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Babies: 6 - 9 Months
Ferber fail or mom fail?
I haven't posted forever but I'm hoping someone will have some advice or words of encouragement.
We started sleep training last week after about a month and a half of poor sleep (he slept through the night until about 5 months).
I wasn't interested in trying the Ferber method until one night when LO was crying and I left the room for a second and when I did, he calmed down and I just had to pop in one more time and he fell asleep. Then I felt he was ready for it.
I read the book and we've been working on it since last Thursday. It is working wonderfully for him falling asleep at bedtime (bedtime at 7.45pm and we fight to keep him awake during his last bottle), we have to go in once or twice before he's out until midnight.
We have had a few good nights where he's only woken once and then slept until 7 but the other nights, he's up 2+ times and it's not consistently getting better.
(I am trying to ween him off a night feeding, he usually takes around midnight, some times we can push that to 2am.)
Last night he was up every two hours after midnight. The lack of sleep for me, I'm totally fine with but I don't know if I can listen to his little sobs any more and he's exhausted in the morning.
From everything I've read I thought he would respond quite well to this in just a few nights, I'm not sure I can do this for another week.
Does anyone have any advice? What am I doing wrong? Am I being impatient?
Thanks!
We started sleep training last week after about a month and a half of poor sleep (he slept through the night until about 5 months).
I wasn't interested in trying the Ferber method until one night when LO was crying and I left the room for a second and when I did, he calmed down and I just had to pop in one more time and he fell asleep. Then I felt he was ready for it.
I read the book and we've been working on it since last Thursday. It is working wonderfully for him falling asleep at bedtime (bedtime at 7.45pm and we fight to keep him awake during his last bottle), we have to go in once or twice before he's out until midnight.
We have had a few good nights where he's only woken once and then slept until 7 but the other nights, he's up 2+ times and it's not consistently getting better.
(I am trying to ween him off a night feeding, he usually takes around midnight, some times we can push that to 2am.)
Last night he was up every two hours after midnight. The lack of sleep for me, I'm totally fine with but I don't know if I can listen to his little sobs any more and he's exhausted in the morning.
From everything I've read I thought he would respond quite well to this in just a few nights, I'm not sure I can do this for another week.
Does anyone have any advice? What am I doing wrong? Am I being impatient?
Thanks!
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Ferber fail or mom fail?
What method are you using to wean the night feeding?
And STAY consistent!! Not all kids take to it in just a weeks time. You will undo your hard work if you don't remain consistent.
I have been very gradually reducing the ounces. He's already crawling and very active so it's been a struggle to make sure he's eating enough during the day. The reduction has been quite minimal since we started sleep training, only an ounce. I'm not too eager to eliminate it if I feel he still needs it.
It sounds like you are doing the right thing. One thing I might suggest, is to wean that feeding first and then try and work on the night wakings? It seems like he might need that feeding, and until you get him acclimated to taking all of his calories during the day, and you've gone say, a week with no night feedings, then I'd start tackling the night wakings.
I just wanted to add that I had a similar experience with DS1, and I found that Ferber didn't work until I cut out the night feedings completely. Really, there is no way to be truly consistent if you are feeding them one time and leaving them to cry at other times. I made a big deal out of mornings, when I would go in, open the curtains, turn on the lights, sing to him and feed him, so he would know that THAT was when he would get fed, and not during the night. At that point it took 4 nights but he STTN after that and still does.