Please share your Sleep Training Story

Re: Please share your Sleep Training Story

• amyc216 member

  October 2012

  My DS used to wake up several times a night and would only back to sleep with nursing.  I would stay up with him until he went back to sleep so I was always exhausted and got to the point of sleep training when he was about 8 months old.  I used Sleep Sense.  The first night he cried for 20 minutes before going to sleep and I think he woke up 3 times in the night.  It got to be less time of crying at bedtime and wake-ups and he STTN on the 5th night I think.  It was amazing! 

  I haven't read Ferber, but I wonder if you may want to give LO a few nights to get used to his crib before you try sleep training or if it's best to just do it all at once.  Good luck!

  

   

  

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• Fianschneid member

  October 2012

  I have a feeling there are going to be some readers who aren't going to like what we did. I don't expect this to work for everyone, it is just what worked for us.

  At four months, pedi told us DD was ready to STTN. She told us we could let her CIO for up to 20 minutes. We were nervous but exhausted, so we gave it a try. The first night, she cried for 15 minutes, woke once around 3am, cried for 5 or 10 minutes and self soothed. The next night, she cried for about 10 minutes then STTN. She's been STTN ever since.

  We also do something we call Le Pause (from Bringing Up Bebe). When she seems to be waking or crying, we check the clock and wait 5 minutes. Usually, she's just hitting a point in her sleep cycle where she's able to put herself to sleep.

  We've really only had issues when she's been teething.

  
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• aliciaroset member

  October 2012

  please remember that most of the sleep training stories you'll hear on here will not be people who have coslept.

  I would suggest considering a floor bed instead of a crib. that way you can lay down with her and put her to sleep. 

  we bedshared until about 9.5 months when it clearly wasn't working for DD anymore and she really wanted her own space. The hardest adjustment was the part when I laid her down into the crib.  

  have you tried putting her in her crib for naps first? 

  I know you're tired and it's not working, but I don't know if you can expect her to change overnight. She's never slept alone before so it will be very hard. I would try to take it slow and listen to her signs. If she's really not ready you might need to revisit it later. I will say my DD is just not cut out for sleep training. She just gets more and more frustrated, never winds down.  I do let her cry in the hopes that she'll work it out, but it only works some of the time. The rest of the time I'll give her a minute or so and I go in and pick her up. Usually that's enough to put her out.  This routine doesn't fit with any particular method of sleep training but it works for us.  For some children being picked up can be too stimulating and just wake them up more, but DD won't be soothed in her crib most of the time.  (Yet, maybe that'll change) 

  I'd keep doing whatever you're doing now to help her get to sleep (laying next to her? nursing?) and each day leave her alone more and more awake so she gradually starts to put herself down instead of just expecting her to figure out what you want her to do in this new place AND with a new routine.  This is just my opinion, of course! 
  

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• Ms.Jade member

  October 2012

  We did Ferber for sleep regression at 5 months and 9 months and it worked beautifully. My advice is to actually read the book - it's only 4 pages or so since the book covers a variety of sleep issues and nearly every library has it. Be consistent, stick to it, make sure that you and your DH are on the same page, and know that for most of us it works within 3 days to 2 weeks. That's the longest I've ever heard of it taking and it's SO worth it. Tonight I gave E a bath, read her a story, gave her a bottle (she still gets one at bedtime) and snuggled her for 5 minutes. I put her in her crib wide awake, she protested a little, I kissed her, walked out and she was asleep within 2 minutes. This is typical for naps and bedtime and I attribute it to Ferber. Oh and one other thing is to get yourself an iron-clad bedtime routine. We do the same things in about the same order every time she goes to bed whether for naps or at night. I swear once we dim the lights and pull out a book she relaxes because she knows what's coming.

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