Sleep Training Survivors Thread

cjpell0

DS has a cold and we're still more or less continuing on. This is his second cold in a month and my fear would be that we would never sleep train if that was the case. He's actually going down pretty easy but he's waking up a million times a night now.

CalinAZ

We're continuing on even though LO has a runny nose, since he doesn't seem to really have other symptoms. Also, I feel like we're being pretty gradual and just working on spreading out the feedings right now (adding 30 minutes between feedings and then keeping that spread until LO can do it without crying, then adding another 30 minutes the next night). There's been very little extended crying involved, and LO has been getting more sleep than normal since he's now only waking up twice a night, instead of 5-6 times a night, and is also doing better for naps, so I think it's okay. 

I do think I'd wait until symptoms are on their way out and are just mild, and then backtrack a bit with your training to where your LO can handle it. Since they've already learned how to sleep well once, it shouldn't take much to go back to that again. 

Zachysmommy

Starting sleep training tonight using sleep easy solution book. I am really worried but baby has been up 5 or 6 times per night for months. Many nights I can't get him to go back to sleep for an hour or two. He is pretty stubborn. Any reassurance or tips would be greatly appreciated!!! I am afraid of how long he will cry. The book says most babies stop after an hour. Anyone have experience with crying longer than this? Thank you!!!!

cd92007

@zachysmommy good luck!! It took about 2 hours the first night for my LO.. BUT he definitely wasn't crying that entire time. It was a mix of crying, playing/rolling around, cooing, fussing, sleeping for a couple minutes than waking. It was brutal waiting it out and seemed like an eternity, but stick with it!! It's worth it, I promise!

ps - I have a very stubborn little guy too... a stubborn Taurus like his mommy! ha 

Zachysmommy

Thanks @cd92007‌ for the support!! Let's see how this goes...

juniper75

Good Luck @zachysmommy ! It might not be that bad. My LO has never cried for more than 20 minutes even on her worst night. Usually is 5-10 minutes of fussing on and off and now half the time she just rolls around til she falls asleep - like tonight . Naps were a bit tougher but she picked up the night stuff pretty quickly. I also found there was a drastic difference in the amount of crying from day 1 to day 2 - so if tonight is bad tomorrow will likely be much better.

Zachysmommy

Thanks @juniper75‌. We are at 1/2 hour crying now!!! I have been praying! I may hop in the shower and let hubby listen for the next few min!!!

juniper75

Checkins just made my LO more upset. Her crying always got worse after she saw me so we cut them out. Luckliy she never cried more than 20 min. I think and hour and 10 is pretty decent with stepped soothing - night two should be better

Teresa1896

Oy. First night of Sleepeasy solution here too. Our problem is night wakeups. He did fine with the scheduled wakeups to feed but lost his shit at 4am. He would cry, find his thumb, calm himself down, doze off and then wake up. Cycle repeated. It's now 615.
But I didn't give in and pick him up or nurse him. He obviously expected me to help him back to sleep, and that's the problem.
So first night over. Mommy: 1. Tman:0

Zachysmommy

The first night he cried for 35 min. But was up for a 1/2 hour at 11 and 1 1/2 at 3 ( I fed him then). Then he slept until 6:45!! The 2nd night he went down in 7 min (!!!!). He was up at 11 for a 1/2 hour and then slept until 7. I am cautiously happy so far. But my husband and I are like why the f did we choose Halloween / time change weekend to do this. I feel like an idiot lol.

Zachysmommy

But I am also not dealing with night weaning. He is 20 lbs and was going for 12 hour stretches with out eating before his 1st two teeth came in. My dr said not to feed him before the first 8 hour stretch has gone by. I am feeling for you ladies who have to do the night weanings too!!!

Zachysmommy

I think the book says if it's there wake up time you just go get them and then wait for the first scheduled nap.

Zachysmommy

Night 2 was way easier. I hope the same is true for night 3

juniper75

We haven't solved early wake ups yet. Our days start earlier since we did sleep training but I am living with it for now. We are also still nursing at night, but I just go in feed and leave. I am going to try and tackle these once we get down to scheduled naps twice a day.

CalinAZ

We were doing great (down to 2 feedings), but then had a night of regression where he was back to every 2 hours. Last night was pretty good (3.5 between feedings) until we hit early morning. He ate at 3:15 and then woke up at 6am desperate for food. Made him suffer until 6:15 and then I fed him. Plus side, he actually went back to sleep after that until 7:30! 

I think we'll keep shooting for 3.5 between feedings until we actually get that down. But, I'll celebrate having cut our # of feedings in half from where they were a week ago. Somehow, I don't feel more rested, yet, though . 

Rachnan

I've very much enjoyed reading this post. Things have gotten progressively worse for LO as it relates to sleep. He is taking forever to get to sleep and waking up several times. One good thing is we haven't done MOTN feeding in a few months. Anyway, we are starting the Ferber Method tonight with stepped checkins. Hopefully in a few nights we'll be believers like you all!

CalinAZ

@mrsstanton87 - so, so happy it improved so much! Congrats

snowbound

I think sleep training is working in reverse for me. Or it's the sudden onset of two teeth coming in at once. The first 3 nights were a breeze. Fell asleep within 5 min of being put down with little to no crying and only had two MOTN wake ups. Now... He's taking progressively longer to fall asleep with more wake ups. Hopefully it gets better after these teeth pop through.

cd92007

@snowbound‌ it's prob the teeth.. Sleep training worked perfectly for my son and then he got a cold and was back to his old ways. Then once the cold was gone... Back to being a great sleeper! Fingers crossed that's the case for you too!

juniper75

Yes teeth messed us up for a bit too. But its better now.

@MrsStanton87. I hope naps sort out soon. I did them separately and only started naps about 3 weeks after we did nights but I did find it took much longer for naps to resolve than it did for nights. She still crys at the start of all her naps. Most of the time its for 5 min or less but sometimes its 15 and its tough!

hlm184

DS goes to sleep super easy, but still wakes up 3 times between bedtime and wake-up.  Last night DH got him to skip his first feeding using Ferber, but then he proceeded to wake up at midnight for a feed, and then every hour afterwards.  Ugh.

myla14

This might be a dumb place to ask this, but it seems like you ladies have done a lot of reading. If you do zero sleep training, do the night wakings eventually get better with time alone (say, within the first year of life)? I feel like if I could anticipate an end, even if its a ways off, I could keep doing our 3-5 wakeups.

Teresa1896

@myla14‌ there's no way of knowing if the wakeups will stop on their own. Maybe. My LO is up 3-5 times per night and wouldn't put himself back to sleep without being nursed. That's a sleep association I created, so I don't think it's one he would give up easily on his own. Hasn't worked so far.... Hence the sleep training. :-)

steph1977

Sleep training was going pretty well for us, too. Down to 2 feedings per night, with only one extra wake up. A cold and incoming tooth seem to be messing things up -- up several more times the last few nights, then up & cranky SO early. Hoping we all get some more consistent sleep soon!

cjpell0

DS is now more or less falling asleep on his own but when he wakes for the MOTN feedings it's taking hours to get him back down and I just end up marathon nursing him again. We tried following the same method we're using in the beginning of the night (put down drowsy but awake, check in if crying hits a certain level, only pick up if he reaches out) but it's failing miserably. 

During the middle of the night ones, he never even whimpers, it's straight to pure screaming which has led to him throwing up a few times so I'm not comfortable doing that again. 

myla14

We also have straight up screaming in the motn, almost like a bad dream. Sometimes the pacifier is enough, sometimes not. It seems to go in phases and I can't tell if they're random or its something we're doing.

CalinAZ

And.....all of our work has been undone . Darn cold and tooth coming in. On the plus side, DS woke up routinely again, instead of randomly at all hours. Unfortunately, it was every 2 hours on the dot, which is where we started our sleep training. Guess we'll start back up again once he's feeling better. 

So, so tired.

Rachnan

First night of sleep training.  LO went down pretty easy (we've been working on this for a while) but the MOTN wake up were terrible.  He woke up about 5 times and it got progressively worse.  He wasn't even trying to soothe himself and would just lay on his back screaming (he really only sleeps on his tummy) even though he is fully capable of rolling. Hoping for better results tonight.

 

ETA: What did you all do for naps?  Did you for it all at once? We still have an issue with having to bounce and hold LO for his naps.

CalinAZ

@rachnan - I'm horribly lazy and have resorted to nursing to sleep for naps. One of my sleep books said that since naps were different from nighttime sleep, it shouldn't mess them up, and since they sleep less during sleep training, you can use whatever means necessary to get in those naps, so they aren't overtired at night. So, no help here. I think some do nighttime first, and some do all at once. Depends on how strong of a person you are - I couldn't handle doing both at the same time

juniper75

I did them separately because I didn't want her to get so horribly overtired. We night trained for 2-3 weeks during which I did whatever was necessary to get her to nap during the day. Then we started on naps. I still nurse down to naps, I just make sure I don't let her fall asleep on the boob. I will prob have to change this but I'm going to wait til she's a bit older.

Rachnan

Makes sense.  Think i will hold off on the naps for now.  He's also congested so I don't know that it's an ideal time to start all this, but we are at our whits end!

jhasselt

Is anyone's LO sharing a room with a sibling?  I'm ready for a little sleep training, but don't want to wake up my daughter.

Also, I'm sure I read this through all 4 pages, but what time is bedtime for LO?

cjpell0

I've read the general rule is bedtime should be 12 hours before you want them to wake up. DS has to be up by 7, so we try to put him to bed by 7. 

cd92007

We did sleep training for nights and naps at the same time. I won't lie... It was really hard on me, but SO worth it. It really only took one weekend and then he was like a completely new baby. I think it really helped him learn to self soothe when he wasn't getting mixed messages (like crying it out at night and bouncing/rocking to sleep during the day).

steph1977

Do most of you nurse or bottle feed before putting your LOs down for naps? I was following the EASY routine, so I always fed as soon as he woke up. Naps are still only 20-30 min., so I'm wondering if we'd have more success if I tried feeding him immediately before sleep.

steph1977

@mamrotu73‌ - How long does he typically nap? If I fed before and after, he'd be eating again in 30 min. Maybe if I feed him before he'll actually sleep a bit longer! Will try this tomorrow.

juniper75

@Steph1977 - I followed EASY with my first DD when she was little but I found it didn't work as well as she got older and I switched to feeding before naps somewhere between 4-5 months. I would think its worth giving it a try. It did work for us. As for feeding before and after it would depend on how long he sleeps for. If it were only 30 min you wouldn't need to feed right after. But if you wind up with a 1.5 - 2hr nap you might need to.

pbandjmom

juniper75 said:

@Steph1977 - I followed EASY with my first DD when she was little but I found it didn't work as well as she got older and I switched to feeding before naps somewhere between 4-5 months. I would think its worth giving it a try. It did work for us. As for feeding before and after it would depend on how long he sleeps for. If it were only 30 min you wouldn't need to feed right after. But if you wind up with a 1.5 - 2hr nap you might need to.

This is what I do, and typically I get two 1-2hr naps a day.

Teresa1896

jhasselt said:

Is anyone's LO sharing a room with a sibling?  I'm ready for a little sleep training, but don't want to wake up my daughter.

Also, I'm sure I read this through all 4 pages, but what time is bedtime for LO?

LO shares a room with 3 yr old dd. We've been sleep training (Sleepeasy solution) for almost a week, and during that time I moved dd into our room and I sleep in her bed so I'm closer to LO for the scheduled night wakeups/feedings. He is almost sleeping through the night now so she can probably go back to her room in a day or two.

steph1977

Thanks for the advice, ladies. Feeding before naps isn't working out for us so far . A.M. nap is still 20-30 min, then he wakes up screaming b/c he's still so tired. It seems the only time he'll sleep longer is if he's in the car seat, still!