If you used HSHHC, I have a few Qs..

Re: If you used HSHHC, I have a few Qs..

• macchiatto member

  February 2010

  I haven't gotten all the way through the book but I had some quick Q's:

  Did you use extinction or gradual extinction? Extinction, since he said it led to less crying overall. That seemed to be true for us. We started following the other principles (without extinction) at 7.5w. They started taking great naps literally right away. Nighttime sleep was rough till 4m but we realized that was b/c of reflux issues. They started STTN on their own at 4m1w. There was one night we let Will cry for about 20m and that was it. (Our pedi OKed "letting them cry a bit" starting at 4m.)
  

  How did it (above) go? Really well. Very little crying.
  

  DD and DS have a cold right now, would you wait until they are back o 100% to try things the book says? Definitely.
  

  Do you replace pacis in the middle of the night? Not after the first couple of months.
  

  DS has been waking up between 4-5am every day and talking/cooing.. he coos for about a 1/2-hour (I leave him alone or just check to make sure he is ok w/out him knowing) then he starts screaming and wants to eat.. what would you do about this?  Today he rolled over and got stuck!  It's always b/w 4-5am.

  They're still young enough that he might still need a feeding then.
  

  fraternal twin boys born january 2009

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• groovygrl member

  February 2010

  We tried gradual extinction around 4 1/2 months with DD & she got worse every night. We threw in the towel after the 3rd night. They are 6 months now & DD still stinks at sleeping, wakes up a lot, cries a lot going down, etc, so we are going to do full extinction but have to wait until they are both definitely over ear infections that they've been fighting for a couple of weeks so I'd say definitely wait til they're feeling ok (unless it is just a runny nose or something, you could be waiting a long time ). 

  Lots of kids still eat in the night well past 4 months so ditto pp, they still may need to eat then, esp depending on how much they eat during the day- DS eats more during the day than DD and doesn't need to eat during the night but DD still sucks down a bottle quickly in the night at 6 months. Sigh. 

  MH had a much harder time with the crying than I did and has been the one more resistant to all of it, until the last 2 weeks when DD got sick & the screaming all night and not sleeping has pushed him over the edge. Our pedi is not supportive of crying for more than a few minutes before 6 months though.

  GL!!! Sleep stuff is HARD, the lucky ones whose kids STTN early on really should count their blessings .  

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• janjag member

  February 2010

  while i follow HSH,HC and my copy is well worn, i don't really like the way the book is written/layed out.  kind of convoluted style.  IMO he favors the extinction method, in most cases. 

  i definitely would wait until they are feeling much better to start ST.  once you start any ST, be consistent.  that is hard if CIO is involved!  if a baby only cries 20min the first night, and then goes to sleep, you think, GREAT.  but sometimes the 2nd night is worse, and if the baby cries for an hour, you have to be prepared to deal with that.  if you can't deal with it, stop ST completely for a while before you come up with another plan.

  i never thought i could do CIO but it did come to that with one of the girls.  she wouldn't sleep unless in your arms, and couldn't put her down until she was deeply asleep... even then she would wake up immediately sometimes and cry.   

  we waited till they were just about 5mos adjusted.  some moms recommended waiting till 6mos, the book seems to focus on 4mos.  some moms i know who have a few kids ST at 2mos with their youngest. 

  for us it worked fast, but there have been some regressions here and there, which i think is normal. 

  like pp said a feeding at 4-5am is very normal at that age.  you can ST around that feeding though... if they wake up at other times.  my ped was concerned mine might still be hungry.  but i KNEW she didn't need to eat.  as at least a month earlier she was STTN all the way, and did so for quite some time.  she also was in the 95%tile for her adjusted age.

  we kind of ST around that 4:30am feeding.  but in the process, she dropped that feeding altogether.  for a while they would both wake up at about that time and play/roll around.  but thankfully crying is at a minimum.  in fact she became a much happier/well rested baby with ST.

  

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