Need Sleep advice!

Santinosmom82

My DS just turned 1 and has never been a great sleeper. He had acid reflux as an infant and just when he outgrew that the teething started. Lately he has been waking up every hour. It's my own fault because i go to him as soon as he wakes.

My DH is against listening to him cry and is going away this week so it's my perfect opportunity to sleep train. I tried a couple months ago and DS cried for 2 hours with check ins. Finally i gave up and rocked him.

My pediatrician says it's ok to not lay him down awake but rock him for a minute until he's asleep. (thats usually what i do) and then start CIO when he wakes in the middle of the night instead. I thought this would confuse him but she says no. Has this worked for anyone else. Please feel free to give me some suggestions. I work full time and hourly wakings is not going to fly in my household!! Thanks!!

BabyBoyNYC

thats what I (well DH becuse he is the one that puts hime to sleep at night) did. I rocked to sleep and then when he would start crying at 3am or whatever I did cry it out. our problem was the bottle though once that was gone he now sleeps 11 hours straight

kgs0505

Have youtried a little bit of motrin before bed?  When my LO was teething a lot, that helped tremendously.  I can't help with the other because mine has been a pretty good sleeper unless he's in pain or occassionally he'll wake up hungry.  Mostly he'll whimper a bit then go back to sleep.

desdemona39

I think you and your DH need to get on the same page. Doing CIO behind his back and against his wishes is a pretty awful thing to do, IMO.

And if you BOTH agree to do CIO, it shouldn't be done when you know your child is crying and waking because of teething pain. Perhaps address the pain issue first (motrin/ teething gel/ amber necklace/ something t chew on, etc) before attempting CIO. And please read up on it first.

Also, the waking every hour is not your fault- responding to your child is what you're supposed to do. It really sucks when you have to work full time, but DH & I take turns with LO on really bad nights.

ETA- it may help to introduce a transitional object- a lovey or blanket or something (again, after the pain is relieved).

camedowncrushing

I just started sleep training last week.  DD was getting up every hour to nurse, and I was just beyond exhausted.  We did Ferber, and it went well. 

Does your DS still eat when he wakes?  Ferber suggests stretching out the feedings.  So if he typically wakes after 3 hours for a feeding you make him wait until it is 4 hours.  You keep extending it by an hour every night until the baby is sleeping all the way until the morning.  DD actually slept 11 hours straight last night, and it was amazing. 

bdutton0005

Our Pedi told us if you are going to do CIO do it all the time. We just started a couple nights ago and it is slowly getting better. We tryed several other things and none of them worked, so this is our last optiton and I hated to have to try it.

mesmom2011

desdemona39:

I think you and your DH need to get on the same page. Doing CIO behind his back and against his wishes is a pretty awful thing to do, IMO.

And if you BOTH agree to do CIO, it shouldn't be done when you know your child is crying and waking because of teething pain. Perhaps address the pain issue first (motrin/ teething gel/ amber necklace/ something t chew on, etc) before attempting CIO. And please read up on it first.

Also, the waking every hour is not your fault- responding to your child is what you're supposed to do. It really sucks when you have to work full time, but DH & I take turns with LO on really bad nights.

ETA- it may help to introduce a transitional object- a lovey or blanket or something (again, after the pain is relieved).

I agree!  I'm so glad my DH and I agree about CIO (we won't do it).  Also, responding to your LO when he cries is what you should do, not a way to "spoil' your teething child. 

Cwhitaker27

I don't have any experience with CIO or sleep training but I'm a big proponent of "white noise" which couldn't hurt to try. We have a home medics noise maker with rain and ocean sounds. We turn it on every night for DS. I also agree with a PP about having a lovey. GL!

stephanie_shoe

let me throw this out there, because we had an awesome sleeper-turned-horrible sleeper. She had a night light, and the night we took it out, solved all of our problems.  She started sleeping through the night again.  Not surfeit that applies to your situation, but that is what helped us.

dor79

When we moved DS to his room we had some sleep issues, we always got to him right away when he was in our room and when he started  STTN we moved him.  However, in his room he quickly stopped STTN. 

At first we would stay in his room while he tried to fall asleep, so he would know we are there, then we would sneak out.  If he woke up during the night, we would go into his room and lay down on a chair, not touching him, but letting him know we we there.  We would then slowly move closer and closer to the door each night, still being there but closer to the door.  We also introduced a white noise machine, which has greatly increased sleeping length.

 He still wakes up from time to time, and we do go into his room and lay down on the chair but not really engaging him.

rnbeth477

desdemona39:

I think you and your DH need to get on the same page. Doing CIO behind his back and against his wishes is a pretty awful thing to do, IMO.And if you BOTH agree to do CIO, it shouldn't be done when you know your child is crying and waking because of teething pain. Perhaps address the pain issue first motrin/ teething gel/ amber necklace/ something t chew on, etc before attempting CIO. And please read up on it first.Also, the waking every hour is not your fault responding to your child is what you're supposed to do. It really sucks when you have to work full time, but DH amp; I take turns with LO on really bad nights. ETA it may help to introduce a transitional object a lovey or blanket or something again, after the pain is relieved.

I agree with all of this! We used a modified Ferber method with great success, but it was a mutual effort between DH and I. DS went from being a terrible sleeper to an awesome sleeper in a few nights. We had amazing results.

Santinosmom82

Thanks for your suggestions! I would like to clarify that DS is not teething right now. I was saying that i think he wakes up from me responding to him so much while he was teething.

And DH is not against CIO, he just can't handle hearing him cry. So he actually gave me permission to do it while he's gone. It's not even the fact that he feels bad for DS it's that he would rather go in and settle him down so he can go back to sleep rather than being awake listening to him cry.

I have given motrin thinking it might be his teeth and it hasn't helped the wakings. I know he's not in pain because as soon as i enter the room he stops and will fall limp in his bed. ( i think he just wants to see me) I also am using white noise.

Thank you for all your suggestions! Next time i will be a little more clear. And i'm also going to try the nightlight suggestion! Hopefully that helps!!

Santinosmom82

Oh and DS hasn't had a bottle in the middle of the night since he was 7 months old so i don't think thats it either

Santinosmom82

rnbeth-  Could you let me know what your modified version is?