Special Needs
jksavers
member
Sleep training with special needs?
jksavers
member
My 9 month old DS with profound hearing loss has been waking up every few hours for the past several weeks and only going back to sleep if he's being held. My DH and I are considering sleep training using the Ferber method. My concern is that we cannot comfort him with our voices. Has anyone sleep trained in a similar situation? Advice? Other suggestions? TIA!
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Re: Sleep training with special needs?
Definitely buy the book or borrow it and read it prior to sleep training.
My son's are cognitively delayed and we still used ferber. However, we read the book and modified it to suit our needs.
I also am more into listening to my children's cues and following them as a parent so my style is a little different. With both of my boys they cried the first night and that was it. I never timed my check ins after the first one, I just went in on their emotional cues.
If it were me, I would go in and rub his back a few times. I would still say something, he may be able to feel the vibration through your hand when you are speaking.
If you don't already have a night light then I would get one. I always remember waking up when I was little and I would hear the tick tock of the hall clock. This would help sooth me back to sleep. Deaf babies do not have this option since they will depend on something visual for information.
Perhaps your DC just needs something visual to realize ' all is right with my world' in order to go back to sleep. Maybe even on of those moving projection night lights you could aim towards one wall n the room would be good.
Nate has hearing loss and we use a blue glowing "spooko' we got from Ikea. It plugs in and is also rechargeable. It is on constantly in his room.