sleep training

Re: sleep training

• jocie2581 member

  May 2014

  I've read a few books don't have an amazing one to recommend. But from all my reading this is some stuff that we found helpful for our 7 month boys.
  
  -Try breaking habits for nap time first. You have more energy to experiment with different techniques.
  
  -Find other ways to sooth your LOs besides holding them. For us singing, massaging, spinning a mobile, playing white noise, running fingers across their forehead, gently shaking their belly, and patting their back have worked.
  
  -We also switched to sleepsacks when they outgrew the swaddle.
  
  Hope some of that was helpful. Best of luck working towards your goal of getting them to fall asleep in their cribs.

            

                       My fraternal twin boys. Born Sept 2013.
  

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• ballygirl member

  May 2014

  My girls were the same way.  They would only fall asleep if we carried and walked them around the house. By 4 months they were getting heavy, my back was killing me and I knew I couldn't do this anymore. I tried the Tracey Hogg Pick Up Put Down method (Secrets of the baby whisperer) and had a little success, but not fully.  I started putting them down drowsy and just patting them and soothing them while in the crib.  It did involve some crying and honestly, if you are breaking bad habits, there is bound to be some crying.  But I pretty much stayed next to them and tried to sooth them without holding them, patting on the back, singing, whatever.  If the fussing turned into real crying, I picked them up briefly until they stopped and then I would put them back in awake. I will warn you - it took a really really really long time for them to get to sleep this way, and it took weeks of this for it to finally work.  They are better at it now, but you are going to need a lot of patience and advil from the back pain you will get from picking up and putting down so many times.  There were nights that I stood there for hours patting, consoling, occasionally picking up and putting back down.  And on nights when I was particularly sleep deprived or cranky, it was hard to put up with it and keep going.  There were several times I gave up and just picked them up until they fell asleep. 

   

  I have also had decent luck using the Pandora lullaby or Pandora classical piano station.  I start with the volume pretty high, it kind of focuses their attention if they are fussy.  Then I gradually decrease the volume as they relax and fall into sleep.  Also, I have a little plush doll in each of their cribs.  My girls like to be on their side and I stuck a rolled towel under their crib sheet to prop them on their sides.  They like to look at the doll.  Again, I think it is just something to focus their attention to calm them. 

   

  So - this method worked really well for naps and at 6 1/2 months they now go down for naps and usually to bed pretty easy. Unfortunately, even though they go to sleep more easily now, it did not help our MOTN wakings.  They still wake up every 2 hours and we have been at our wits end trying to get them to sleep in longer intervals.  I was trying to avoid it, but I think we may have to do a modified CIO soon.  If you read the Ferber book, its really not as harsh as people make it out to be.  Its not like leaving them in their crib for hours on end by themselves. I was absolutely against Ferber before having these babies but after reading the book and hearing people's success stories, I think it will ultimately involve less crying than the 'no cry' method we originally used.

   

  I absolutely recommend reading through the actual source material for whatever method you choose.  Don't just rely on people's advice online.  Read the whole book and really be sure of all the details before you start.  We read the Tracey Hogg book (secrets of the baby whisperer), the Weissbluth book (Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Twins) and the Ferber book (Solve you child's sleep problems) before choosing and trying a method.  There's a lot of bad or incomplete information online and for whatever method you use, even small deviations from the method can set you back. 

   

  
  

  
  

   

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• TREDgirl member

  May 2014

  We followed the Moms on Call method, they are two pediatric nurses that we met a our local MoMs meeting. For us consistency was the key. Every day, every night do things at the same time. Even on the weekends. 

  
  

  We had some crying for about 30 minutes on and off for a week. But now at 8 weeks in they know the schedule and are ready for bottle/bed when it's time. But really-consistency is the key. Pick something and stick with it for a least a week. 

  
  

  
  

  
  

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