How to get DS to sleep

[kellyjoinky]

DS is 14 months old. I nursed him until he was a year old, and anytime he woke up during the night, I would go get him and rock him back to sleep. Then I realized we needed to get him to go to sleep on his own, so now I take him into his room, rock him for just a few minutes, and then lay him in his crib while he is still awake. He usually lays there rolls around, etc. If he sits/stands up I just lay him back down and tell him it is time to go to sleep. He does pretty good with this, as long as I am in the room. As soon as I leave he starts crying, I walk back in the room, he crashes down on the mattress and lays there. It is kinda comical, he will be crying, you open the door and he immediately stops crying and lays back down. Anyway, I won't/cannot do the CIO method, although I don't like hanging out in his room for 15-20 minutes a night standing by his crib and then sneaking out, just for the floor to creak and wake him up, and we start all over again. Any ideas on what I can do to get him to go to sleep without me standing in the room?

[Sputterduck]

I don't know. My son was a bit older before I put him in his crib to sleep. What do you do for his nighttime routine just before bed?

[cc1003]

I'm not sure, I rock/nurse mine to sleep.

[kellyjoinky]

He just plays, and usually starts to get quiet, or gets really whiny when he is ready for bed. When he gets quiet, he will come and sit in my lap and read a book two or three times, and then i will take him to bed. I just turn on his music, turn the lights out and rock him for a few minutes and then lay him in the bed. He will even lay on his belly, and when i move, he will turn his head to make sure i haven't snuck out. It's like he is fine with going to sleep, as long as I stay in there.

[cc1003]

Maybe you could lengthen his routine.

For example, every single night we feed ds his supper at 6pm then he gets a bath. Then dh reads him a book or will just rock him for a few minutes. Then I nurse him, then dh or I rock him to sleep. It is his bedtime routine. I don't know if it would work for you but you could try. His routine is very important to him.

[Sputterduck]

I would start a 1/2 hour to an hour routine before bed to give his body time to produce all the sleepy time hormones so he is more ready to fall asleep quicker once he is in his crib. His body will get the routine pretty quickly and anticipate sleep time.