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I have a little boy who will be 4months on the 17th. (And I am a first time mom) Everyone keeps telling me that he should be sleeping though the night by now and he isn't. Any suggestions? Also, I have trouble getting him to sleep in his crib. He does sleep in his crib but wakes up often (every hour). But when I take naps with him on the weekends I just put him in the bed with me and he will sleep forever if I don't wake him up. I don't know what to do to get him to sleep all night in his crib! Please Help!
Cassie

Get him out of your bed- I made that mistake and had to learn the hard way its hard to get them to stay out once you let them in. I did that with my oldest and we had couldn't get her out till she was almost 4... lol... Another reason its not safe.
With my oldest we gave her cereal in her bottle at night. My grandmother is really good at kid advice she raised 5- anyhow she said if they wake them them fuss for a little bit sometimes they will put themselves back to sleep. My son is 5 months and he sleeps through the night- some nights he wakes starts cooing then goes back to sleep if we don't mess with him.

i use the swaddler...crazy awsome invention that swaddles the baby while they sleep, it actually velcrows (sp?) together and stays on them where as using a blanket comes undone. my kid, if shes not in it, lifts her arms, starles herself and wakes herself up every few minutes, swaddler keeps the arms down and gives them that feeling of being in moms arms all night long. seriously check it out.

Should I rock him to sleep or should I just put him in his crib and let him put himself to sleep?

I let mine put themselves to sleep. I dont see anything wrong with rocking him from time to time- but habits are hard to break sometimes.

How do you do that just put the baby in the crib and let him go to sleep? I am sorry I know these questions seem stupid but I am just trying to break him of a bad habit.

Neither of my kids slept through the night at 4 months.

I find that many people have many opinions on exactly when a baby should sleep through the night and it's very hard for a mom who has a baby that doesn't sleep through the night to hear these opinions. Sometimes it makes you feel that you are failing as a mother, or that you haven't done something right.

You don't say if your baby is formula or breastfed - I would expect a breastfed baby to have a harder time sleeping through the night at 4 months than perhaps a formula fed baby would be.

My best advice to you in this situation is follow your gut maternal instinct. If you decide that you want to sleep train your baby - there are many resources on this online, and in books - your Pediatrician should be able to give you pointers, also.

With my first one I hated to put her in there and let her cry- thats how I got to where I was when she was almost 4 sleeping with me. With my other three I just laid them down when they got cranky and ready for bed. Alayna would go right to sleep. Bryson had his passy to see and Gavin we just lay him down and he talks for a few or fusses some then goes to sleep. If they cried for to long we'd go pat them on their back to help them calm down. Also, with mine- I found they slept better than on their belly then on their backs. With Felicity they had us put her to sleep on her belly cause she chocked when she spit up and gagged in the hospital while on her back-
Your questions aren't stupid- we all have questions- I've got 4 and still ask questions about somethings... but I have learned to do a lot of things different with each one that makes life a little easier.

Thanks for everyone's input. It is tough being a first time mommy especially since I work 40+ hours a week. But hopefully next time everyone gets together I am able to come too!
I really appreciate everyones comments and am going to try and let him put his self to sleep tonight. I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks again!
Cassie

For the most part, you are going to have to determine what works for you but being a first time parent it is a lot of trials......as no one told us about those....LOL!!
I will agree with Tripsi that children need to learn to go to sleep on their own.
I will tell you with our first I rocked her to sleep. In the beginning we rocked to get her to sleep and if she awoke, we would rock her back to sleep. Before long, none of us were getting any sleep because she didn't know how to go to sleep on her own without us rocking it seemed as soon as we laid her down she would awake and want to be rocked AGAIN!! Oh, NO!! That is when we decided we had to wean her down. So we would rock her to sleep but she if she would awake at night, she put herself back to sleep. Then she eventually put herself to sleep at night too. I never realized how one small thing I considered to be "bonding" would turn into such a problem.
As I didn't breastfeed, I loved rocking her!! I saw our time feeding and rocking very important! It was very hard to stop and listen to her cry a little. But we did it and I think it teaches them a little independence (even when they are babies).
And yes, I will agree that co-sleeping is dangerous.......and you might end up with a 10 year old in your bed!!
Good luck and let us know how it goes.

So last night went better than expected. I bought a humidifier (sp?) and plugged it in his room. I think he likes the noise. I did rock him to sleep but he only woke up once during the night and then right when I got up to get ready for work this morning. So the next challenge is to let him put himself to sleep.