I used to lull the baby to sleep in my arms, then set her in her crib once she’s been sleeping for a few minutes. She always wakes up at the transfer, but the key is to make sure she’s sleepy enough that she’d want to just go right back to sleep. Sometimes it takes a little assistance, such as positioning her left thumb right up to her mouth and she’ll suck herself to sleep in seconds. Mr. W was concerned that the baby is unable to get herself to sleep without my specific style of soothing, so I’ve been wanting to get her to the point of putting herself all the way to sleep on her own, which will take a little adjustment and training. I realized a week before she turned 4 months that she seemed to be much better at self-soothing, which allows me to let her cry a little at her arousals mid-nap, and watch her put herself back to sleep. This makes her naps longer if I don’t go in and have to pick her up after each arousal, cuz good luck getting her back to sleep then. So I figure now, a little over a week from my having to go back to work, is a good time to try to put her down when she’s “awake but drowsy,” to let her soothe herself the rest of the way to Mr. Sandman’s play yard.

I still do the same routine holding her, walking around in her room, swaying her gently, letting her get drowsy against me, sucking her left thumb. But after a limited time of soothing, whether she’s awake or lightly asleep, I put her into her crib. The last few times, she popped wide awake and looked around, pushing herself off the bed, but I left and watched her on the monitor. She would toss a bit, then soothe herself into her nap. This helps her when she’s awakened by noise, too, as she now gets more and more practice soothing herself back into sleep. Just now, she started to doze and at the transfer, woke up and had an actual protest cry. It lasted a few minutes, and I walked away, closing the door behind me, and washed the pump and bottle parts in our bedroom next door, listening to her crying. Before I was even done, it was quiet. Going downstairs and observing the monitor, I saw her peacefully asleep in her crib.

I hope this makes Nanny Laura’s job easier, because I don’t think other caretakers want to stand around swaying with the baby in their arms for up to half an hour or more sometimes in her room before putting her down in her crib for a nap a few times a day. Now they only have to sway until she gets drowsy enough, which shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes or so, often less. I’ve been scolded by Allie a couple of times when I’d taken too long to get her to her room for her nap, and as soon as we walk in, her complaining stops and she settles right into soothing position on me. I think she now expects to take her naps, which is wonderful.