Anyone been successful at being able to rock a baby to sleep who doesn't want to be?

[Dianne-TX]

Our ds8months does not liked to be rocked to sleep. He wants his bed. I know, I know, what am I complaining about? Well, I want to rock my baby. :( He slept on us for the first two months and has always been a great sleeper, but as he has gotten older he doesn't want to sleep on us or rock. He just squirms and most times when we lay him in bed, he goes right to sleep. It makes it challenging when we go places, too, because he won't sleep on us and we can't lay him down. Any hints or help from someone who knows what I'm going through?

[JenneinCA]

My youngest did that. He has always been a very independent little boy. I missed rocking him to sleep too. I could put him in bed and wait ten minutes and he was asleep. I think he found the rocking too much input when he wanted to sleep.

 

Our solution when we were out was to put him in his baby bucket and let him go to sleep that way. Once we did put him in the stroller and face the stroller at a wall when he was a little bigger.

[Rosie_0801]

Nope. My little guy wants to go to bed when he's tired, but he'll take cuddles at any time when he's awake :) Don't force it. It'll only make him grumpy and making someone grumpy isn't the best way to show love!

 

I can still get snuggles out of my sleepy dd though, so that's something :)

 

Rosie

[MelissaMom]

Might just be too much sensory stimulation for him. Sorry that doesn't solve the problem;) I had one babe that liked his face covered with a blanket. And the one babe that hated the car would only fall asleep if we were stroking here face. :tongue_smilie: road trips weren't fun with her. Try different things to see what works.

[LibraryLover]

One of my sons never fell asleep in the sling, but at about 5/6 months, he would sleep peacefully & easily in the backpack. That was nice. He also liked to snuggle and look at books, point to pictures etc when he was fresh. Maybe he'd like to rock/snuggle/read after a rest?

Edited December 24, 2010 by LibraryLover

[katemary63]

Our ds8months does not liked to be rocked to sleep. He wants his bed. I know, I know, what am I complaining about? Well, I want to rock my baby. :( He slept on us for the first two months and has always been a great sleeper, but as he has gotten older he doesn't want to sleep on us or rock. He just squirms and most times when we lay him in bed, he goes right to sleep. It makes it challenging when we go places, too, because he won't sleep on us and we can't lay him down. Any hints or help from someone who knows what I'm going through?

 

My DD19 was EXACTLY the same way. At a few months old, she just did not want cuddling when she was tired. So I learned to put her to bed awake. I was DEVASTATED! I WANTED to rock her to sleep. But she would have none of it. If I tried, she cried and cried! What is WRONG with some babies!? LOL I learned to spend lots of time cuddling her when she was wide awake. Eventually, about age 2, she became cuddly again.

[Sevilla]

What happens if you lay next to him and he falls asleep that way? That might be easier for him than laying on top of you or rocking. I never really rocked my babies to sleep, but I laid down with them and nursed them to sleep which worked well.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

My firstborn was like that. She would never sleep on me, or in my arms. She wanted her bed. She'd be fussing and fighting me. Then, when I laid her down, I'd hear an audible sigh, watch her relax, and she'd be asleep almost instantly.

 

She's 14 now. She doesn't like to be touched softly. She likes to have her back scratched, but she hates back rubs. She loves hugs, though!