sleeping babies...

[yummymum]

Hi all, im about to have my second child, I had many sleepless nights with m first and he didnt go to bed on his own till he was 13 months old. I feel i made many mistakes with my first and want to be better prepared this time round, do any off you have ideas to help me this time round, maybe products or techniques you have used??

[smiley07]

Hiya i have had 4 planned pregnancies in under 5 years.......i have 3 boys the eldest passed away when he was a month old...they are ages 1 2 and 3........and they are lovely really good boys..........my family and friends are always asking how i train them.........i dont i just set routine..it will make yr life so much easier.........when babies are so small it is really difficult sleepless nights etc.........when my mum told me this piece of advice i found it hilarious but it actually works.......babies like to be comforted.....so when you are putting baby down to sleep in the cot wrap up nice and warm tightly so that he can move body around much.honest he she will sleep through most of the night the room should be dark..............also spend alot of time with baby tlc etc.but after you have finished put baby down or else baby is going to get used to you holing it all the time and that will make it difficult for you
up to you but this is 3 boys experience and they are fab sleep through know when its bedtime and the one year old is so good too
all the best
take care

[winny]

Oh I think you are being a bit harsh on yourself. Ok maybe you could have done things differently but mistakes is a bit rough. smiley is right. Babies like comfort. They like routine too and although I only have 2 they slept through from 11 and 8 weeks in their own cots. If you try to keep everything the same each night and you know they are comfortable, warm, hungry, dry etc then they soon get the hang of settling. If baby wakes simply comfort preferably without picking up (classical radio or soothing baby songs are good) and be consistent.
I do feel also that as a mum you are more relaxed with no.2 and baby picks up on this too. I was very lucky I had my mum who has 4 and a trained nanny as a sister who had loads of advice and tips. One major piece of advice mum gave me was listen to what everyone says and then make your own mind up.
When is baby 2 due you will keep us informed I trust.

[yummymum]

Hi thanks for your comments, my little boy is 3 now and he is a great routine now and as been since he was about 2 but it took a while i just hope i can learn from my mistakes and this time listen to ppl's advice. my main worry is that i will be fine during the day but come night time when im tired I will let the baby get bad habits, which if its anything like it was with my lad it will be hard to kick those habits.

Im due on the 26th June Ive only just found out iam pregnant so it was a bit of a shock!

[winny]

With any luck the thought of breaking those habits will give you the extra energy in the night to not start them. I know everyone will say it and like me you probably wont believe it until it happens but number 2 will probably be completely different .You will acheive a completely different set of bad habits!!!!!! Still its great having two around congrats.

[stressed out]

I am in the same situation, i have a 3 year old who has never slept well if he was'nt with me (his mum). I had another little boy 3 weeks ago and throughout the pregnancy i worried about how to break my other son's bad routine, i always told him that when the baby came he would have to sleep in his own bed and that he had a lovely room that was all his, I even bought him a novelty bed to see if this would entice him.. Anyway, it's really hard for me as i am a single mum but my own mother has been great and has been staying over
to help with my son. i have to say that so far my son sleeps well in his bed but i wonder if he will when my mum can no longer stay over. The only concern i have with my son is that, although he loves the baby, i have noticed that he screams and gets frustrated and whinges alot more than he used to.

I, like you, don't want to make the same mistakes with the new baby as i did with my son; i always held my son and at the first whimper i would pick him up, he cried all the time so when he did sleep i was so scared he would awake and scream for hours again that i tiptoed and kept everything quiet.. I later found out he had health problems with his gut and kidneys etc and then later he was diagnosed as hyperactive for which i am refused medication so my daily life with him is terrible.

i know every child is different but when i was pregnant with the second and i was told it was another boy i went home and cried with the thought that i may have 2 sons, who cry all the time and never sleep and are hyperactive.. I know it's early days but he is quite peaceful, only
cries for a feed or winding and can happily lay in his basket!

This time around i am more relaxed to his cries and do not run to pick him up, if it takes me 5 or 10 minutes to make up his feed and he cries then so be it. Also i am bottle feeding this time around as i breastfed my other son and it was very tiring and i

[karenfward]

Try not to worry. With my first baby, we used to hold him until he fell asleep and the put him in his cot. once he woke up he wouldnt settle back in his cot so ended up in bed with us!! When he was 14 months I decided enough was enough. I was determined that he wasnt going to continue sleeping with us so I had ONE disturbed night when each time he woke, I picked him up and cuddled him but told him he had to sleep in his own cot. At aboiut 3 oclock in the morning and around a dozen treips into his room he fell asleep in my arms while I was sitting on the spare bed in his room. Don,t ask me why but I lay him on the bed and covered him up. He didnt wake until 8 oclock the next morning!!!!! We went out and bought a bed guard and told him he was a big boy and was going to sleep in his big bed now. Amazing! that night we tucked him into bed, read him a story and he slept through!!

With our second child, from three weeks old I would put her to bed at 8 oclock after her bottle, give her a bear and say its sleep time for little girls and their pink teddies and leave her. She has never been a problem to put to bed, although she is three now and sometimes protests a bit!!

The main thing with a second baby is that you dont have the time to pander to them like you could with a first child. I also felt guily that because my son was 4 when his sister came along, I didnt want him to feel pushed out so therefore when baby was asleep I used to put her down to spend time with him.
Hope this helps.

[spudqueen]

Don't worry about this until you find that you do have a problem! Remember, each child is different. My eldest son didn't sleep through until he was nearly 5 years old and at school, he slept in our bed until he was 2 years old. My younger son slept through from 6 weeks old and never came in our bed!