Transitioning Help

LissaLynn0682

I just stumbled upon this board and WOW....such helpful information!  I'm hoping some of you ladies might have some tips for me.

My daughter is almost 5 months old.  She has been a terrible sleep from the beginning.  Naps used to be such a huge fight even when she was a newborn! The best nights we ever got out of her were right around 3 months when she was only waking twice per night.  Just before Thanksgiving, her sleep when to he-L-L.  I assumed it was the 4-month wakeful approaching when she started waking hourly and the only way she would go back down was to be nursed.  

Fast forward 1.5 months and she is now bedsharing and comfort nursing most of the night.  I work FT and it was becoming exhausting waking hourly.  Now she bedshares and falls asleep while nursing and will perk up about 3 times per night to reattach.   I can lay her down to start the night in her pnp without a problem.  After sleeping there for 1 hour, she wakes up and wants to come into our bed.

I would love to have her sleeping on her own again but I'm not even sure of where to start.  The second I try setting her in her pnp she cries and the only way to console her is to bring her back to nurse to sleep.  I just don't understand why she can go to sleep on her own at night but can't last there for more than an hour.

Last night I tried nursing her but laying her back in the pnp....we did this all night long and neither of us got any sleep.  On a side note- - - she does sleep in her own crib for naps without a problem.  We can even put her down drowsy, but awake.

Any mamas have a suggestion on how to make the transition OUT of bedsharing and all-night nursing?  What have you tried?  CIO was recommended by the pediatrician but I'm not really interested in that. 

BelhurstBride

DH was instrumental. When we were ready to end bed sharing he started taking over the bed time routine. I'd nurse her, then he took over. At wakings before 2am he'd go in and calm her back to sleep. After 2 I took over. (She did and usually still does come back into bed with us at that point.)

 Splitting the night helped both of us to get some sleep. We've been through a number ups and downs since then, but its what's worked the best to keep our sanity. 

aglenn

Honestly, my best method is just to keep trying again later.  If baby is waking up frequently enough that it makes me feel like a zombie, I would rather bedshare than fight that particular battle.  I am not thrilled with bedsharing with the teething monster that is DS right now, but that is the only way to get even close to enough sleep to function, so that is what I'm doing.

Of course, I have very stubborn kiddos who have beat me down thoroughly with regards to sleep, so perhaps I am too quick to surrender.  I am just all about doing whatever allows everyone to get the most sleep.

jshf

DS1 would never sleep in a crib so I put a toddler mattress on the floor I nursed him to sleep then would get up. It's a lot easier to move yourself than the baby. I did this at 7:30 then 12 times until I went to bed around 10. Anytime after that I brought him into bed. It gave me a break from him but also a good night sleep. When he night weaned at 18 months we did the sleep lady shuffle. It worked great with minimal tears. GL!

BeachMama7693

i just started transitioning about a month ago so it may be a little different for us seeing as how my lo is over 15 months. what i did:

because my lo protested and woke too much in her crib, i set up the toddler bed (we have a convertible crib)

i basically layed down with her, nursed her, and sang until she fell asleep. anytime she would wake up, i would go in, comfort her, or nurse if she would not go back to sleep. this went really well the first week, then the 2nd week she realized i was not staying in her bed and started waking more than 6 times a night. it was crazy. i work so i had to get some sleep.

i put a mattress on the floor next to her bed. i put her to bed in her own bed, nurse, sing until she falls asleep, and go to my bed with dh.

when she cries the first time, i paci insert and go back to my bed. the 2nd time, she usually nurses and will either fall back asleep or lay on the mattress with me til the morning. at least this way she is in her own room. tonight i am going to try not staying in her room, but leaving her on the mattress after she falls asleep again. we will see how that goes.

its a process, i know. im still battling! maybe some other ladies will have suggestions for a lo your age. good luck! 

DCMerged

I could have written this post. Over the last week, we started transitioning our LO to his crib in his room from bedsharing/all night comfort nursing. It was getting too exhausting and I was starting to resent him and feeling like I was being held hostage by my baby. He just turned 6 months so he is starting to be old enough to not need to eat all night and also start to learn to self soothe. 

Ideally we would have started with him in his crib in our room, but our room is too small. Our philosophy is to have patience and take a gradual approach and we do not want him to cry.

He has been getting up frequently but we go in right away, pick him up, sing/rock and/or nurse back to sleep. I have been trying to use the "pull off" method (No Cry Sleep Solution) to gradually break the nurse to sleep association. Then we will work on breaking the rocking to sleep association. I hope it works. I know we will need to give him the opportunity to develop the ability to self soothe. At the same time, we don't want him to cry. We feel a little clueless about how to do both though. My husband keeps reminding me that the sleep thing is the hardest part about being a parent.