Ferber ? (xp from 3-6)

janice74

I am starting Ferber for naps and I need some opinions, since some of the specifics aren't addressed in the book.  At bedtime I nurse DD, place her on her back and she rolls to her tummy and goes to sleep.  She wakes twice in the night and we repeat the process.  Nurse, lay on back, roll to tummy, sleep...no problems and I have no desire to eliminate those two nursing until she is established in solids.

So, for naps, I nurse her, place her on her back very drowsy, she falls asleep and 15 minutes later she rolls to her tummy and wakes up! I'm not sure if I should let her cry since she's already slept a bit and may cry longer. According to Ferber, I should end the nap.  If I place her on her tummy, she sleeps 30 minutes and then wakes up.

Do you think I should change her diaper or something after nursing to really wake her before putting her down?  What would you do?  If I put her down awake I have to do the checking in intervals.

kewltif

If you're doing Ferber then I would let her cry. I wouldn't wake her up extra and then put her back down. She needs to learn how to sleep on her tummy if she rolls that way.

Lisa Frank

Honestly? I'd get her sleeping through the night via Ferber before I started tackling her daytime sleep. Nighttime sleep comes first, then naps...at least in most kids. 

CanuckFan03

I started with Ferber about three weeks ago. We used it to get LO down for night and naps.  My LO is doing the 30 minute nap as well.  I've been leaving it for a week or two, to make sure that going down is established and so is night time sleep.  Plus I wanted to see if he'd start sleeping longer on his own.  Every once in a while he'll throw me a bone and go for an hour, but rarely.  

Now that he's going down no problem for all night time and naps I'm ready to move to the next step. 

I've decided that if he's still on the 30 minute train next week I'll start sleep training naps for length. I did some reading  (weissbluth and a local sleep therapist) and if he wakes before an hour, I'll let him cry it out to get him to go back to sleep. Everything I've read says naps organize after night sleep, and are harder to train than night sleep.  

janice74

Yes, naps are very hard.  DS started sleeping through the night round 7 months and then I did the Weissbluth Method for naps and it worked (he was ONLY sleeping on me before that).

I want to let her drop the two night feedings on her own.  She isn't gaining weight very fast and although I feed her on demand, it can be hard to give her full feeding some days due to having a toddler.  If she's still waking at 6 months, I'll talk to pediatrician about dropping feedings.

I'm ok with her waking at 30 minutes (sometimes she even goes 45!), she'll eventually sleep longer and she isn't crabby, but she doesn't always go down in the first place.  If I lay her on her tummy she wakes up and cries.  If I lay her on her back, she wakes in a few minutes and starts to cry.  She won't sleep in the swing anymore and I don't have time to let her sleep on me, since I have a toddler.  I also don't have time to be rocking and nursing her down for an hour for each nap, because then DS is unattended.

I'm just confused as to how I should approach this. She does need to nap, even if they are short. If I could nurse her down each and everytime, I would, but that doesn't always happen.  What do I do if she's still awake and not sleepy and it's obviously naptime?  

kewltif

janice74:

Yes, naps are very hard.  DS started sleeping through the night round 7 months and then I did the Weissbluth Method for naps and it worked (he was ONLY sleeping on me before that).

I want to let her drop the two night feedings on her own.  She isn't gaining weight very fast and although I feed her on demand, it can be hard to give her full feeding some days due to having a toddler.  If she's still waking at 6 months, I'll talk to pediatrician about dropping feedings.

I'm ok with her waking at 30 minutes (sometimes she even goes 45!), she'll eventually sleep longer and she isn't crabby, but she doesn't always go down in the first place.  If I lay her on her tummy she wakes up and cries.  If I lay her on her back, she wakes in a few minutes and starts to cry.  She won't sleep in the swing anymore and I don't have time to let her sleep on me, since I have a toddler.  I also don't have time to be rocking and nursing her down for an hour for each nap, because then DS is unattended.

I'm just confused as to how I should approach this. She does need to nap, even if they are short. If I could nurse her down each and everytime, I would, but that doesn't always happen.  What do I do if she's still awake and not sleepy and it's obviously naptime?  

I used to also think a 30 minute nap was just fine, but from what I read it isn't really a rejuvinating nap unless it's 45 minutes minimum and preferably atleast an hour. When my DD catnaps I find that she's still tired when she gets up and then needs to go down for another nap much sooner.

If it's obviously nap time then she will be sleepy. I don't have a strict time schedule. I basically look for when DD starts to look tired and put her down then. If you try to put her down and she's wide awake, it's a pointless battle. Over time you will start to see that she gets sleepy after a certain amount of awake time.