sideways against me and rock and pat and sing her to sleep

DH perserveres (sp) with singing and patting and sshhhing but I dont have the patience when I know I can usually get her to sleep pretty quickly by doing the above mentioned.

I quite often use the swissball too! So much easier.

If really desperate, i put her in the sling and let her sleep in that.