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April 2012 Moms
eav2c
member
If you are, have, or are planning to sleep train--Tell me about it :)
eav2c
member
Hey ladies! I posted a week ago about how terrible C has been sleeping lately. It seems like the general consensus was that I really need to sleep train. For a few nights things got better but then they went downhill again (waking about 3-4 times and then finally around 2am I bring him into bed with me). He used to sleep through the night. The problem that seems to be going on is that he will cry in his sleep and it'll be rather dramatic and loud. Normally I would give him his pacifier but now that he's teething he refuses it so the only way to calm him down and get him to sleep is by nursing. He is normally zonked back out within 3 minutes and I wait about another 10 minutes before putting him down.
So, if you are/have/or will sleep train, tell me about the method. Is there a book? What do you like/dislike? Have you modified anything? What time is your LO going to bed/waking up in the AM? Are they waking in the middle of the night at all? Also, how long did it take til you noticed a "difference?"
I prefer not to CIO. I can't bare it. But, at this point, I'd be willing to consider it it meant making our home a happier (and less sleepy) home. TIA 
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Re: If you are, have, or are planning to sleep train--Tell me about it :)
I have 3 sleep related books that I'm working my way through [Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, The No Cry Sleep Solution and Ferber's book] and figure we should be able to come up with a plan. I dont really want to do CIO, but it might have to come to that.
I was thinking about purchasing the No Cry Sleep Solution. My worry is that I am going to spend money on things I already know. I purchased tons of books when I was pregnant about various things from breastfeeding to a healthy baby and it was all super obvious stuff already. KWIM? That's the only reason I'm back and forth on purchasing a book. But, maybe just to have it as a support guide. That sounds lame. LOL.
BTW: Where'd you get that adorable onesie?
First of all, I just want to say I'm sorry Colin is sleeping crappy!! We are going through some major sleep issues right now too and some nights I just sob in bed because I'm so tired! haha
I wouldn't say I followed any such method, but I did some kind of sleep training...if that makes sense. I give him his comfort items to snuggle. He needs his muslin security blanket and his regular muslin. If he didn't have those, he wouldn't sleep. Makes sense to me, if I didn't have a blanket and had to sleep on a cold hard mattress, I wouldnt sleep either! Sometimes he does.not. want to be in there, but I DONT get him out. (He isnt a huge cryer in bed though, so I usually dont have to deal with that). He will whine/semi-cry and I just hold his hands, rub his face, or push his blanket by his face to calm him. If that doesn't work, then I do pick him up (only for naps). At night I leave him. If I pick him up, then that wrecks EVERYTHING. It's never taken him longer than 8-10 minutes to eventually fall asleep. --He will fall asleep around 8:40ish. Wake up for a bottle between 5-6am. Then I put him in bed with us. Takes him another 10 mins to fall back asleep, and he's awake for the day around 9am.--
However, he's going through some MAJOR sleep regression or something. He's been waking up almost every hour. But I never pick him up. I know he isnt hungry because he's never ate before 5 in months, so I know he doesn't need that. I put the binky back in, give him back his blankie, and cover him with the muslin. I dont say a word or turn any lights on. Then I walk away. But I watch him on the video monitor. He will roll around, whip his blankie around, play with his feet, pretty much anything but sleep. But I let him. And again, this might be different for you because DS isn't crying. Sometimes he whines, but I do the same thing - binky, blanket, walk away. He eventually gets it that I'm not going to get up and play with him, so he settles down and goes back to sleep. But, then he's up again. *sigh*. I am so tired now. I'm hoping he quits this soon!
I know I don't have any huge advice or follow a strict sleep training program, but I just thought I'd offer what worked for us!! I really hope Colin goes back to sleeping through the night for you!
That is great advice! TY
I think I just need to pony up and prepare for tears. Colin has really started to manipulate me. It makes it extremely challenging. One little whimper and I'm there. He knows that too... If I have him on his playmat, in the swing, or the jumperoo he'll toy with me and let out the biggest cry and then when I turn around he will literally laugh and squeal. MrsA and Peanthue can attest to the fact that Colin has the loudest cry ever. The kid has lungs! It's just so hard. My H gets up at 5:30am for work and so I hate to let Colin cry at all in fear of disturbing him. Colin has a taggie that he loves and it helps keep him calm. I might go buy a bigger one and just start putting it in the crib with him. I just really desire more than 2 hours of sleep at a time and want to sleep in my bed without him. He's such a bed hog too!
Thanks CPhillz! I hope Camden's sleep regression gets better. He's such a doll
I used Ferber with both girls. It didn't work with DD1, however it did work for DD2. I really like the intervals, and check-in times.
Kate is still inconsistent with the amount of times she wakes up in the MOTN (sometimes it's one, sometimes it's two), and her wake time varies as well. The main reason I decided to sleep train was due to lack of self soothing skills; she didn't know how to put herself back to sleep after she woke up. I still rock her to sleep, although not as long as I used to. I can put her down, and if she stirs an hour later, she goes back to bed on her own after a few minutes. However, there are times that she works herself up so much, that I pick her up and rock her for a couple minutes. I'm happy to report that she goes back to bed after a MOTN feeding with ease as well...it's no longer a battle.
If anything, sleep training has made her associate the crib with sleep, nap in her crib (still only catnaps, with the occassional long nap), and be able to move around, wake up, and go back to sleep on her own. She even starts to do her sleepy whine when we walk in the room, and put her noise machine on.
We've been dealing with sickness, so I had to start, stop, and then start again, but I did notice a difference by the second night.
Good luck!
there was a good article that came out that showed that sleep training is not harmful to a kid
https://gma.yahoo.com/parents-let-sleepless-babies-cry-study-233549733--abc-news-wellness.html
I like Healthy Sleep habits, Happy Child personally. It really goes into the science behind sleep and outlines a few different methods.
I got The No Cry Sleep Solution a while ago, 2 monthsish?, so I need to read it again. But yeah, it is a lot of common sense stuff from what I remember.
The onesie was a gift, but I think they got it from Amazon. The brand is Fabric Flavours. They have a whole bunch of Star Wars stuff.
I've been having a similar situation to Cphillz, where he went from STTN or waking up only once, to waking up every 1/2 hour to hour until I give up and bring him into our room. It's been totally brutal since I am back to work and feel like a zombie half the day. In the past I have read Healthy Sleep Habits and have incorporated some of the principles into our routine, but I think I need something more extreme at this point.
I've started to look into the Ferber method since it seems to be more universally effective, and I feel like I just don't have the energy to try a million things. I am okay with the Ferber way of crying it out in intervals if I know it will make him happier in the long run, although I know it will be awful when we do it. We'll see... we just moved and between that and having him start daycare, he's had to deal with a lot of changes the past month so I'm giving him more time to adjust. If his sleep isn't better by say the end of the month I think we'll be doing Ferber.
I used Ferber. And, it worked.
I do 98% of the baby care because my H works a lot. I was getting super stressed out about her crappy naps and inability to go down at night. It was a cycle of hours of rocking, nursing, crying, more rocking, nursing, and so on.
So, after both my pedi and OB (who has twins herself) said to try Ferber, we went for it.
It wasn't easy. I was physically nauseous the first night we let her cry. I basically had never let her cry at all until then. But, I was desperate and was already doing the common sense things like being mindful of her awake period, good bedtime routine, etc. Something had to give.
She's doesn't STTN, but I don't believe she's ready for that. She does, however, know how to self-soothe and put herself to sleep. She sucks her two middle fingers and it calms her down. I can't begin to tell you what a relief it has been since we did it.
Oh, and the longest she EVER cried was the first night. And it was 20 minutes. Second night was 15. Third was 8. Now, she goes down with either no crying or maybe just a minute or two.
Let me know if you want to chat more about it.
TY for your suggestions and insight. I think I will go buy the book today. Even if I don't follow it to a "T" I need to figure something out. I'm embarrassed that I have to do something other than what used to work for us. I don't know why but I am. It has to be done though. TY
Oh my gosh, don't feel embarrassed! You are a wonderful mom. I know that feeling of frustration, and I really hope things get better for you - no matter what you decide to do.
This is a good idea. Saturday I strapped the baby into the Ergo, grabbed a Refresher from Starbucks, damn MSPI I wanted a latte, and read books about sleep at the bookstore while the baby napped. It felt ironic.
I am very lucky and for nighttime V just goes right to sleep and STTN (sorry, don't hate me!) and I have done nothing to achieve that.
For naps, it's a different story. She stopped being able to sleep in her swing and she really needed to just nap in her cradle so I did my own little form of sleep training. For naps I just put her down wide awake, give a paci and leave. If she cries, I let her cry for 5 minutes or until she is hysterical, then I'll go in give the paci, soothe her a little and leave. We repeat this until she falls asleep. I do not pick her up no matter what. This week we've had some regression and naps today were a bit of a struggle again but all of last week I just put her down and she went right to sleep without crying at all. The first time I tried it it probably took 45 minutes of me going in every 5 minutes and soothing her.