Update: Last night I put LO to bed at 8pm and gave him a dream feed at 10:30. Since he's a tummy sleeper, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do this feed with him still completely asleep (have to pick up and turn him), but he just rolled back to his tummy when I put him down. Woke up at about 6:15 with fussing on and off, up for the day at 7 with no checkins required. So I guess the dream feed worked! Thanks for the advice @nunzchucks! Still can't get him to sleep longer than 10 hours though. Maybe he will with time
Also on engorgement: I had the same problem with waking up engorged. I used to wake up just before LO to pump off the excess (only 5min), then feed. DH suggested that I try to pump before bed instead as it's easier for me to stay up than get up early. I'm a super leaker but hate wearing clothes to sleep so I just sleep with a towel under me, which seems to help with getting BM everywhere. I don't know how EPing might change the issue, but that's what worked for me. Maybe try to push back the pumping time a little each night?
Gotta get the girls on a similar schedule eventually anyway as we cut back on nursing sessions
@nunzchucks the nap training was just going to poorly in comparison to the night training, which I know the book warns of, but also me being headed back to work mid-next-week is making me super emotional and hearing DS cry for 40 mins per nap wasn't something I could handle in this weakened state (I know, I should just suck it up).
Last night (night 4) was terrible. Went to sleep at 7:15 just fine, but crying enough to need one check at 11:30pm and awake at 4:30am crying with many check ins until 5:53 when he went back to sleep until 6:30am. I did drop back to one MOTN feeding at 2am, and only for 3 mins. I'm hoping last night was an extinction burst because it was our worst night so far, and if tonight is the same perhaps we will need to resume nap training to get nights back on track.
PS: (unrelated) I don't know why my iPad won't let me use paragraphs or quote boxes, sorry.
@cinnamonsmiles Good idea re towel. I think I'll end up doing the same until my supply sorts out. @Roccostar We're in the same boat re bad naps, I feel your pain
So i haven't updated well. But day 1: he went to sleep pretty easy with only a little whining. Then woke up at 11 and screamed and cried for less than an hour before exhausting himself back to sleep. I was diligent on the check ins but had a really hard time keeping my voice calm and positive because I was sobbing too. After that he woke up quite a few times and whined a bit but went right back to sleep. He then woke up at 4 but fell asleep after only 2 minutes. Then slept till I got him up.
Nap time with my mom went pretty well too. Only had trouble for the last nap. He cried for 30 minutes and then fell asleep.
Night 2: think we are teething so I gave him some tylenol because he was in obvious pain. I was worried about a rough night ahead but he fell asleep immediately and then I didn't hear him wake up again. He played quietly in his crib in the morning until I came to get him up. I feel like this was way too easy... we will see how tonight goes.
So night #2 last night... Down in the crib at 6:15, asleep by 6:30 - no crying or fussing. She woke at 11:30 and was fussing but never cried and was back asleep in 5 minutes - no check in. She woke again at 4, fussed and back asleep in 3 minutes. She was up for the day at 5:30, talking and chatting away in her crib. I left her there until 6 when I got her up for the day. Huge success! Hope tonight goes as well or better. Still having trouble with the 3rd nap but working on it.
Hi guys, joining you. I just finished the book and your posts have been really interesting. Question about the check-ins: what exactly do you guys say when you go in? I know the book recommends using a reassuring and positive tone...but do our 4-5 month olds really get or understand that?
DS puts himself to sleep for all naps and bedtime - his issue, like others here, is that he has trouble staying asleep (this began during the 4 month sleep regression). He usually only wakes once a night to feed but sometimes it's up to 3x. My husband is in the military and is gone so it's just me, ds and my 2 yr old dd. I need consistent sleep in order to be a good mom, hence my interest in Sleepeasy! Ds isn't a bad sleeper but he's totally inconsistent. Hoping the book (and you guys) can help.
I've been quietly stalking this thread, read the book, and have done the SE method for five days now. It is a miracle! DD just started sleeping when I put her down for naps without any crying. I literally feel like I have a new baby and some of my life back!
As a background:
I was worried about her development because she was crying all the time and would scream bloody murder when I put her on her stomach. She was sleeping OK at night, but taking ZERO naps throughout the entire day. I work from home full time and she was making it very, very difficult to get anything done. I realize now, that I was the problem! I wasn't putting her down at regular intervals and would move her around to different play stations thinking she was bored when she was actually tired. Now, that she's had 4-5 days of good sleep under her belt, she can tolerate tummy time, she rolled over!!!! and she is talking/making noises constantly when she's awake. This has been so amazing. I have cried tears of joy over this thread.
Big thank you to @nunzchucks for all your troubleshooting.
Hi all. I'm planning on downloading the book in a minute here (dead nook battery.) I've been lurking but nervous to commit to the sleep training until tonight when LO was obviously screaming for me every time I stepped out if her room. I'd go back in, put her pacifier back in, step out and the screaming began again. My hesitation at this point is 1) she's addicted to her pacifier, 2) she still nurses 1-2 times motn, 3) I am able to get that last hour or two of sleep from 430/5am daily if I bring her Into bed with me, lastly 4) I'm scared of being strong enough to let her CIO. A little background as I'm mobile and haven't had the patience for typing to re-intro yet on that thread: LO will be 5mo on Friday and was 14 lbs at her 4 month check up. She seems to be eating a lot more often during the day this past week. She is ebf. ?growth spurt at 5mo?
Thanks for all the info so far and hopefully I'll be back and active after reading the book.
The first few times are the worst! I cried like crazy, but I kept telling myself, she is not hurt, she is just frustrated and trying to learn how to sleep. If I keep interfering with the process then she can never learn.
DD was hooked on the pacifier, we stuck back in her mouth dozens of times per night. We went cold turkey and stopped giving it to her and she went from crying for about 20 minutes the first night to not crying at all within five days. You guys who are on the fence can do it! Good luck.
I have been secretly stalking this thread and started sleep training last Friday. I am only able to do it for 4 nights as LO is sick with a fever. For the 4 nights, she cried 2 hrs on average before she went down for the night but was able to put herself back to sleep without any check In's during motn. We were also working on night weaning and she was down to 2oz. But now this all goes out the door because she is sick. She is very fussy and can't stay asleep for more than 45 mins. Of course her health comes first so we will work on the sleeping when she gets better.
So, does anyone else have a baby that is very inconsistent with eating times in the middle of the night? I don't know how to plan to wake up an hour before she does when she is up 2, 4, 6 one night and then just 3 am the next!
Night #3 last night and she woke (not fully, but stirred / made noise) 3 times, none of which required a check-in. I still went in (once she was back to sleep) just because I couldn't resist.
Question though... she is going to bed at 6pm since the time change and up at 5:30am. How can I go about stretching this a bit to have her go to bed a little later (like 630/7) without it messing up all of the progress we've made?
Last night was not so great. He went down way early - 630 instead of 730 usual time and fussed about 10 minutes. But he was up at 130 and fussed to 3, cried 3-340, then DH brought him to bed and he slept to 8. Ugh, so frustrating.
My goal today is keeping him on schedule so his bedtime is back to usual. And we're working on changing bedtime from bath/jammies/nurse/song to nurse/bath/jammies/song and see if that helps.
He woke up at 4 and fussed and cried so I went in for the first check in and it made it worse! Is it okay for me to just not do the check ins if he wakes up in the middle of the night?
He woke up at 4 and fussed and cried so I went in for the first check in and it made it worse! Is it okay for me to just not do the check ins if he wakes up in the middle of the night?
How long do you wait before going in? We extended our checkins wait for MOTN waking for the same reason. I generally start with 10 minutes but always restart the clock if he quiets down for a bit. The book mentions that if they fuss more when you go in to extend your next one by 5 minutes, so I don't see why starting out that way would hurt.
@shellbell813 Yup! Exactly what @cinnamonsmiles said! Since we started DS has been up at least once a night talking to himself for 10-20 min. I haven't checked in yet because the one time we did, he was hysterical.
Last night was night 5 and it was pretty good. Bedtime got pushed to 8pm, dream feed at 9:30, small amount of fussing at 11:30, then awake at 4am and played for about an hour, cried for 5 mins and DH did one check in, stopped crying and played for another 30 mins before going back to sleep from 5:30am - 6:30am. I don't know what it is that LO loves about 4am (before the time change he loved 5am) and I wish he would just sleep through, but last night this mama did zero MOTN feeds! I did wake up and pump at 4am though just cuz I'm trying to build the stash before work starts next week anyway. @shellbell813 fwiw, I've been doing all the checks since we started this and it just makes DS more upset each time, but last night DH did one check and he calmed right down.
Yes, absolutely. He only got about 2 hours of naps yesterday, so he was so tired in the evening. We're mostly back on track today. It's all getting better day by day though.
I'm not training yet but just wondering what to do when LO falls asleep in car seat? Should I leave him or transfer to the bed (we bed share as of now). I know that training says don't go out during nap time but what if he still falls asleep!!?
He's still asleep in the car seat I decided to leave him (never wake a sleeping baby in my mind). Unfortunately, he takes most of his naps in there which I'm sure is a no-no. Mama fail.
I leave DS if he falls asleep in the car seat at a designated nap time, but I do try to keep him awake until we get home. If it's an off time (say 1.5 hr after last nap), I get him up and keep him up until next scheduled nap time.
We're on night 6 and DD has been falling asleep in less than a minute and staying asleep all night!
Naps are still not going well. She falls asleep fairly quickly, but only stays asleep for 30-45 minutes. I leave her in the crib for the full hour screaming. Then it is very difficult to keep her awake for 2 and a half hours. We're just going to keep trying. I did give her an emergency nap in the stroller like the book suggests.
So exciting!! I'm happy for everyone's successes! I'm starting tomorrow though I'm conflicted. I talked to my pedi and she said to not cut the night feedings yet, that at his age and being breast feed that his normal long stretch should be 5 hours. Hmmm, will it screw up the process of I just teach him the self soothing technique and try to get him down to one feeding a night? Or should I just wait until he is done and should be Sttn?
So exciting!! I'm happy for everyone's successes! I'm starting tomorrow though I'm conflicted. I talked to my pedi and she said to not cut the night feedings yet, that at his age and being breast feed that his normal long stretch should be 5 hours. Hmmm, will it screw up the process of I just teach him the self soothing technique and try to get him down to one feeding a night? Or should I just wait until he is done and should be Sttn?
You're doing the right thing listening to your doctor. Maybe try to wean down to one feeding, but make that feeding at a time where you rouse him, not where he is already awake. Make sense?
Naps are so tough. Yesterday's first nap was easy but the second two were horrible. She has been crying off and on for this one and only slept for 18 minutes of it.
Despite some great successes, feeling a bit discouraged today. Naps have been 30-40 minutes - so much better than crying the whole time when we started, but not perfect. Bedtime is 7/730 and takes average 10 minutes fussing/crying then sleeps until 330/4. I thought it was because of the time change, but DH thinks it's because growth spurt and he's legit hungry. So last night (for the second night in a row), DH brought him to bed at 4 or so after 30-40 min crying and I fed him and we fell asleep. So I'm thinking of re-starting a dream feed at around 2 and see if that irons things out and we can stretch our sleep to at least 6/7. Thoughts?
We had a great night last night (night #4)! She didn't need any check-ins, stirred for a couple minutes around 2:30, then slept until 6! Nervous for tonight... She took a 2.5 hour nap which set her schedule off a little, then I had to go out of the house so she went to bed an hour later than usual. She fell right asleep... Fingers crossed she sleeps ok and this only means that she'll sleep an hour longer in the morning!
@nicolemcm Are you doing a dream feed before you go to sleep?
I'm not sure how your plan would work, but I do think bringing him to bed is setting you back.
We had weaned him off night feeds altogether and he seemed to be doing ok. But I did do one last night hoping it would help and we still had the same issue.
I absolutely agree re bringing him to bed. It's DH who can't handle it motn.
And now he's been up for 30m after being asleep for 45 after bedtime. I don't get it.
Today was a miracle!!! For reference we're on day 17.
For 2 days he had been taking one short nap (40min), one long nap (2hours) and then screaming in his crib for the third. Today he did TWO 2 hour naps AND a 20min blip nap! I got so much done DH didn't know what to say! SO nice.
To all you ladies struggling with naps, keep on chuggin'!
@nicolemcm under 5 mo or 15 lbs, the book recommends a dream feed before you go to bed.
He's 5 months tomorrow and 22 lbs - so we felt comfortable dropping the dream feed last weekend, but one wake up is most certainly better than a 3:30 wakeup.
I think we're in the middle of extinction burst or a growth spurt or something! He's been up 3x since bedtime 2hr30m ago. Blargh. Gotta power through it, eh
Re: The SleepEasy Thread
Also on engorgement:
I had the same problem with waking up engorged. I used to wake up just before LO to pump off the excess (only 5min), then feed. DH suggested that I try to pump before bed instead as it's easier for me to stay up than get up early. I'm a super leaker but hate wearing clothes to sleep so I just sleep with a towel under me, which seems to help with getting BM everywhere. I don't know how EPing might change the issue, but that's what worked for me. Maybe try to push back the pumping time a little each night?
Gotta get the girls on a similar schedule eventually anyway as we cut back on nursing sessions
J14 Jan Siggy Challenge: Santorini
@Roccostar We're in the same boat re bad naps, I feel your pain
Nap time with my mom went pretty well too. Only had trouble for the last nap. He cried for 30 minutes and then fell asleep.
Night 2: think we are teething so I gave him some tylenol because he was in obvious pain. I was worried about a rough night ahead but he fell asleep immediately and then I didn't hear him wake up again. He played quietly in his crib in the morning until I came to get him up. I feel like this was way too easy... we will see how tonight goes.
Also, why do I still feel so exhausted!?
Ah, now I understand @MommyWaldron.
Thanks for all the info so far and hopefully I'll be back and active after reading the book.
Night #3 last night and she woke (not fully, but stirred / made noise) 3 times, none of which required a check-in. I still went in (once she was back to sleep) just because I couldn't resist.
Question though... she is going to bed at 6pm since the time change and up at 5:30am. How can I go about stretching this a bit to have her go to bed a little later (like 630/7) without it messing up all of the progress we've made?
My goal today is keeping him on schedule so his bedtime is back to usual. And we're working on changing bedtime from bath/jammies/nurse/song to nurse/bath/jammies/song and see if that helps.
J14 Jan Siggy Challenge: Santorini
@shellbell813 Yup! Exactly what @cinnamonsmiles said! Since we started DS has been up at least once a night talking to himself for 10-20 min. I haven't checked in yet because the one time we did, he was hysterical.
Naps are still not going well. She falls asleep fairly quickly, but only stays asleep for 30-45 minutes. I leave her in the crib for the full hour screaming. Then it is very difficult to keep her awake for 2 and a half hours. We're just going to keep trying. I did give her an emergency nap in the stroller like the book suggests.
Glad to see that everyone is making progress!
Naps have been 30-40 minutes - so much better than crying the whole time when we started, but not perfect.
Bedtime is 7/730 and takes average 10 minutes fussing/crying then sleeps until 330/4. I thought it was because of the time change, but DH thinks it's because growth spurt and he's legit hungry. So last night (for the second night in a row), DH brought him to bed at 4 or so after 30-40 min crying and I fed him and we fell asleep.
So I'm thinking of re-starting a dream feed at around 2 and see if that irons things out and we can stretch our sleep to at least 6/7.
Thoughts?
I'm not sure how your plan would work, but I do think bringing him to bed is setting you back.
We had weaned him off night feeds altogether and he seemed to be doing ok. But I did do one last night hoping it would help and we still had the same issue.
I absolutely agree re bringing him to bed. It's DH who can't handle it motn.
And now he's been up for 30m after being asleep for 45 after bedtime. I don't get it.
J14 Jan Siggy Challenge: Santorini
I think we're in the middle of extinction burst or a growth spurt or something! He's been up 3x since bedtime 2hr30m ago. Blargh. Gotta power through it, eh