sleep training question

twoitalians · May 2013

No, I don't think I'm entertaining the idea of sleep training. I just want to ask... do you sleep train because you have a hard time getting your LO to fall asleep at the beginning of the night? when they wake up in the MOTN? Insert other reason here...

WhitEm14 · May 2013

We did it because Henry was waking up in the middle of the night for a variety of reasons and would ONLY go back to sleep with our help. It was too much. I'm glad we did it. For the last week, despite me and him being sick, he has slept from 7-7 without needing help going back asleep.

thepretzelchick · May 2013

We sleep-trained (Ferber) as soon as we moved him to his crib in November. We did it at naptime and bedtime to help him learn to fall asleep on his own. It's rare now that I have to go back in at all during naps (he takes 3 per day) and only 2-3 nights/week that I have to go back in at bedtime. We sleep-trained in the MOTN to rid him of his 3am habit feed, which took all of two nights. Normally if he wakes during the night because of losing his paci or rolling over, he'll fall right back asleep, but if not we use Ferber.

It's not so much sleep training with him as it is sleep assisting. I started out doing things that soothed him, like giving him a paci and turning on the seahorse (both of which are bed-only items) as well as patting his butt and rubbing his back and face. I soothed him and soon he learned how to soothe himself. When I lay him down for a nap, I pat his butt and rub his back for two of the seahorse's songs, then I leave and watch him through the crack in the door. He'll either stay on his tummy or roll to his side and rub his cheek with his blanket until he falls asleep (which is coincidentally exactly what I do to fall asleep). If the seahorse has turned off before he falls asleep, he'll hit him until he turns back on and then he'll go back to soothing himself. That was my point in sleep training: to get him to a place where I can lay him down and he can soothe himself to sleep.

rp-chicago-mom · May 2013

We did it becsuse he was waking up 30 times. It wasn't that hard on us, though. There was one night he would wake up if he didn't have contact with my boob the entire night. I couldn't take it. If he went into full on hysterics, I don't know if I'd be strong enough. Luckily, I never had to make that choice.

ccam · May 2013

We did sleep training because DS was waking up multiple times at night and couldn't put himself back to sleep.

ETA: Plus, he had to be rocked completely to sleep for naps and once he was put down, his naps were 20 minutes tops.

cedenton · May 2013

We did it at night to teach him he could either sleep in any position or get himself in a new position. For Sunday's nap I did it because I can't hold him for his naps. At night it was MOTN, for naps it was to stay asleep or go back to sleep after being put in crib.

austenfan919 · May 2013

We sleep trained (sleep lady shuffle-style) because it took hours to get DS to fall and stay asleep at the beginning of the night, and he woke up lots during the night needing to nurse or rock back to sleep.

We would rock him to sleep around 7, he would sleep in crib for about 30 minutes and then it would take 2 hours to get him to fall asleep again and stay asleep. And then he would wake often in the MOTN, too.

I would have rocked him to sleep for longer if he was sleeping well after that. And I wasn't looking to night wean, just get a stretch of sleep longer than 1.5 hours.

But after sleep training, he falls asleep within 10 or 15 minutes, usually without a peep, and he wakes 2-3 times to nurse (far better than before). Sometimes he wakes up once between bedtime and the first feeding, but we make sure he has his paci and turn on the glow worm music and he goes back to sleep in a few minutes.

ETA: We also saw improvement from night 1, after he initially fell asleep (which did take awhile on night 1, but was much faster & easier night 2).

sosoph · May 2013

we night weaned and were prepared to sleep train (but didn't have to) because a baby needs sleep more than he needs a midnight snack. And, he's still a baby but the separation anxiety cries of kids who can't put themselves to sleep/bear to be apart from their parents are heart-breaking to me. I think it does a baby a favor to learn to self-soothe. What exactly were you curious about if your mind is made up?

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