NEED sleep solutions that work!

kbinns

My LO is 10 months now & we NEED to do something to help him sleep better! He starts out in his crib every night, goes down easy, but ends up with us because he is up to nurse at least every 1-2hrs (he has always been a comfort nurser.) He can't seem to get himself back to sleep himself, he needs me to nurse him back. He eats 3 meals a day with snacks and nurses 4-6 good feeds as well. We have tried music, white noise... I know we have created a bunch of bad habits... I just don't know if I have it in me to let him cry it out, but something needs to change! Please help!

GibsonGirl620

Read Ferber's book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. You don't have to use his method if you don't want, but it was by far the most informative and helpful thing I read. It was the best decision I made for my LO in regards to his sleep. GL!

mnewlee

You're probably going to need some kind of sleep training to undo all the sleep associations he has.

No cry sleep solution

Ferber 

Sleep Easy solution

Sleep lady shuffle

I'm sure there are more. I read a couple of books and did a ton of research on line and took the parts I liked from a lot of different methods and kind of did a hybrid that worked for my family. Good luck!

erika1677

We had this problem until a few weeks ago. I didn't have it in me to do CIO either so my husband handled it and I went in the basement or outside for a while. It was 4 nights of hell, each night the crying time lasted less and less. She would wake up once or twice during the night fuss a little and go back to sleep. Now she goes down at 8:30 and sleeps till 8:30 and it is heaven.

It's tough just knowing that they are crying but it is so worth it in the end.

ababymaybe

At this age, they ARE go

ababymaybe

At this age, they ARE going to protest (ie likely cry) change. Even with supposed no cry solutions. The difference is mainly whether you stay in the room or not. I actually think not is better with older babies as they will probably just get even more riled up with you presence. It tends to be stimulating rather than soothing. You both need sleep. So pick a method you can stick to and be consistent ( you won't see change in 1-2 nights, so many people "try" CIO and give up right away)

smilelari

We used the Sleep Lady Sleep Shuffle at 14 months with DS and it involved no tears, at least for us, and he STTN the very first night.  My suggestion would be to research the different methods a bit.  I like the book Bed Timing, which goes over what ages are best for sleep training and describes the different kinds of methods that are out there, as a starting point.  I've read Ferber's Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems, Weissbluth's Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution, Sear's The Baby Sleep Book and Kim West's (the sleep lady) Good Night, Sleep Tight.  I've also read Baby Wise, but more for morbid curiosity than anything and I certainly don't recommend that book to anyone.  I take things from every book that I've read, but I think the general sleep information in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child is the most helpful (IMO), Ferber's kind of wack-a-do on the general sleep information, but his method is a good approach for some families and I prefer the method in Good Night, Sleep Tight.

My course of action would be:

-Make sure bed time is sufficiently early (between 6 and 8)

-Make sure naps are good (probably 2-4 hours of naps during the day)

-Make sure there's enough total sleep (at least 14 hours per 24 hour period)

-Make sure the sleep environment is good and the routine is good.  Maybe try a bath every night or lavender or massage.  Make it darker or lighter.  Try sending dad in to try to soothe before going right to nursing.

Do whatever it takes to get DC caught up on sleep before doing any kind of sleep training.  Once DC is caught up on sleep, sleep training might not even be necessary and it will certainly go more smoothly with a baby that isn't overtired.

preggersin2011

Silly question but why are you feeding in over night rather than giving a binki?

bluejetta

GibsonGirl620:

Read Ferber's book Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems. You don't have to use his method if you don't want, but it was by far the most informative and helpful thing I read. It was the best decision I made for my LO in regards to his sleep. GL!

I second this book and Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child.  I learned a lot reading both about how sleep changes over the cours of the first few months/years.  We did end up doing sleep training at 4 months (early by most standards but it was time for us) and it made a world of difference and still does -- DD will still fuss time to time and I'm sure we'll have some rough patches once we wean the night time nursing before bed but I still know she can get herself to sleep.

kbinns

He wants nothing to do with a pacifier, it actually makes him more upset.

penguincrazy

I have to agree with the poster about Ferber.  I never read the book, but researched this method on my own.  We've used it for two babies now, and I am a firm believer.  It's hard, uncomfortable, and will make you feel guilty for the first few nights, but I have two fantastic sleepers now who STTN without fail (unless sick, which is understandable).

runjew

Your post could have been written by me about my LO...he's hooked onto comfort nursing and now spends the night in our bed waking every 2 hrs. I'm not sure if I can let him cry it out too...i know he once cried for 20 mins straight when I left him in his playard to take a shower - and that was 20 mins of hell for me. I'm planning on trying the happy baby method to see if it works. My ped recommended positioning his crib so he can't see us in the night when he wakes up. We're moving his crib away from our bed this week - i'll let you know how that goes. Please do update if you find anything that works.