What does awake but drowsy REALLY mean?

Our ds can go down pretty much awake and fall asleep on his own, however, our dd is a little different In order for her to go to sleep, I nurse her until she is REALLY drowsy. Her eyes are closed but is not in deep sleep. When I get up from nursing her and walk to their room, she'll open her eyes a little then close them. Does this mean awake but drowsy in your opinion? I would obviously prefer not to start "bad" habits here. THANKS!!

 

Our ds can go down pretty much awake and fall asleep on his own, however, our dd is a little different In order for her to go to sleep, I nurse her until she is REALLY drowsy. Her eyes are closed but is not in deep sleep. When I get up from nursing her and walk to their room, she'll open her eyes a little then close them. Does this mean awake but drowsy in your opinion? I would obviously prefer not to start "bad" habits here. THANKS!!

 

Our little girl was similar. You do have to treat them as individuals. I would say that maybe you could gradually cut back on the nursing to where she is just a bit more alert and see what happens. Rubbing eyes, yawning, stretching are drowsy cues. Eyes rolling back into head, heavy eyelids. So, not sleeping yet.

 

that sounds fine to me. I believe drowsy but awake means that you've seen some sleepy signs from the kiddo. (rubbing the eyes, yawns, etc.) and you execute your ritual and put them down.

Teri D

 

Drowsy but awake at our house means barely able to keep your eyes open. Lately I've been putting them down awake, in the sense that they are showing sleepy sign and tired, but not starting to doze off yet.

 

At that age I would put them in when they were starting to close their eyes and couldn't keep them open. But I was starting to put them in while they were still awake but showing all the signs of sleep.. yawning, rubbing eyes, starting to fuss a bit. And by about 4 months I was putting them in at the same time while they were still awake but I knew they were tired and they got used to sleeping at that time so they went to sleep withing 10 mins.

 

Sounds perfect to me! Mine were nursed to sleep and then would rouse a little when I moved them. I think this was a good thing because they got to see that they were in their beds before closing their eyes again.

As they got older, they would no longer fall asleep nursing (unless they're REALLY exhausted) and there was a period of adjustment when I did some rocking to help them settle on an as-needed basis. No bad habits came of this.

There is a reason breastmilk has a sedative effect -- go ahead and take advantage of it

 

I've been putting my boys in their crib for naps "awake but drowsy" for the last few weeks, and it's actually turned into more "awake" than "drowsy". I just can't manage to catch both at that drowsy point, soothe them and put into the crib. So, I've actually been putting them in when seem sleepy but are actually awake. I get a bit of protest fussing, but a few times they've simply gone to sleep! It doesn't work every time, but you might give it a try. I definitely don't think you're starting bad habits at this point, but there will come a day where you'll be really happy that they can put themselves to sleep from a less drowsy state.