[Lucretia Borgia]

Hi, as the title suggests, does anyone here actually put their baby to bed (in bassinette/cot) awake...and baby actually drifts off to sleep, unassisted apart from perhaps the odd shushing, pat on back? I went to the tresillian web site today and this is what they recommend for under 6 months. My son is 6 weeks and is in a terrible place with sleep right now, we are well into over tired territory and have been for about a week. So I put him in his bassinette after a bath, feed and a little cuddle, his eyes were nearly falling out of his head, but he was awake...as soon as his head hit the mattress his eyes were wide open and the howls of protest began so I patted and shushed for 40 minutes(yes I timed it) until my back gave in, he was beside himself and I was crying as much as him. So....not very successful! Tresillian makes it sound like you get the odd whimper then it's lights out. Has anyone does this successfully? If so, what is your secret?

Also (this is a vent really, just need to get it off my chest) but he (my 6 week old) has been awake since 2 this afternoon...I kid you not. I fed him before school pick up, and he hasn't slept since despite being held, I tried to feed him to sleep , rock him etc...that can't be healthy for him? This has been a pattern for the last week, and terrible night sleep follows. I really don't know what to do, any advice is welcome. He is breastfed, no reflux and won't take a dummy.

TIA

[girlonfire]

We've been trying to do this with 8 week old DD just the last couple of days. It's going pretty well!

Previously she'd go down awake but drowsy for a few morning feeds (and go to sleep after a bit of fussing), but in the afternoons, she would cry as soon as I put her in the bassinet and so I was taking that as a sign she wasn't ready to go to sleep.
So I would get her up again to feed/cuddle.

Then she'd get overtired and spend all afternoon and evening on the couch with me, and I'd be totally confused about why she wouldn't sleep. I didn't think babies could get overtired - I thought they just slept when they needed to and didn't need any help.

But since I started to read about babies' tired signs, it's become painfully obvious that she has been getting massively overtired in the afternoons because I've been giving up too easily.

So now she takes a few times of resettling and she lets out a few little wails, but she will go to sleep if she needs to.