My 11 month old baby won't fall asleep on her own anymore!

by An.

Question: My 11 month old baby has been a great sleeper from day one, she has been able to put herself to sleep since about 6weeks. A few weeks ago she got a cold and had a hard time falling asleep because she is a thumb sucker and couldn't breath threw her nose, so we would stand by her crib and rub her back.

Now weeks later and the cold gone, she won't fall asleep unless we are standing at her bedside. It is getting frustrating, I have an older child and don't have time to stand in her room until she falls asleep! I need some advice!!

Heidi's Answer: Hi,

The smoothest will be to gradually decrease the time that you rub and stay in her room. Watch her very very closely while she falls asleep so you get a feeling when you can start going away.

At first she'll still be quite asleep when you stop rubbing, but by stopping a little earlier every other night, you can wean from rubbing until she's fast asleep, to less and less deeply asleep, to drowsy and then more and more awake.

Once you stop rubbing, you can still stay but do nothing. Then gradually leave the room earlier until you're back in a routine where you put her down, kiss goodnight and then leave.

Remember to always praise her, even if you were only able to leave '30 seconds early'. That encouragement can do half the work.

You may find the 3-step program in my No-Tears Self Soothing guide helpful, "weaning from having you near to self soothing alone" is one of the adressed issues.

Good luck, take care,
Heidi