sleep training question

Purplehayzes

Let me start by saying that my LO has never STTN.  I feed him around 7:30pm before he goes to bed, and usually he's up again around 11pm and then again around 3 am, and then up for the day around 7 am.  I always just feed him and he goes right back to sleep.

So, I started my LO solids on Saturday.  I'm thinking that he probably doesn't need to feed during the night when he's waking.  So, I was thinking about starting sleep training.

Do you think that having just started on solids and doing the sleep training is too much new stuff for LO at once?

Should I try just soothing him back to sleep at night (pick up/put down or just pat)?  Or should I do CIO (I'm not totally opposed to CIO, although I think I will find it hard)?

I'm probably totally over-thinking all of this :P

TIA for any advice you have.

ablou

we have a bedtime ritual to soothe him before bed.

We do half a REALLY big bottle (9oz) at 7, then he gets his bath, changed into his PJs (hates the post-bath stuff!), and we read stories in the rocking chair while he finishes his bottle.  Then, Goodnight Moon and his paci.  I put him in his crib after Goodnight Moon.  He's usually awake when I put him down.  I put on his mobile w/ a lullaby playing, along with his Sleep Sheep.

When he fusses DH or I go upstairs to soothe him, just by patting, kisses, giving him his paci back, but we don't pick him up unless he's REALLY freaking out (that happens maybe once a week or two).  When he's freaking out completely, it's time for mommy snuggles - we get into the lying down facing each other BFing position, and I give him his paci.  That usually calms him down after  a few minutes. 

He's been STTN since 5 weeks.  

biochemgirl

We started Ferber on Sunday night and my husband has been doing ferber for naps this week.

Before we started DD was going to sleep around 7-waking about an hour later and needed help going back to sleep (holding/rocking/paci). Then she was waking again around 11 and needed help going back to sleep and then waking anywhere from 1-3 more times until she woke for the day at around 6:30-7.  I generally fed her only 1 or 2 of those times (she was never really crying when seh woke but couldn't go back to sleep on her own but once it got to the middle of the night I was feeding her since she hadn't eaten in a while and b/c it was the easiest way to get her back to sleep.  BEfore we started the sleep training though I had told DH that it was only to get her to go to sleep in the beginning of the night without props and that I was not planning to do it in the mmiddle of the night as a way to stop the nighttime feedings.

anyway, sunday night she only woke once and I fed her and changed her and the past 3 nights she has slept through the night because she is now able to put herself back to sleep when she wakes in b/w normal sleep cycles.  I've actually found this to be really helfpul b/c now I know if she wakes in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep that she really needs something from me and this way I am not overfeeding her at night.

so maybe if you try the sleep training to get your LO to sleep in the first place that would work?  For us the sleep training was done to get her to sleep w/out the props, not as a means to end night time feedings but that seems to be what naturally happened.

uofibabe

Our LO has been STTN since about 3.5-4 months (cant remember now) but once we got rid of rocking him to sleep, paci, and middle of the night feeding it has been heaven.  He did wake up a few nights when he first starting learning to roll over but now is back to STTN.  If you want to get rid of one of the night feedings I would just give him the paci and eventually he wont wake up anymore.  We did this when we were working on de-swaddling and it actually help with getting rid of the middle of the night feeding.  It may take a few nights but I would just keep giving the paci and soothing for a couple of minutes and then leaving for 5 etc.  This method really does work.