Ferbering a circ'd boy wearing a baby bikini while BFing

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Pretty sure that was all the controversy buzz words I could fit into one subject line.

Okay, but really. Let's talk sleep training.

Is it possible to work on falling asleep on his own without messing with his night wakings? Given his weight gain issues and his relative size, I don't want to night wean, but I'd love if he could start falling asleep on his own. 

As far as training methods, has anyone used the NCSS? Thoughts? 

What method did you use to help your kiddo learn to fall asleep on their own?

(We worked on drowsy-but-awake with DD from a young age, but for whatever reason, we've just continued rocking DS to sleep. Which I love. But I don't want to do him a disservice and have him not learn to sleep on his own.)

ali-1411

Huh.  I think this is the first time I've ever seen/heard of someone wanting to KEEP the night wakings.  I'm stumped.

Honestly, I don't think you can teach him to fall asleep on his own without the result being him sleeping through the night.  Right now, he wakes up and knows he'll get momma to feed him.  Teach him to fall asleep on his own, and he'll wake up and then go right back to sleep.

august8080

I think it's definitely possible. DS did that for a long time--I was able to lay him down awake for naps/night, but he still continued to wake to eat at night for 3-4 months.

Let me think about a good answer and fold 3 loads of clean clothes really fast and I'll come back and elaborate

bluestreet

You forgot to include bed-sharing and working vs. SAHMing

I don't have an answer, but I will be watching this post.

L L CG

bluestreet:

You forgot to include bed-sharing and working vs. SAHMing

I don't have an answer, but I will be watching this post.

And juice giving, vaxing, and baby bumpering.  OMG THE BUMPERING! 

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L L CG:

bluestreet:

You forgot to include bed-sharing and working vs. SAHMing

I don't have an answer, but I will be watching this post.

And juice giving, vaxing, and baby bumpering.  OMG THE BUMPERING! 

DAMMMMIT. I have so lost my edge.

Temp13436125005166

We rocked/nursed both kids to sleep for the first year + a few months and they can both fall asleep on their own.  Megan started around 13 months and Ryan a little later (14 or 15, I can't remember).  For our kids they actually got falling asleep on their own down first but the STTN came soon afterward (like weeks I think).  But maybe that's because they were already 1... I read NCSS and loosely followed it.  I really liked the book but mostly because it made me feel less alone in both my choices, thoughts and child's sleep behavior.  It was also really helpful to have a plan, ideas, things to try.  I wasn't super good about filling out the sheets though and stritctly following it so maybe that would have sped things up a bit.  It helped DH too even though he didn't read it.  I think he felt even more isolated than I did with the not sleeping thing and the "are we doing something wrong" thing.  And me explaining the book to him I think helped keep us on the same page.

libbyann

We (read: DH) laid him down in his crib drowsy and then would lay down on the floor next to his crib. If he started to cry (not just fussing), we'd pick him up, rock him until drowsy, and then lay him back down. After about a week of doing that, Will got to the point where he'd lay down and fall asleep on his own in about 10 minutes. At that point, we started leaving his room quietly before he was fully asleep, which sometimes made him cry, but more often he was just fine.

After about a month of doing that, we were able to transition to laying him down drowsy and him falling asleep on his own.

ACR

DS could fall asleep on his own, but still had the night wakings. So, rest assured that is possible! When he was hungry, he'd wake up to eat.

I nursed DS to sleep, but once he was about 6 mos, he would wake up as I transitioned him to the crib. I laid him down, and he would drift back off to sleep. So perhaps you can try to make sure he wakes up between the time you rock him & put him in bed?

Mrs.Froggianna

NCSS didn't do squat for us.  And I tried.  Really, really tried.  We ended up Ferbering around 8 months.  I wanted it to be an all night thing, but the best we got from 8-13 mos. was him going down on his own at the beginning of the night.  He still woke multiple times a night until we did total CIO at 13 mos.  So it is possible to get them to go down on their own and not mess with the night wakings.  I don't know if it's probable, but it is possible.

Also, FWIW for us Ferber was never the magic bullet that it seems to be for most people.  But you know alllllllll about my struggles with Luke and sleep.  I think it's a viable method and, if need be, we'll use it again.  I've still got the book if you want to borrow it.

smb29

I do think you could get him to sleep on his own but still have night wakings.  I'm still nursing to sleep, but we've been weaning from his first night feeding and he'll either put himself back to sleep with minimum fussing or sleep straight through now, but I get up with him for the second night waking.  His little belly knows he'll get fed, so he wakes up.  We've used ferber, so that doesn't really help if you are looking for a no cry solution.

With M, we tried drowsy but awake but were never too successful when he was less than a year.  I gave up after a few months and nursed/rocked to sleep until he was one, and after he weaned he picked it up pretty easily and would go down fine.  Nursing/rocking to sleep never impacted his ability to STTN, he did it from five months on (except for teething, being sick, etc).