I have been nursing before nap and bedtime, and then putting him down awake. i think when his father gets him to sleep at night though, sometimes he uses shush/pat still... [:/]. i am not very good at the patience part of standing by his crib for an hour to get him to sleep so i normally let DH do it if it is taking a while... sometimes he still goes to sleep when we are out of the room. last night for instance, he did, but it took me going in to lay him back down and cove him, and then walking out, about 10 times. ( he will get up and jump and cry, and at this point there is no self settling about it. He has never been the type of child to lay down and sleep anywhere he is, or ever go to sleep without me trying somehow) and then there are all those night wakes, and i can rarely get him back to sleep without nursing. He normally wakes around 7ish, although today and yesterday it was more like 7:30 (but that will change drastically if i leave him in his crib all night) and nap is normally around 12:15ish. and he will sleep for about 45m-1h 15m. and i can hardly ever get him to go back down. and if the day is typical try to get him back down around 6:30ish. and because he goes to bed so early, his dinner is normally pretty close to bed. i"m not sure if thats a problem. then we go potty, brush teeth, i give him a little lotion massage, pjs, nurse and then bed. I have tried doing his bath at night, but he is very spirited and it seems to get him way too excited.
