Is sleep training even worth it at this age?

MikesFLGirl · January 2011

DS has been a crappy sleeper since day 1. We did the Sleep Easy Solution at about 8months and it worked very well; then went on vacation, then teething happened, then ear infection, and teething just continued. He is about to pop his last tooth (yay!!!!), so I know that is why he is up 3-4x/night now.

I started bed sharing with DS at about 3-4 months when I went back to work and he reversed cycled and the 4 month wakeful set in. As DS got older, he moved more and the queen sized bed just isnt big enough. So DS and I have been on a floor bed in his room and DH is in the master bed. DS is also wanting to nurse 2-3x/night.I'm just over it. I want to be in my bed with DH and sleep *at least* 6 hours a night. I'm starting a new job soon and I have to leave the house by 6am, so I neeeeeed sleep.

I know that once that last tooth pops, I should be "in the clear" for a few months and if I did sleep train again, it should work. But...my only concern is DS is 16 months and quite tall now and if we do all the work of sleep training, I think he could start climbing out of the crib very easily. What do I do with this child??? I've read just about every sleep book from Weissbluth to Sears. Weissbluth suggests full on CIO and a crib tent and keeping the kid in the crib until 2.5-3y/o. Ferber obviously has the interval checks, but I think that just made him more upset the first time we sleep trained. Others suggest the floor bed or toddler bed. Sears suggests that Dad take over the night time, but DS just will.not.have.that... He won't let DH soothe him. Please help! Suggestions?Tips?

smilelari · January 2011

I'm going to suggest another book.. "Bed Timing". It talks about what ages tend to work best for sleep training

gaughan258 · January 2011

I don't have any advice. But, to answer your, 'is it worth it' question. I say, YES. Just watch one episode of super nanny. That may scare you into action. It will take one week max. and a lot of hard work on your part. Good Luck, Momma!

christiney06 · January 2011

of course it's worth it! my friend just re-ferbered her 3yr old, not sure why you think it won't work. my son is tall also, 36 inches and he still doesn't try and climb out of his crib. it sounds like you need to do something after what you described. good luck!

p.s we never did check ins when we did CIO. it just pissed him off even more!

essey1234 · January 2011

sorry if this at all sounds bad, but i say this because i feel your pain. except when the teething is very very bad, it seems to me like you need to act on some tough love. start with naps in lo's bed or crib if possible, if not then you have to let him cry it out a little every night. He is old enought that LO needs to be able to put himself back to sleep and you need to get yourself into a proper sleep schedual as well.

it will be absolutly worth it, even if it is hard for a few days. Good luck

kimberlyk921 · January 2011

I'm in a similar boat...teething, ear infection, traveling, some more teething has him smack in the middle of me and DH sleeping. Thank God we have a king sized bed, but I miss cuddling DH...time to move him to his own crib. I don't like the idea of CIO, we tried before and it was harder on us then having him sleep in our bed, hence our current sleeping arrangements.

I'm going to look into that book recommendation, hope it works for you too!!!

cphillips1021 · January 2011

It's definitely worth it! The Sleep Lady Shuffle worked for us. DD was 14 months and tall, too. Since you're in the room with them, they can't crawl out of the crib and hopefully your LO won't crawl out for a while! ..Once DD came to "like" her bed instead of hate it (which is how she was before we sleep trained), I think she's less likely to try to get out. ..Could be total crap, but I'm hanging my hat on it for now.

Anyway, SLS is so great and so gentle. Yes, your LO will have to cry a bit, but you're there with them. I hope you find a great solution! GL!

egsquared · January 2011

DD will be 17 months tomorrow, and we just re-did Ferber last Friday. She was waking too much at night and coming into bed with us for almost the whole night. Once in bed with us, she would want to nurse every time she woke. I just couldn't take it anymore. We had done Ferber once before, and it went much easier this time. Really only one night of full on crying. I hear her wimper a few times in the night now (teething), but it's never enough that she wakes or we need to go to her. I did make sure to give motrin the first two nights to make sure she wasn't in pain fr the teething. And she hasn't tried to climb out of the crib at all.

KatieRL1979 · January 2011

Regardless of the method you use, the longer you wait and the older DC gets - the harder it's going to be on everyone involved. The older they are the more they realize how they can manipulate you and how to express their wants and preferences. Of course it's easier to bring them to bed with you than it is to hear them cry, but you've just got to tough it out for a few days. You do it because you love them and you can't possibly be a good mom or dad if you are sleep-deprived all the time.

I think the reason we survived the teething stages (pretty much all of her teeth popped from 11-14 mos) was because we had Lexi sleeping well in her crib long before that started, we had her sleeping in her own bed from the very beginning and did a modified ferber around 6-7 months. She'd wake up from time to time of course, but she'd either put herself back to sleep or just needed a little soothing from me or DH and she'd go back down. Infant motrin was also extremely helpful.

superaunt · January 2011

FWIW we finally sleep trained about a month ago. Sabrina's never really STTN prior to now- she'd always wake once, sometimes up to three times a night (rare) for a bottle and then she'd go right back to sleep (she always goes to bed pretty easily too). She was consuming over 40 ounces of formula though- in addition to 3 meals and a snack! Clearly she didn't need to be waking and eating. So we decided to let her CIO. We didn't read any books- just sort of followed our instincts: when she woke the first time, we went in to soothe and calm her a bit- never picking her up; when she cried again, we let her cry for 5 mins before going in and soothing- never picking her up; when she cried again, we let her for 10 mins before going in and saying nothing and just laying her down adn leaving the room; repeat until she stops crying. The first night she finally settled down just before the 20 mins of crying (which was SO HARD), the second night she settled just before th 15 mins of crying was up, the third night she settled after only 5 mins. She's been STTN since.

emberlee3 · January 2011

cphillips1021:
It's definitely worth it! The Sleep Lady Shuffle worked for us. DD was 14 months and tall, too. Since you're in the room with them, they can't crawl out of the crib and hopefully your LO won't crawl out for a while! ..Once DD came to "like" her bed instead of hate it (which is how she was before we sleep trained), I think she's less likely to try to get out. ..Could be total crap, but I'm hanging my hat on it for now.
Anyway, SLS is so great and so gentle. Yes, your LO will have to cry a bit, but you're there with them. I hope you find a great solution! GL!

This was our experience, too. DS did not cry much with SLS, it just took him a long time to figure out how to fall asleep. Totally worth the effort of sleep training.

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