E.A.S.Y. but CRYING -- inadequate ritual?

[Katet]

A prop is something your lo needs ALL the time to go to sleep, if you use something like the swing or car/pram for the occasional naps it is fine, infact a good idea as they get used to not always sleeping in the one place. It will also allow your dw to get out & about (if your lo sleeps in the pram) & have a bit of a social life, which will actually give her the strength the deal with crying, as she won't feel a prisoner to the nap routine.
With my #2 he ends up having at least one nap a day in the pram &/or car & used to have quite a few in the pouch until he got too big 7 he goes down like a dream, in his cot most of the time unless overtired

[palaeologus]

Hurrah!  It's not just a "bit of progress" anymore.  We are having GREAT success in recent days with a hands-off approach where we just let LO rove the crib instead of getting worked up about her position and movements.  She has proved us wrong for several put downs in a row -- she CAN settle herself if given a little unsupervised time and space.  Having a duckling lovie to keep her company hasn't hurt, either.  So it seems that for the moment, the ritual (without a bath) is proving equal to the task, as we had hoped.  And DW and I are "new people" lol.

Many thanks to all who responded with suggestions!  DW and I may need to make more extensive adjustments in the future when LO gets into teething and such, and the ideas aired here will definitely come in handy.  But I think we can close the thread for the moment.

Next step: phasing out the dream feed in a few days or so.  <crossing fingers>