Talk to me about Sleep Training

beachbum482

My LO is 10 weeks old and is sleeping 6-8 hour stretches at night which is wonderful. The problem is getting him down to sleep at night. Night after night it's the same bottle, swaddle, rocking, pacifier. Sometimes DH and I are rocking him for a half hour to an hour straight trying to get him to settle. This can sometimes last until almost midnight before DS finally falls asleep. As much as I love rocking him, I want to try to start letting him fall asleep on his own as I have read in books and online. Any tips for doing this? Is he still too young to sleep train? 

rjeller32

They can't really self soothe until 4-6 months, but you could start getting a VERY set routine in place, and starting at a certain point every night darken your house and stop play time. That helps a baby learn that dark is for sleeping and light is for playing. Unfortunately you'll have to keep with the rocking to sleep, but on the bright side it's not much longer, especially in the grand scheme of things

mindymaske

I feel that that is way too young. We just started sleep training my daughter this last week and she's 6mon

MrsBigTime

Are you putting him to bed too late? We were having the hardest time convincing our daughter to sleep and we'd spend a loooooong time rocking her every night, only to have her wake the second we put her down. It took about an hour or two and it was exhausting for all of us. One day I started to notice that she was very tired early in the evening. I figured out that she's starts to get go-to-bed sleepy around 6:30 and when I started our bedtime routine earlier, she went down so much easier.

I'm now trying to push bedtime back a little bit (8 would be ideal for us), but she sleeps better all night since I've started her earlier bedtimes. She doesn't give me long stretches necessarily, but she falls asleep relatively quickly (not on her own, I rock her) and sleeps for a good 4 hours before needing to eat again. Then it's every two hours after that, but we're working on it...one battle at a time

freelancemommy

It is too early to sleep train in terms of CIO but you can let him learn how to fall asleep on his own, as long as he doesn't cry terribly. Instead of the rocking until he falls asleep, swaddle and rock for just a few minutes until he seems drowsy. Then place him in his bed, crank up white noise, pat his belly, give the paci. He may be able to settle down and fall asleep on his own.

With my 1st, I never laid him down awake, and he needed me to put him to sleep each night. It was tough! My other two could fall asleep on their own at a few weeks old, no crying at all, because I gave them a chance to learn how to do it on their own. GL!

beachbum482

Thanks for the advice! I know he is still way too young but I have gotten information from a number of sources that say once the 6 week mark hits you can try developing a strong routine and putting them in their bed drowsy but still awake to help them develop the ability to fall asleep on their own. I would never consider letting my little guy CIO at such a young age (idk if that scenario would ever work for me!). Right now the bedtime routine starts at about 9:30 so moving his bedtime up would be a good idea and maybe just fly over his evening nap (usually from 6-7:30ish) and instead start his routine when he's gets sleepy around that time. Ah, the joys of being a FTM!! 

dande2129

Ditto what everyone else has said, but also, make sure that he's not being stimulated around bedtime. 

ArmyWife114

freelancemommy:

It is too early to sleep train in terms of CIO but you can let him learn how to fall asleep on his own, as long as he doesn't cry terribly. Instead of the rocking until he falls asleep, swaddle and rock for just a few minutes until he seems drowsy. Then place him in his bed, crank up white noise, pat his belly, give the paci. He may be able to settle down and fall asleep on his own. With my 1st, I never laid him down awake, and he needed me to put him to sleep each night. It was tough! My other two could fall asleep on their own at a few weeks old, no crying at all, because I gave them a chance to learn how to do it on their own. GL!

This!  We started doing this with DS when he was about 3 weeks old, he's a champ at falling asleep on his own, and it has made bedtime SO much easier.  We also started putting him to bed at 730, with a strict set routine.  It's helped a lot!  He even falls asleep without his pacifier now. 

2PuppiesHon

You can't really "sleep train" per se at this age, but I find it helps to watch his cues and put him down before he's too tired.  At two months, they can only really have 1 hour of quality awake time before they need a nap.  Also, putting him down in a dark room with the same naptime routine, we put on the sleep sheep and snuggle for a few minutes in the glider with the paci before putting him down.

sbevmc09

He's too young to sleep train.  Rock him for now, he'll be better able to do without the comfort that gives him when he's older.  But really, trust your instincts.  Don't feel like you have to stop rocking your child to sleep because a book told you it's not the right thing to do. 

PrideandJoy29

Way too young.

Kingston54

I'm not big on sleep training.  I'd just plan for the rocking him to sleep - I do this while I watch TV.  She doesn't know I'm watching TV and she likes being held and I certainly don't mind spending the time doing it.

beachbum482

Kingston54:

I'm not big on sleep training.  I'd just plan for the rocking him to sleep - I do this while I watch TV.  She doesn't know I'm watching TV and she likes being held and I certainly don't mind spending the time doing it.

 

Yes! 

Alex17

I would try putting him to bed way earlier. DD goes to bed at 6:30/7.