Sleep training failures and successes?

starfishbride99

I have always been anti-CIO up to this point, but I am starting to feel like i need to do something or our entire little family is going to lose our minds. We went to the pedi today and talked about it, and she said it is our "responsibility" to sleep train our DS, as he is not getting enough sleep. We co-cleep and I have gotten into the horrible habit of nursing to sleep, and as many times as I try to put him down awake and drowsy, he just is not having it. He also wakes up about every 1-2 hours and will not fall asleep without me nursing him. I have read No Cry Sleep Solution and tried the techniques, but nothing is working. I am leaning toward considering some sort of CIO. I have the book Sleep Easy Solution, I just have not picked it up yet. I'm wondering if anyone else has been in the same situation, where they were absolutely anti-CIO, and then felt like they had done a really good thing by choosing sleep training. And has anyone tried CIO or sleep training, and found that it absolutely didn't work for their LO? sorry for the lengthy post!

manda_mullins

That was TOTALLY me.

 

We are doing the sleep easy solution and this is our second night. Usually it takes DS an hour of rocking with lots of flailing, screaming, fighting to fall asleep at night. Last night he went in his crib at 7:26 and fell asleep at 7:59. Naps today, instead of 30 mins of fighting me rocking, he cried 8 mins or less.

 

I was very anti-any crying method, but this book helped a lot. It is very apathetic to the parent and how it feels to hear your LO cry. It explains that LO is saying "Wtf are you guys doing? Get in here and put me to sleep! This is frustrating, i don't want to learn or have things change" and that since crying is their way of communicating, frustration=crying.

 

DEFINITELY read the book. I will let you know how the rest of our training goes if you're interested. 

manda_mullins

Oh, and my DS was getting up EVERY hour throughout the whole night and last night we got a 5 hour stretch. Afte rthe initial going to bed, he never cried long enough (5 mins) to warrant us checking in.

starfishbride99

oh wow! This made me so hopeful! Yes, please do keep me updated, I would love to hear how the rest of sleep training goes!  Good Luck!

ncbelle

This isn't exactly advice but I'd be pissed if my pedi said it was my responsibility to sleep train.  There are other ways to help babies learn to sleep without "training" methods (although I'm assuming that by training she meant some sort of CIO or Ferber).

How long did you try NCSS?  It is a method that takes lots of time and consistency.   In any case, I hope you find something that works for you soon.

starfishbride99

I tried NCSS for the past two months, and he is still completely unable to get to sleep without being nursed. And I probably would have been more pissed with the pedi saying that, but I loved everything else about her, and we had just switched from a horrific pedi, so it seemed she was the lesser of two evils.

I really don't want to have to resort to CIO, but I am at a point whee I'm not sure what else to do, and I am worried that his little brain isn't developing properly with his lack of sleep.

AmandaLynnP

This is me, too.  Recently, DD rolled off the bed in the middle of the night.  So, I have been trying to get her in her crib.  I have my mattress on the floor in the nursery and put her to sleep in her crib until she wakes up to nurse.  I try to put her back in the crib, but she usually ends up with me on the mattress.  I have heard it is a long process.  So, I will just keep trying and won't give up.  I am absolutely anti-CIO.  So, I'm sure it will take a while.