We've been using the shush pat technique for about 6weeks, with great success. My LO (almost 5 months) is so easy to get down for naps in his own cot now thanks to the techniques. We have a short wind down routine with the last part involving him lying in his cot listening to a song. We then turn on some white noise (our equivalent of shushing) and he has a short mantra cry sometimes, and we gently pat until he is quiet and then sit with our hands on him til he falls asleep on his own. Sometimes we do this with him laying on his back, but if he starts wriggling (he isn't swaddled) we roll him onto his side and then turn him onto his back once he's asleep.
I am wondering how to progress to the next stage of getting him to sleep completely independently. I'm not in a rush to do this (so am happy to wait til he's a bit older if that's best) but am just interested to know what the next stage is. We haven't tried just leaving him in his bed to fall asleep on his own, but I'm fairly sure he would cry as he seems to take great comfort from us being there. We've already reduced the noise of the shushing and stop patting a lot sooner than we use to (as soon as he's quiet usually), so I'm not sure what the next step is?
Also, does anyone have any advice on naps when out and about? Whilst DS is great falling asleep in his own bed, sometimes he needs to nap in his pram when out and about and we've rarely had any success with shush pat in that (it's also physically quite awkward to manage!). Will this just improve when he starts being able to fall asleep independently?
Thank you
ETS: When we put him down for naps at him, provided we have the timing right, he generally falls asleep within about 5 minutes of being put down, but sometimes it might be nearer 10 minutes.
