How to give a EBF baby to sleep through the night?

ladynesiko · January 2016

So I've been trying to get my LO to sleep through the night since she use to sleep in a bassinet on my bed and trying to get her to sleep through the night in her crib. But, two things I EBF and also she sleeps in my room. And my DD is currently 3 months old, is she too young to be trained for this? Is her sleeping in the same room as I hindering her sleeping for 10 hours?

Louisl · January 2016

I EBF and we sleep trained at 11 weeks. I'm not sure about the whole sleeping in your room thing. That could make it harder. Here's what our pediatrician says about sleep training at this age:

https://www.thenewbasics.com/book-excerpt/sleep/

Louisl · January 2016

Also our baby was sleeping in our bed before and now sleeps in the crib. It's pretty tough to "transition" them until they learn to self soothe which unfortunately involved crying but for us it worked like magic.

dimi2015 · January 2016

@Louisl , did u find that baby became anxious around bedtime at all? I want to do this but so scared it will backfire

jasmineluke · January 2016

I sleep trained my 3 month old and transition her from rock and play swaddled to unswaddled (not even sleep sack) and to the crib. I just wanted to remove all sleep association and sleep crutches if I was going to go through the process of sleep training (so i wouldn't have to do it again). Our pediatrician agreed with our decision and a close friend of ours who is a pediatrician also agreed and made us feel comfortable with this decision.
Many people oppose doing this at such a young age but to be honest they are more likely to not remember the whole process at such a young age. It has been a week and she sleeps much better, she can self soothe herself and will put herself back to sleep most of the time when she wakes up at night (no crying, I watch the monitor like a hawk).
And to be honest, she is a MUCH HAPPIER baby now, witching hour eliminated - always smiling when she's awake. She more interactive and less fussy. I know my baby she is so much better off being well rested. I work like 60 hours a week and my nanny notices the positive change in her too.
I put her to bed at 7-730 and she sleeps until 7am with one feeding at like 4am.
I also read a bunch of sleep books from Richard Ferber and Marc Wisselbluth front to back just to be well informed of what I was doing before I did it.
It doesn't work for everyone but it worked for us.

SweetnSassy23 · January 2016

Sleep experts agree that any "training" should not be attempted until at least six months old. I'm shocked that people are talking about this already.

mrstps · January 2016

Training, and instilling healthy sleep habits, can start earlier.... Most experts agree that full blown cry-it-out shouldn't be attempted until 6 months, although the pediatricians advice in the link above seems to suggest otherwise...also, anecdotally many people who let their babies cry young have great nights sleep and very happy and well adjusted babies who love them very much.

We are working on letting our daughter fuss a bit more that usual and not responding to every single noise, but are still unsure as to whether we are ready to try something more drastic yet at 14 weeks. That being said, a promise of uninterrupted nights and quickly teaching our daughter a valuable life skill do make the bandaid approach suggested by that pediatrition very appealing!

tracij12 · January 2016

SweetnSassy23 said:
Sleep experts agree that any "training" should not be attempted until at least six months old. I'm shocked that people are talking about this already.

Me too.

Louisl · January 2016

@dimi2015 not at all. We start with a bath which he loves, then pjs, songs, and I nurse him to very sleepy. I was afraid of it backfiring as well but honestly he is much happier now that he's not overtired all the time and naps are much easier. It's crazy how they really don't remember, even the first couple tough nights they wake up smiling and cooing! I know this is not widely recommended this early but i really think it's easier because they don't have a concept of abandonment til 5 months. (Again I'm sure some would disagree with that statement but that's what our pediatrician's practice believes).

DeeGreer · January 2016

@ladynesiko my son sleeps in the bed with me, is breastfed and will sleep a solid 6-7 hours at night now. He's 15 weeks. I seem to be in the minority here but going with more of an attachment parenting style has worked really well for us and we both sleep soundly. I do use white noise, and make sure the room is totally dark. Personally, I think at this age, they're much too young for any sort of sleep training. I'm SO against crying it out. Maybe I'm a hippy but no issues thus far.

ladynesiko · January 2016

I'm not fully a fan of the cry it out method but with night 4 with me kind of 'napping' in the living room, she slept a full 8 hours. [I got to cold to stay out of my room] So now, I'm wondering if this method of training will stay intact with me sleeping in my room. [her crib is in my room, to clarify] If this backfires, then I will say it only works for babies not sleeping in the same room as their mom

krnten · January 2016

@Louisl how long did it take and how long crying each time? We're with TriBeCa too and I really really want to sleep train our 3 monther (formula fed) but my husband is not ready yet. She cries it out a bit to fall asleep at 8, but it's the overnight wakeup(s) that are the problem. We actually did night one and it was 3 hrs of solid crying. My husband couldn't continue on night 2 so we're back to 1-2 wake ups. Please tell me your success story!

tracij12 · January 2016

DeeGreer said:
@ladynesiko my son sleeps in the bed with me, is breastfed and will sleep a solid 6-7 hours at night now. He's 15 weeks. I seem to be in the minority here but going with more of an attachment parenting style has worked really well for us and we both sleep soundly. I do use white noise, and make sure the room is totally dark. Personally, I think at this age, they're much too young for any sort of sleep training. I'm SO against crying it out. Maybe I'm a hippy but no issues thus far.

May be the minority in this thread but don't think you are in the minority overall.

lalena · January 2016

I moved DS into his own room at 10 weeks mostly because I was keeping him up with snoring.

I started sleep training him at 12 weeks, mostly to develop a routine of this is nap time and this is bedtime. By 13 weeks, he was sleeping 7-9 hour stretches. We've regressed a little this week, mostly because he is teething and going through a growth spurt.

I found doing a good relaxing bath and a good fill up feed before bed helps.

I do use the cry it out method, but that doesn't mean letting them cry till they fall asleep or until they get hysterical. Sometimes he gets up at night and cries a little and falls back asleep. Sometimes if it gets bad after 5-10 min and I go in and just rub his back, but very rarely pick him up unless he's hysterical. This is mostly because if I talk to him at night or pick him up, he thinks it's day time. This worked with my DD, who was sleeping 12 hour stretches at 4 months.

Good luck!

Louisl · January 2016

@krnten Night 1 is definitely the worst but 3 hours isn't that bad actually. For us it was over 4 hours. (Also the waking up...he only cried 30 mins initially). Night 2 was 2 hours, night 3 was 8 minutes, night 4 no crying. Now sometimes he'll still cry like 10 mins but he has been able to link his sleep cycles. This morning I noticed him awake at 6am but he was able to ultimately sleep til 7. The first couple nights really suck but they don't remember it and wake up happy!

JennaEllen · January 2016

DeeGreer said:
@ladynesiko my son sleeps in the bed with me, is breastfed and will sleep a solid 6-7 hours at night now. He's 15 weeks. I seem to be in the minority here but going with more of an attachment parenting style has worked really well for us and we both sleep soundly. I do use white noise, and make sure the room is totally dark. Personally, I think at this age, they're much too young for any sort of sleep training. I'm SO against crying it out. Maybe I'm a hippy but no issues thus far.

My oldest is 10 and we were very scheduled with him. Feedings at a certain time, down for naps at a certain time, etc... We let him "cry it out" although not he was 7 or 8 months and he turned out to be a very polite well adjusted and lovable boy.

With this little guy who is 14 weeks, we're much more relaxed. We don't have a schedule persay more just following routines. He eats when he hungry, sleeps when he's tired and to be honest it typically follows the same pattern from day to day. That being said, I guess you would call it attachment style parenting in that at night if he gets up every 3 hours to eat.. I feed him. In my opinion he's much to small to be manipulative with his needs. If he wants to just have the closeness of nursing with me versus actual hunger so be it! I doubt I'll end up with a 13 year old who cant sleep without me years from now

There is no right or wrong way. I've been on both sides of parenting so I get it. Do what's right for you and baby but just remember. ..... Baby's don't keep!

sistio · January 2016

I'd love to try to sleep train my 14 week old and am not against a little crying, but my concern is that he'll wake up my 3 year old by doing this.

Any suggestions from anyone who has done this with an older sibling?

Louisl · January 2016

sistio said:
I'd love to try to sleep train my 14 week old and am not against a little crying, but my concern is that he'll wake up my 3 year old by doing this.

Any suggestions from anyone who has done this with an older sibling?

I haven't been there yet but from what I've read the only thing you can really do is send the older kid away for a couple days to a grandparent's house (or other trustworthy person!)

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