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Cincinnati Babies
Issues going to sleep
Ugh. Brady has been the best sleeper since day one. He has always hung out with us in the evening for a while, and then has usually just fallen asleep on the couch while we were watching TV, usually around 9 or 9:30. We never had to fight to get him to sleep, and he's slept through the night since about 3 or 4 weeks. For the last week or two, though, he's decided that he doesn't want to go to sleep easily anymore. Once he's actually asleep, he'll sleep through the night, but he's fighting it til 10:30 or so, and then usually only falls asleep when I rock him or nurse him. I have to get up at 5:00 during the work week, so staying up til 10:30 with him is exhausting. Brady still sleeps in a cradle in our room, FWIW.
I realize that I probably need to try some kind of sleep training, and I've been in denial because I hate to think that the easiness isn't lasting. Right now my husband is trying to go to sleep because he works tomorrow, and Brady's screaming. My husband thinks we should let him cry it out, and I always thought I'd be a parent who could do that, but it absolutely kills me to hear him screaming (plus it doesn't seem to work with him). Is Ferber the best way to go? How long does it usually take before this works? I'm a teacher so I'm off this week, and I wish I had started it late last week. I really need to have a firm bedtime routine, too. I need some encouragement, because right now I feel awful that my little guy is having such a rough time!
Thanks in advance!
Brady 7/29/2009
Avery 4/1/2011
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Issues going to sleep
I don't know anything about Ferber really, so I can't help you there...but do you do any sort of bedtime routine to get him to wind down at night? You said he just usually falls asleep while you're watching TV, is that the routine? If you aren't doing it already I would try a different routine at night. This is ours.
Dinner is usually around 6:30
Playtime from 7-8:30 to wear him out
Bath at 8:30, then milk, read a book and he's asleep by 9.
We put him in bed completely awake and he has no issues going to sleep.
It sounds like he's most likely just becoming more aware of his surroundings as he's getting older and realizes there's lots going on and he doesn't want to miss anything. I would just try making sure your evening is quiet, so hopefully he'll relax and get sleepy. Try turning down the volume on the tv, turning the lights down....just making your house quite.
You may not ever have to sleep train him...we never did. DS was always a good sleeper, we just had to break him of the swaddle, and then break him of needing to be rocked to sleep....but those were both pretty easy to do. Good luck!
Jennie
Well, I was wondering the same thing about age and sleep training. It was just never an issue until recently, and I think, like PP said, he's just more aware of his surroundings and that's keeping him up later at night. He takes his last feeding around 8:00 or 8:30, so I don't really want him to go down later than that, plus we like having the time with him in the evening, since we both work.
I need to start thinking about putting him in his own room, I suppose. He naps in his crib when I'm home, so I know he can handle it. Honestly, it's more for selfish reasons, because it makes me sad to think of him not being in our room.
I'm hoping that starting a more predictable routine might help. I kept thinking he was young enough that I didn't need to worry about it, but I realize now that it needs to be a little more set in stone.
A routine will probably work wonders for you. It may be rough for the first week, but once he knows what to expect, he should fall right into it. I also play a cd (the same one) everynight at bedtime. C's eyes start to close as soon as he hears it.
And be SO thankful you have a kid who sleeps so well! I'm jealous!
Ferber is not about just putting your kid in a room and letting him scream until he passes out. It is about teaching your child to comfort himself and sleep. And I never thought of it as CIO, but as checking and consoling. We did it with our son at 6 months and he has been sleeping like a dream since then (age 3 now!). I never would have thought it possible because he was a horrible sleeper before...nap all day and up most of the night and would only sleep in my arms or if he was physically up against me in my bed. We had maybe 3 rough nights with the sleep training and then it seemed to click. Even during the toughest night, he was asleep in less than 40 minutes. But getting to sleep in his own room by himself wasn't the biggest issue. It was staying asleep and getting himself back to sleep during wakeups.
Obviously all children are different and one method won't work for everyone but our sleeping, and life in general because of it, changed dramatically after we sleep trained. I highly recommend at least skimming through the book to see if it might work for your family. Good luck.