Sleep training success (so far) and encouragement ❤

Re: Sleep training success (so far) and encouragement ❤

• erbare member

  July 2016

  Ugh, cut off my post. Here's the rest..
  
  If you're battling bad sleep habits and poor sleep like we have for the past 10 months, I encourage you to just give it a try! You CAN do it! We started on a Friday night so we could recover over the weekend of it was a disaster, and aside from one missed nap he's now able to get to sleep in 20-45 minutes and has slept great, even naps! I can already see an improvement in his mood after sleep (not cranky after naps), and my husband and I were actually able to spend time together at night and during a long nap yesterday without feeling anxious about the baby waking up on a war path.
  
  Do it! Try something different! Worst case scenario is the baby doesn't sleep, but if you're training they probably aren't sleeping much anyway haha.
  

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• Sketner610 member

  July 2016

  What are you doing that works? Just cry it out? My son will scream and scream for 45-60mins and will reach the point of hyperventilating when I try cry it out. I always have to go in and calm him when he starts getting overly worked up and can't calm himself down. He stands, chews on the sides of the crib, screams, but will never lay down and sleep. He also wakes up 3-4 times every single night. Not sure how to move forward...

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• jwebbbber45678 member

  July 2016

  Yes, details please! We tried ferber at six months and it didn't work. We're looking to give sleep training another try soon, maybe another shot at Ferber or the no cry sleep solution. But we have to do something because he's up every two hours and cries frantically unless I nurse him.

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• erbare member

  July 2016

  Sorry this is long, y'all, but here goes...
  
  I've never read the book, but we're basically Ferberizing. When he starts acting really sleepy we start his (very short) bedtime routine and put him in his crib totally awake, same for naps. I basically nurse him, maybe read a book or two, then sing while I carry him around the room closing the curtains, turning on the white noise, and turning off the light. Same thing for naps, minus the book. The first night it took almost 2.5 hours to fall asleep, but then it went down to an hour, then 45 minutes, then 30, and today it took him 10-15 minutes to settle into his naps. He's also slept all the way until 6:00am every night since we started on Friday night. 
  
  We started checking on him at longer time intervals than I think Ferber recommends, starting the first night at 10, 15, then every 20 minutes, and yesterday bumped the first check to 15 but haven't needed a second check since he's been asleep by then. We did this because the frequent checks seemed to make him even more upset, so if "time" is up and he's just whining or fussing, we'll wait to check. When I go in to check, I shush him, kiss his head, rub his back, make him sit down on the mattress, and tell him I love him & it's time for sleep. The first night I told him he was doing a good job haha. For naps we give him up to an hour (with checks) to settle down, and if he's not down by then we end the nap. We started Friday night and he's only missed one nap on sunday morning. 
  
  We decided to try training him because he fought sleep with a passion, and it had gotten to where I couldn't even nurse him to sleep. Every sleep time, he would flail and cry in my arms for a good 30 minutes before passing out, then wouldn't sleep deeply enough to be placed in the crib for another 45. He would occasionally sleep through the night, but usually he was up 2-3 hours later on an inconsolible war path (until like 2am). Naps were basically non-existent most days. We tried earlier and later nap/bedtimes, changing his pj style, the temp in the room, giving advil thinking it was teething, cutting out certain foods, me cutting out foods (still nursing)....and it was just pushing me to my breaking point. I'm a SAHM so his sleep dominated my life, and our pediatrician suggested giving training a shot.
  
  Some things that have really helped keep me on track have been taking detailed notes on the training, timing, and his crying level and behaviors (including food and sleepy cues), and I made a written plan that's taped to the wall outside his room. Like a sleep instruction manual, haha. I think training naps and bedtime simultaneously has helped with consistency as well. My husband is also super on board. The first night he was in charge of the baby monitor and the timer so I wouldn't go rogue and try to "rescue" my son haha. But keeping notes has helped figure out some patterns already, like that I was putting him down too early before he was really ready to sleep.
  
  Whew! I hope this is helpful, good luck y'all! 

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