Another sleep training post....

Sketner610

I know there are TONS of posts about sleep training, and I have been reading them, but I just need tips for sleep training an older baby. I'm not exactly sure what Feber is, but I think my plan is just cry it out and go back to lay him down and cover him up and check on him every 15 minutes. My question is, should I do naps and night training all at once? I would assume so. Do I give up on a nap all together if he can't calm down in a certain amount of time? How do you deal with middle of the night wakings? Do you still do cry it out at 2am? Also, I'm in an apartment. How do you deal with neighbors and the extremely loud crying/screaming baby? I feel like letting my son scream at 2am just seems so rude and inconsiderate of me. He's almost 11 months now though and he just has been fighting sleep more and more lately (usually I nurse and rock him to sleep). I think the time for sleep training has finally come...

ElleMF728

Start with nights.  Once its been 2 weeks or so and your evenings are under control then start working on naps.  An overtired baby at bedtime is going to struggle more so do whatever you need to in order to get good naps (rocking, nursing to sleep, letting LO sleep with you etc.).  Night sleep and day sleep are different processes so continuing those habits during the day won't sabotage your efforts at bedtime. I've heard of people informing their neighbors that they are going to attempt STing as a warning but I don't have that experience since we live in a single family home.  

STing should be done at bedtime and usually isn't as necessary MOTN, the purpose is to remove sleep associations rather than drop MOTN feeds which are more easily done through weaning if necessary though you will likely notice that those MOTN feeds will lessen or disappear completely just by removing sleep associations.  Exceptions for Ferber or CIO MOTN would be any wakes close to bedtime (before midnight is a general rule of thumb) or when laying LO down after eating MOTN when you know he isn't hungry and has a dry diaper. This should help with your worry about the crying at 2 am.  You aren't asking baby to go cold turkey on feeds which would probably result in serious crying while your neighbors are trying to sleep.  Rather the training would take place around 7 or 8 pm which, while annoying I'm sure, is at least not keeping them from getting a decent night sleep. 

I posted a few links on your other post which should help if you are interested in reading a little more.  I'm also part of a sleep group which offers great advice and support if you are interested.   I found it helpful (and necessary in our case) to take a second look at and rework our schedule before STing.

ElleMF728

I also think the training posts are more common around this age because we tend to run out of other options.  Its easy to rock, bounce and cuddle a little baby to sleep but our squirmy mobile one year olds make that more complicated. 

jen83mn

We rocked to sleep until 10.5 months when our little guy decided he was going to wake up and cry the second we laid him down in his bed asleep. After a few nights of this, we knew it was time to go the drowsy but awake route!

We decided to sleep train with all at once, bedtime and naps, just so we couldn't confuse him and it would be consistent (including having our parents who provide childcare do the same). The first night we held him for a few minutes in his room, swaying and listening to his music/light projector, then gave him a big hug and kiss, said goodnight, and walked out of the room. He of course started crying pretty hard and it took everything in me not to run in there! But I told myself I was going to wait 10 minutes ... he was asleep in 7 minutes! I was shocked. From what I've read, that's totally not the norm, but it definitely made things easier on me! The next day he did the same for naps - cried for 15 minutes max, but usually less than 10, then fell asleep. By the next week, he was falling asleep without crying at all. Now, a month later, he occasionally will cry for 5 or so minutes before falling asleep, but usually falls asleep without crying (especially at bedtime). We have a few "lovies" in his crib for him to cuddle and play with before he falls asleep (and they also keep him entertained in the morning when he wakes up so we get a few extra z's!). 

As hard as it was to stop rocking him to sleep because I loved the cuddle time, it was getting to be a struggle when it took 45 minutes to get him fully asleep enough to lay him down, and even then he'd wake up when we laid him down. Putting him to bed takes just a few minutes now and it's so much easier on him and us! 

As for the neighbor thing, I wouldn't worry about it. If someone complains, you can let them know what's going on then, but I would hope most people would be understanding!

Good luck to you!

jennahkross

We just did the Ferber method with both naps and bed. He has a chart ( you can find it online) that provides the intervals for checking on the kiddos. Each day the amount of time between intervals gets longer. We got our LO to sleep on her own by the 4th day and night. It took her about an hour each night to fall asleep, and listening to her cry and not immediately pick her up, was soooo hard! But she can now fall asleep on her own which is so important!