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September 2015 Moms
xJKxOR
member
Sleep Training Plans - No Judgements!
xJKxOR
member
We've hit the four month sleep regression/wonder week/growth spurt/teething/no sleep hell!
Naturally, everyone and their dog has an opinion on what we should do and internet is an endless trove of conflicting information.
Please share what sleep training methods you are using or plan to use. Second-time moms, share what sleep methods you used in the past.
I know this is a controversial subject, let's keep mean comments to ourselves and just share our personal experiences!
Here's a link that explains some methods if you are not familiar with them
https://www.babysleepsite.com/sleep-training/5-sleep-training-methods-explained/
Sleep Training Plans - No Judgements! 85 votes
Cry-it-out "Ferberizing"
7%
6 votes
Cry-it-out modified
8%
7 votes
Pick Up - Put Down
4%
4 votes
Fading
4%
4 votes
Chair method
1%
1 vote
No Set Plan - Baby Lead
65%
56 votes
Other
8%
7 votes
Re: Sleep Training Plans - No Judgements!
We've been cosleeping for about a month now, because it was getting us much more sleep. But ever since the regression hit about a week ago, we aren't even getting much sleep cosleeping. So I'm just attempting something lol! Like I said though. ... I only fight this battle until midnight, then I just put him in bed with me... some sleep is better than no sleep! I'm sure eventually I'll have to buckle down and do the whole night, but I probably won't do that until I'm ready to move him into his own room/crib, I'm thinking closer to 5/6 months.
He's never been a great sleeper, so 7-8 hour stretches are just dreams around here, but I would be happy getting back to our 4 hour stretches (with him out of the bed). This is working for us right now... it might not get us results quickly (or at all) but I at least feel like I'm trying, and still getting some sleep.
This was my baby who slept from 8:30-5:30 every night for six weeks straight. No reflux, no fever, not hungry, just won't sleep now
LO's brain is full of activity like when you are trying to go to sleep before a really important day at work or a big trip. It can feel almost impossible to clear your mind enough to fall asleep.
Obviously every baby is different but I have had a lot of success using FisherPrice bedtime soothers (the vibrating elephant and the seahorse soother). They may not be as effective during a regression but they definitely seem to help DS2 slow down enough to gently fall asleep in his crib.
No judgment to others who use or are planning to use cry it out, but I personally just can't do it. Hearing my baby cry is heartwrenching, even if it's just for a few seconds like after his shots, etc. I couldn't imagine leaving him alone in a dark room to cry for hours wondering why I'm not coming to comfort him.
We've been going through the "4-month regression" for the last three weeks at least and finally have seen improvements the last three nights. We went from waking up once a night from weeks 4-7 to sleeping through the night from weeks 7-11, to waking up once or twice from weeks 11-15.5, to waking up three to six times a night from weeks 15.5-18. The past three weeks he's been waking up after every or every other 60-minute sleep cycle and hasn't been putting himself back to sleep. He kicks and whines and eventually cries so we've been picking him up to rock him back to sleep, then laying him back down once he falls asleep. It's been exhausting!
Finally, the last three nights he's only woken up once at the beginning of the night and has slept through the rest of the night ... victory! The only thing we've done differently is to let him squeak and whine a bit in his crib first to give him an opportunity to put himself back to sleep, but if it doesn't happen and he starts actually crying we go in to pick him up and soothe him. Last night he only woke up once after I had put him to bed an hour ago, but he was really crying and once I picked him up he let out two huge burps so I'm sure he was crying because of gas he couldn't get out on his own.
I just bought Elizabeth Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution book and hope to get a few good suggestions from there if we need them in the future
We bit the bullet today and moved her crib out of our room and into her nursery. I'm not happy about it as I'd rather sleep near her until she's a bit older but She's just too light of a sleeper and generally a very alert baby. Once she's up, she's up! I tried a dream feed for the first time last night. Hell no. Never again. She was up for 2 hours and would only settle in bed with me.
We're holding off on training her another couple weeks. When that happens I'll try a mix but don't want to sleep train for night wakings since Imbreastfeeding and I think she's actuAlly hungry.
I'm HOPING we get lucky and he doesn't have too hard a time in the next month. Like I told my husband - I can handle him having a tough time going to bed, that's easy. I just hope that once we get him down, he stays asleep! He's always been very good at self soothing - he doesn't cry in the morning anymore, I just go in his room at 7:15 and find him happily sucking on his fingers, playing with his feet, and watching his mobile. We'll see what happens.
William Alexander born 18 September, 2015
Harper Grace born 9 June, 2017
Colton Miles born 9 June, 2017
Bowen James due 19 June, 2019
At night she always falls asleep after eating; we have to keep her upright for 30 mn because of reflux and she stays asleep when we lay her down.
The problem for us is at 5 am or so she starts waking up. She's not hungry and she'll fall asleep the instant I pick her up. But giving her a pacifier will only buy us an hour tops. Usually I bring her to bed with me, but this morning, I put her in her nursery in her rock n play with her white noise and she talked to herself for a few mn and then slept till 8.
After reading the article, I've learned that what I've been doing is a combination of the Fading and PUPD techniques. I hold and bounce him with a pacifier in his mouth until he falls asleep, then I put him down. If he starts to wake up, fuss, or cry, I pick him up and repeat the process until he's asleep. Since reading that article, I've tried bouncing him until he is drowsy, putting him down, and seeing if he will fall asleep on his own. Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn't, but it's definitely given me an idea of how to go about "sleep training," which I hadn't really thought about until now. I'm hoping to continue with these methods, putting him down less and less drowsy as time goes by so that, eventually, he'll be able to fall asleep on his own. Fingers crossed.
He's ever changing and I plan to use whatever method gets us both the maximum amount of sleep! Even if it means using a different one each night. Usually baby boy sleeps from 830p-630a (we have had a couple 3am wakeups after he turned 4 months but not too bad) so we are doing something right.
ETA: after reading the link, we do the pupd method mixed with the chair and a tid bit of cry it out
We did a modified cio with all our kids around this age. We start at 10 min increments. I literally have to set a timer on my phone because when your baby is crying it pulls at the heart strings so badly. It feels like hours but it's actually just minutes. After 10 mins if she hasn't quieted down we go in, pick her up and burp her (she's super gassy so sometimes she has a burp stuck) give her back the paci then start the timer all over but go 15 mins this time. She's never made it through the 2nd 15 min increment before falling asleep. Usually when we go in after the first 10 mins she has her eyes closed and is half asleep just crying.
She also hasn't been doing full feedings throughout the day so we always try and top her off. In my experience with the other kids if you do this consistently for a week or so they will go down within the 1st 10 mins if they cry at all. It works for us, but as I said 3 out of 4. With #2 we did everything exactly the same but she just wouldn't sleep. She didn't sleep through the night until 2 and now at 4 she just doesn't sleep much. Gave up naps early, where the others didnt. She's our odd ball. Just follow what feels comfortable for you, no right or wrong. It helps me to know that baby is full, clean diaper, not too hot or cold and in a comfy safe bed. She is fine, her cries don't necessarily mean anything is wrong. Helping your lo learn to self soothe is so helpful for when they are older and you'll learn that crying is often a sign of tiredness and sometimes you just have to let them go so they can fall asleep, the more you come in and interact the longer it takes and the less sleep they end up getting. Good luck!