Author Topic: Weaning from pat/shh?? When and how??  (Read 1211 times)

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Offline jm2006

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Weaning from pat/shh?? When and how??
« on: June 13, 2006, 16:56:42 pm »
I have a 14wk old dd and have been using pat/shh to put her to sleep for almost a month now.  We have wind down time in the rocking chair, with some lullabies and then pat/shhing in the chair till she is super drowsy with eyelids closed (usually takes 5-10 minutes in the chair for naps and bedtime).  Then I put her in her crib & contine patting till she is out (usually 5 mins or so).  Sometimes she cries & fusses, and sometimes she just falls right asleep.  I am just wondering how and when to wean her off the patting in the crib?  Should I just slowly stop doing it?  I've tried cutting back but if I stop patting while she is still fussing and not calm and drifting off she just keeps fussing.  Any suggestions?

TIA!
Jennifer

Offline *Nicola*

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Re: Weaning from pat/shh?? When and how??
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2006, 21:02:31 pm »
Hiya Jennifer

We used pat/shh with Ciara for a long time when she was a baby.  To be honest I don't remember exactly when we started to wean but I think around 3 months.  We used a white noise machine instead of the shh which worked wonders.  I bought the natures lullaby machine but you could use a radio not tuned to a station, or a fan.  For us this subsitutued the shh brilliantly, and relieved us from standing at the bed for ages.

As for the pat part I think we gradually reduced it until it was just a gentle pat as we put her down.

HTH x
Mummy to 2 beautiful kiddies. 

A baby is born from the dreams of your heart, and becomes the love of your life.



Offline jm2006

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Re: Weaning from pat/shh?? When and how??
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2006, 00:13:56 am »
Thanks for the response!  Did you continue to do the same wind down routine and put her in the crib drowsy?  I think we're getting close to the point when we can stop patting/shhing in the crib but we will still have to do it as part of wind down.  Did you ever get to the point where you could just walk in her room and put her down wide awake and she would go to sleep?  Just curious if I will have to continue our wind down indefinately - could mean problems when we go to daycare!

Thanks again!
Jennifer

Offline estherofi20

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Re: Weaning from pat/shh?? When and how??
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2006, 00:25:58 am »
Hi Jennifer,

well with my DS, we used the pat-shush up until 3MO probably, he was at his worst from 4 or 5 WO till ( WO, it used to take me from 45min to an hr just to get hiim to settle, after 8WO he started to need it less and less, and suddenly at 12WO he stopped needing it completely, to the point where now i just place him on the crib, draw the curtains and leave the room, so for us it took a while but he alone started to decrease the amount of time of the pat-shushing, so i guess he weaned himself from it. I guess it depends on each baby. We also use a white noise machine at bedtime and it does work wonders.

As for the winddown, i still do it, it is quite important 'cause they know they are going to sleep when it starts, KWIM?

HTH