- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
September 2011 Moms
JKGymnast
member
Long talk w/Pedi about sleep issues (4MW) - long
JKGymnast
member
I love my DD's pedi. I called her office re: DD's sleep regressions and I didnt get a call back from some nurse, the actual dr called me. Oh, and the conversation... it was 28 minutes long! I've never had any dr's attention for 28 minutes! :-)
Anyways, the day before DD turned 4 mos. her sleep went to sh!t. I heard about the 4MW but didnt believe it. This child used to sleep 9-11hrs straight at night, and now she was fighting me going down, and when I finally got her down - she'd wake up 20-40 minutes later over & over until about midnight, then she'd stay down for the night. She would scream and scream and nothing soothed her but nursing. Naps went to sh!t a few days later and she fought me on those too. Screaming bloody murder. Getting her from my arms, into the crib became an olympic sport.
During my phone call w/the Pedi she gave me the following advice (some I knew, some I didnt):
- definitely sleep train so baby learns how to put herself to and back to sleep (we picked a modified more gentle Ferber-type method called The SleepEasy Solution and she said that's perfect; bonus it comes on dvd so one less book i have to read!)
- do whatever you need to do over the next couple days to get her to sleep (swing, rock, nurse etc...) while you prepare to sleep train - then pick a day - say Friday - to begin... but rest up because we'll be very tired once we start...
- change up your nighttime routine (w/no rocking or nursing to sleep); that way they know this is the NEW way we go to bed...
- BE CONSISTENT... once I start the sleep training - you have to follow through.
- get a glass of wine or favorite ice cream, a box of tissues, and the baby monitor for those first few nights - it's going to be tough...
- get DH, grandma, a best friend or your sister to come over and support you through it... either way - be strong and dont give in...
- hire a babysitter and go on a date w/DH after a week of sleep training as your reward for making it through... :-)
- dont give up if 3-4 days later it stops working - stick with it...
Anyone else talk to the pedi about the 4MW? Anyone going to sleep train?
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Long talk w/Pedi about sleep issues (4MW) - long
We had a similar conversation at Jacob's 4 month appt. The pedi said that J is able to sleep through the night because he's done it a few times before. We were hesitant to have him CIO but she recommended it to break the habit of him waking through the night.
We tried it out a few weeks ago and it has worked wonders! He sleeps about 6 hours then wakes to eat then sleeps about 6 more hours. Eventually we'll break him of the night feeding too, but not for a few more weeks.
Stick with it... hopefully it helps!
Let us know how it goes! We don't have a 4 month appointment with our pedi, but if we did, we would have been having a long talk as well.
We are up minimum of 4 times a night right now ... up to 7 or 8. I am getting desperate. I was never a fan of sleep training with DS, but he consistently improved. I think I am going to have to do something with this sweet babe of mine.
We kinda just finished. We started last tuesday with a set bedtime routine. I used Ferber. The longest I let her cry was ten minutes. She now goes to bed in her crib without crying for the night and for naps. I haven't seen a huge difference in the length of sleep, but it is easier to get her down.
Did he talk to you about sleep training in the middle of the night? I had heard after a certain point they dont need night time nutrition, but it is for comfort.
Not sure what to do about the paci during the checks... Do we not reinsert it each time...?
Our pedi recommended that we get rid of the paci first before we tried him in his crib to sleep train. She said that if we tried to sleep train without getting rid of the paci he would have no way to self-soothe when he wakes in the middle of the night. This took a day and a half of h.e.l.l.!! But he has found his thumb and it's an easy fix when he's tired or wakes up in the middle of the night.
My Married Bio
My Planning Bio
CFL Knottie Bio
We did the same. And I too was grateful for the long chat with our pedi. She gave the OK for some sleep training, starting with bedtime and then working on night wakings. I agree with all the tips your pedi had. I had to call my mom for 3 nights to talk me down even with 30 min of crying which I guess is relatively short.
We started on a Friday and had fluke less than 3 mins of crying - I think she was just wiped out from daycare. The 2nd night was 35 min but then 17 and then 7 the next two. We've only had one night since with crying and I guess that can be common to still have a few rough nights here and there while they are learning.So bedtime is mostly much better. We do our same routine (jammies, bath, nurse, books) just without the bouncing/rocking. And we talk to DD when we put her down to be sure she knows she's going in the crib. She also has two loveys that go with her.
Night wakings are harder. We still put her down drowsy and that works but it is harder to know when to go to her and when she's just trying to get back to sleep but isn't hungry etc.
This is exactly what I was thinking. Babies nurse because they are hungry. It's really that simple. I know it sucks, I know you are tired, but it is what it is. We all go through it and we all make it to the other side.
Married Filing Jointly Blog
I'm with you on this. I guess I'm really lucky S goes right back to sleep after she eats, but I've just decided to suck it up and she'll sleep when she's ready.
The exception to this will be when she's old enough to manipulate us, i.e. wake up and try to play rather than eat. If she does that, it might be a different story. Right now though, I'm content to let her call the shots.