Stopping rocking them to sleep

Hey
My two are starting to drive me crazy. At the moment they are sleeping through which is amazing, but their naps are becoming a bit of a nightmare.
The day starts at around 7am and goes feed play nap every 3 hours until 7pm when we give them their final feed and put them to bed. The problem is that we have to rock them to sleep in our arms, even for naps. They used to be able to fall asleep on their own but over the last couple of weeks they just get so upset when they get tired that it's really hard to get them to go to sleep, even though they used to fall asleep on their playmat!
How do i get them to fall asleep on their own in the cot? I've tried to just put them down and leave them (just looking in every 10 mins to check that they're otherwise ok), which kind of works for Ella who cries for about 10-15 mins and them falls asleep (mainly because she's exhausted from crying) but Ben just won't go to sleep.
Help me!!!!!!! I hate hate hate leaving them to cry!!!!!! I know i might have to but if i do just let me know so i know i'm not being ridiculously cruel.

 

i think that i would try putting them down for naps a little sooner. 3 hours seems like a long time to be awake for babies that young, they may be getting overtired which is making it harder for them to fall asleep. at that age we couldn't go longer than 2 hours of awake time. i would also try to rock them a little and then put them down when they are really drowsy/almost asleep and see how that works. i do think that they are still a little young for CIO, they may not have the best ability to soothe themselves to sleep yet and still need a little help from mommy..

for us, naptime was a real struggle between 4-6 months... i hope it is easier for you!

 

generally they'll feed for 30 mins then play for about 1 hour 30mins nap for about 30-45 mins then wake for their next feed that starts about 30 mins later (beginning of next 3 hour cycle)...

 

I think I would just keep trying to put them down w/o rocking and sooth them as needed. They'll eventually learn how to get to sleep on their own!

 

30 to 45 min in each three hour cycle isn't much. I'd try putting them down so the last 90 min of the cycle is nap. So eat and play for 90 min then in the crib for 90 min. Can you let them nap in swings for now and work on only nighttime getting them to go down awake? The swings will give them the rocking motion and help them get better naps. Better naps will translate to going to bed easier. Sleep begets sleep. Hang in there, it really does get better!

 

I think by 4 months we were doing more of a 4 hour schedule, mainly because they were sleeping closer to 90-120 minutes. I agree w/pp, a nap of 30-45 min. isn't much... I've read that sleep is in 45 minute cycles, and with some sleep training hopefully you'll be able to get 2 sleep cycles in a nap period.

I followed the Baby Whisperer method, which is the routine you are already doing, she calls it EASY (eat, activity, sleep - and then time for You). She has lots of helpful hints to get them to fall asleep on their own.

 

I love the book Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child. I'd recommend reading that if you haven't yet; lots of helpful information! We started following it for our boys when they were 7.5 weeks old (without CIO) and they started taking consistent naps almost instantly. I agree that it sounds like they are getting overtired, which makes it harder for them to fall asleep. I would try putting them down when you first notice drowsy cues--rubbing eyes, yawning, etc.--but no later than 2 hrs after they woke up. When my babies were your LOs' age, they would be awake for 1.5-2 hours and then down for 2-2.5 hours.
Good luck!

 

Should their daytime naps be 2 hours long if they're sleeping through the night? they've slept through since 2.5 months (7pm - 7am)

 

i don't know if you will be able to get them to nap for 2 whole hours but i think you should try for at least 1 hour. if they are only napping for 30-45 minutes they are not getting any restorative sleep, at least that is what it says in HSHHC. i think you want them to go through 1-2 complete sleep cycles and if they are waking at 30-45 minutes they are waking during a cycle transition... confusing i know... i also really recommend healthy sleep habits, happy child; it did help me tons in figuring out what kind of napping they needed and how to get them to actually take the naps they needed..

 

One of my girls was too dependant on being rocked to sleep! Our sleeping went wild at 4mths old and after a month and a half of trying to break the rocking habit we ended up doing CIO and it saved our lives. I would definately give putting them down earlier ago, i used to have them down within 1.5 hours to avoid them getting mega overtired. If you can get the HSHHC book i would recommend it, i still refer to it now and he writes about issues you might face right the way through to teenage yrs! Anyway lots of luck!

One of my girls was too dependant on being rocked to sleep! Our sleeping went wild at 4mths old and after a month and a half of trying to break the rocking habit we ended up doing CIO and it saved our lives. I would definately give putting them down earlier ago, i used to have them down within 1.5 hours to avoid them getting mega overtired. If you can get the HSHHC book i would recommend it, i still refer to it now and he writes about issues you might face right the way through to teenage yrs! Anyway lots of luck!

 

Ditto this; I would aim for at least an hour for each nap. LOs from 6 months to 2 years need, on average, 14 hrs of sleep in a 24-hr period. Mine actually get more than that though; they just started sleeping 12 hrs at night up from 10-11 which they've been doing for a while) and they also nap for 1-2 hrs in the morning and 2-2.5 hrs in the afternoon.

 

(I forget the average hrs of sleep for 4 month olds but I believe it was either 14.5 or 15 hrs a day.)