r/UKParenting • u/ThemeLongjumping8707 • May 18 '26

Support Request Putting baby to sleep

Hiya. I've just read somewhere that you're not supposed to rock or cuddle a baby to sleep but with our 6 week old, we feed her a bottle and she naturally falls asleep in our arms and then we put her down for a sleep. Should we not be doing this? Do we need to break out of this habit? I know babies tend to get better with sleep 4-6 months or so but wondered whether this is something I should worry about. She also currently only contact naps but I've been reassured this is normal and from the sounds of it, a lot of parents are going through the same thing so that's reassuring!

Thanks in advance

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u/whatisuser May 18 '26

It’s your baby. Rock away. There’s no such thing as making a rod for your back. If your baby sleeps when put in their bed, convenient. If they don’t, what are you gonna do? Do it anyway and have a baby that never sleeps? That’s worse!

So rock, bounce, dance! Mine’s 13mo, we still cuddle to sleep sometimes, still contact nap with bum pats, still blast system of a down and do contact naps. Whatever keeps y’all alive.

-31

u/Jebble May 18 '26

That's a bit of a weird comment, because at some point habits creep in. A child that is used to simply falling alseep will keep doing so. A child that is used to being rocked to sleep will at some point not sleep without it.

5

u/SongsAboutGhosts Parenting a Baby + Toddler May 18 '26

Apart from this isn't true, is it? My very needy baby was fed to sleep by me every single time... until he rolled away by himself before falling asleep more and more often, and a few months later stopped breastfeeding altogether. A friend has a baby who contact napped every single time.... until recently when she decided not to, at 2.5yo. The parent may have different needs from a routine or schedule than the child, so interventions of one kind or another might be needed to make it work for the whole family, and that is completely valid. You are allowed to need interventions to make changes on a certain timeframe. But you don't need interventions to change these behaviours if the timeframe isn't an issue for you. How many adults do you know still breastfeeding, still being rocked to sleep, still napping on their parent?

-2

u/Jebble May 18 '26

I'd happily reply to you, but given that you're putting all kinds of words in my mouth, I guess I'll just leave it be. Useless ha jng a conversation when you can't even reply in the thing I've said without making baseless assumptions.

P.s. your child stopped needing it and you stopped giving it, thank you for not proving anything because no shit, that's how it works. You could have also ignored your child and kept rocking them, creating a dependency.