Getting your baby to soothe herself to sleep...

kbhaynes

This question has probably been asked before, but can you all tell me how you got your baby to go to sleep on his/her own in their crib?

Here's my story: DD has been STTN since she was 6 weeks old in a swaddle me blanket. She has been in the blanket every single night since and sleeps from 9pm-ish to around 7:30-8am-ish. Occasionally she will wake up during the night to nurse, but it is very rare.

I've really wanted to get her out of the habit of sleeping in the blanket now because she throws the biggest fit when I put her in it before bedtime. I'm talking, kicking, screaming and crying fits that last for an hour, at least. This has just recently started over the past week (at bedtime) and I just can't take it anymore. I hate to see her get so upset.

She has also started fighting sleep at naptime during the day, but I don't put her in the blanket for that. She sleeps in the boppy on the couch for that.

Tonight I started the cry it out method... specifically the one where you go in after 5 minutes, console briefly and increase the time by 5 minutes each time until they stop crying. I've been in there 3 times already and she is still going strong... I need advice. I know this will take more than one night, obviously, but I just can't handle the screaming. I just want to give in. What worked for you?

Sorry for the novel, but thanks for reading if you made it this far.

VeilSdeGTO

Honestly, I think your DD may just be too young to self-soothe at this point. I would give it more time before trying CIO if that is what you plan on doing for sleep training. However, I am in the camp that they will do it when they are ready.

I

Junebug060609

The others already addressed the two things I was going to suggest. 

We did Ferber, but not until 6 months.  I'll be honest with you, Ferberizing him was so very hard to do.  The first time I tried I couldn't take it and went

Missa_g

PP had good advice.  4, even 5m, is young to self soothe.  They just don't have that capability yet.  If she fights the swaddle that much I would think it might be time to wean her from them, maybe into a sleep sack.  She'll start roll

julesjb

I thought I was against ST until our 5 month old wouldn't sleep at all. We did modified Ferber after reading his bookFWIW he actually recommends 46 months in his book and it was very very successful. After three nights and no more than 18 mins of crying h

hopefulmom81

So, along with PP, I will echo the 6 month time frame.

One thing that worked best for me was shortening the amount of time for the check ins.

I did 3 mins, 5 mins, then repeating 10 mins until she fell asleep.  I found that if I let he

julesjb

Not sure why my post is void of my parentheses or dash marks.....

mork

julesjb:

Not sure why my post is void of my parentheses or dash marks.....

Yet another crappy thing about

melly918

I did the Ferberizing with DS. I can't remember how old he was, but it was when he was completely free of the swaddle.  It does take a few days and lots of patience. Other pp's have a point...your DD is probably still a little too young or no

kbhaynes

Thank you all SO much for your wonderful suggestions. I guess I will hold off for a couple of months and then see how it goes. I will slowly try to wean from the swaddle first. She has finally rolled from belly to back, so I know back to belly will be soo