Sleep Trainers - Advice? (XP)
99frontier
member
Here is my dilemma:
K has been a bad sleeper pretty much all along, but I didn't think I could handle the crying, so I decided to wait it out as long as I could. Fast forward to now and he will have random good nights (6-8 hrs straight, nurse, sleep until 7ish) for about a week, and then he will go back to bad nights again (mostly because of learning new things). This week has me thinking seriously about sleep training...
Now that K can crawl and sit himself up, when I lay him down (because he has to be walked or nursed to sleep) most of the time he will wake up almost immediately and sit up. He also does it in the middle of the night. I think he sits himself up while he is still asleep, then wakes up and cries because he can't figure out how to lay back down. In short, I haven't slept more than 4-5 hours each night this week. 
Also important to my story: K is a tummy sleeper and doesn't roll. He has been a tummy sleeper since about 3 months old and has only slept on his back maybe twice since then and only for about an hour. So my sleep training questions....
Do I put him down on his back and hope he doesn't freak out and not understand that it's time to sleep because he never sleeps that way?
Do I put him down on his belly like he is used to and deal with the sitting up?
How do I handle the sitting up thing? How often should I help lay him down?
Any advice would help!!
PS - I've read "No-Cry Sleep Solution", Weissbluth, Baby Whisperer, Sleep Sense, Baby Wise, etc. I'm all booked-out.
Re: Sleep Trainers - Advice? (XP)
If you know he is tired - I would just lay him down however you do - and let him deal. I know you can't stand the crying. I can't either - honestly. But I slept trained my son and now he crys a max of 10-15 minutes and is usually out. I tell myself that crying isn't going to hurt him - and it isn't.
I have a baby monitor so I can see that he isn't hurt. If he has to roll all over the crib to get his frustrations out - then so be it. Eventually he will find a comfortable position and be so tired from crying that he will be out.
You can't stop your baby from sitting up - we haven't got that far yet - our son doesn't know how to do that but when he does - if he sits up and then so be it - as long as he is safe - I don't go in the room because when I usually do - it makes it worse - much worse.
I hope that helps a little. Good luck!
I'm sure others will disagree with me, but if he's always been put to sleep on his tummy, then I would continue with it.
My LO was a side sleeper but I did the first night of training on her back because that's what you are "supposed to" do. Even though she knew how to roll, once she was on her back crying she just didn't know what to do with herself. It was terrible. The second night we put her on her side like we usually do, and maybe it was a coincidence, but that night was a hundred times better.
Good luck!