Help My 3 Week Old Baby Only Falls Asleep When Rocked

Some people don't listen rocking their babies. Me? I did. Here's why I regret rocking my infant to sleep, and what I wish I did instead.

When I was significant, a co-worker brash, "Don't get in the addiction of rocking your baby to sleep — he'll become used to it." As I nodded my head and smiled, all I could remember was, "Cruel woman! How could she propose such an idea?!"

Well… six months, two cleaved knees, and many sleep deprived nights later, I knew why.

(I'll get to the cleaved knees later.)

Afterwards bringing my baby habitation, I realized he would doze off subsequently a few moments of bouncing and rocking in my arms. He even simply fell asleep in mine—a fact I took peachy pride in back so: "Only mama has the special touch on!"

I used all sorts of crazy rocking, from side-to-side stepping to my bob-and-weave move. But the abiding rocking plus a growing baby meant my arms couldn't hold up for much longer.

iv reasons I regret rocking my infant to sleep

When he was four months old, I visited my sister and noticed she had a yoga ball. "Can I utilise that to bounce him to sleep?" Not only did she agree, she too lent us the ball to utilize at abode—a curse in disguise as I would soon acquire.

The ball seemed to work miracles: my arms got a interruption and my babe slept immediately. But with our e'er-growing dependence on the ball, he began to rely solely on the bouncing motion to fall comatose. So much and then that we'd have to bounce him for several minutes each time before placing him in the crib.

What had once been an effective way to put him to slumber was quickly becoming a problem. Here's why:

1. My baby relied on external sleeping aids

We all accept sleeping aids, some of them as mutual as sleeping in a nighttime room or hearing white racket. Simply my baby's sleeping aids—rocking in detail—were not always sustainable. While I could keep white racket all dark with no problem, there was no way I could stone him for hours on end.

They too prevented him from falling asleep on his own. He wasn't able to explore self-soothing techniques, similar rocking his caput side to side or sucking his thumb. Because I did all the piece of work for him, he had few opportunities to develop this ability on his own.

Hither's what to exercise when your 6 month old babe won't sleep unless held.

ii. Frequent wake-ups meant the entire family felt tired

Not only could my baby not sleep on his ain, he didn't know how to autumn dorsum to sleep when he woke up in the middle of the nighttime. Each wake up meant we'd take to wake up and rock him dorsum to sleep instead of hoping he'd settle himself.

And his light sleeping meant he was waking up every hour or two. The wake ups were so frequent that I never reached deep slumber—fifty-fifty though I'd clock in 8 hours, my body didn't feel rested.

So rather than everyone sleeping through the night, we would all wake up throughout the night many times. We'd also take to spend several minutes rocking him to sleep earlier we were finally able to slumber too.

And that's on the good nights when he'd actually fall asleep—sometimes he'd wake upward the infinitesimal nosotros set him downward.

Learn what to do when your babe wakes up every hr.

3. My knees gave out

While my arms got a break from bouncing on a yoga ball, my knees took a hit. My infant required at to the lowest degree 10 minutes of ball bouncing per sleep session. Since he was still napping three times a day and waking up near 3 times a night, that added up to at least six times of bouncing throughout the mean solar day.

And again, that's assuming he'd autumn asleep when I set him down. Many times, I'd bounce for 10 minutes but for him to wake up the minute I put him downwards. That means some other prepare of x minutes of bouncing all over again.

Acquire what to do when your baby won't nap unless held.

4. My baby still cried, even with the rocking

Rocking your baby to sleep is fine if both parent and infant enjoy the moment. Merely for some (myself included), the "bonding experience" brings misery instead. Somehow the rocking itself wasn't soothing plenty, and my baby would cry in my arms the entire fourth dimension. Something wasn't working.

I fifty-fifty tried bouncing harder on the yoga ball, which seemed to at-home him down a niggling at commencement. But over time, even that didn't work. Everything seemed backward: I had started rocking him to slumber to avoid his crying. But it turns out, he was withal crying regardless of how much or how long I rocked him.

Learn what to do with a infant fighting sleep.

How to stop rocking your infant to sleep

I later learned a few techniques I should've started from day one. These sleep habits helped my baby learn to fall asleep on his ain and rely less on rocking.

And so, when I gave nativity to twins three years subsequently, I vowed not to echo the same mistakes. I wanted to rely less on rocking to permit my twins to put themselves to slumber. Past doing these elementary steps, they were far better able to slumber on their own than their older brother was.

If yous want to stop rocking your babe to sleep, have a wait at these habits to starting time early on:

ane. Requite your baby a chance to cocky soothe

Check with your pediatrician to run into if your baby can slumber through the night. One time he can cocky soothe and put himself to sleep, y'all'll get your evenings back, perhaps the biggest turning point in your slumber and well-being.

Later all, self soothing gives him the ability to cease relying on unsustainable sleep aids like needing yous to rock him to sleep. This is when you beginning to see him sleep a solid 11-12 hours at night without waking upwardly once.

Want to learn more? Join my newsletter and discover the five mistakes that are keeping your babe from cocky-soothing!

Whether you've tried to teach him to cocky soothe in the by or are but now because it, have a expect at the 5 key mistakes to avert. Download your PDF below—at no cost to you. You'll also go my newsletters, which parents say they Honey:

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2. Put your baby downward drowsy but awake

Not ready to slumber train? Endeavor putting your babe downwardly drowsy but awake.

The problem with rocking is that it doesn't let your baby to learn to fall asleep on his own. You're doing all the piece of work for him without giving him a chance to suck his thumbs or roll his head side to side. He can't even experience what it feels like to drift off to sleep alone in a crib.

Maybe this is what my co-worker was referring to when she meant not to rock my infant too much. Rather than rocking or nursing your baby to slumber, try rocking him only to a drowsy country. This gives him a head beginning on falling asleep while however allowing him the chance to fall comatose on his own.

3. Give your baby a chance to prevarication awake on his back

It really is okay to put your babe down and not carry him every minute. Let's say he'southward drowsy, and so y'all slowly lay him downward in his crib. Except the infinitesimal you do, his eyes wing wide open.

It'due south tempting to scoop him back up and stone him back to a drowsy state. But requite him a chance to lie awake, specially since he'south not even crying. He'due south taking in the change in environment and tin yet fall asleep even if you lot lay him down awake.

Letting him lie on his back gives him a gamble to feel comfortable being alone in this position, not existence rocked. He'll accept more opportunities to learn how to autumn asleep when he's lying down awake to practise and so.

I never believed this until I had my twins. I finally gave it a go, giving them a few minutes to fall asleep even if their eyes were open after I put them down in the crib or bassinet. And then, lo and behold, I'd somewhen find them comatose a few minutes later, fifty-fifty though I had put them down wide awake.

four. Feed your baby afterwards wake upward time

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If you're like me, you assumed that feeding your baby to slumber was the way to go. He likely conks out mid-feed, making it ideal to fix him down for a nap.

Just later hearing about Tracy Hogg's Eastward-A-S-Y technique (which stands for eat, awake, sleep, you), I started to feed my baby later on he woke up, not before. In doing and so, he relied less on nursing (and being held) to autumn comatose, breaking yet another addiction that relied on external sleep aids.

Instead, he began to associate feeding with waking upwardly. Feeding after waking up also gave him energy during the time he needed it most—while he was awake—and avoided spit upward from lying down so presently after eating.

Conclusion

Rocking your baby to sleep isn't a big bad terrible thing to do. But information technology can be exhausting, and for many exasperated parents, one of the about draining to exercise over and over once again.

Personally, I regretted rocking my babe to slumber. He learned to rely on external sleep aids instead of cocky soothing. Frequent wake ups meant the entire family was exhausted. My knees were ready to bosom, and most of import, fifty-fifty the rocking somewhen stopped working.

If you're in the same gunkhole, rest bodacious you can plow things around.

Start by giving your baby a chance to fall asleep on his ain, putting him down drowsy just awake. Let him lie awake on his dorsum, and feed him afterwards waking up, non to slumber.

Soon, he'll learn to rely less on rocking to slumber—and you merely might save your arms and knees.

Become more tips:

• What to Do When Your Baby Wakes Up Crying from Naps
• The Biggest Reason Your Baby Will Not Sleep (Even After All This Time)
• 5 Reasons Your Babe Wakes Upwards Crying Hysterically
• Baby Just Wants Mom? These 6 Tips Volition Solve Information technology!
• A New Mom'south Guide to a Baby Fighting Sleep

All the same struggling with putting your babe to slumber or wish he could learn to cocky soothe and sleep on his own? Bring together my newsletter and discover the five mistakes that are keeping your baby from cocky-soothing!

Whether y'all've tried to teach your baby to self soothe in the past or are but at present considering it, take a look at the v fundamental mistakes to avoid. Download your PDF below—at no price to you:

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