Thoughts on Sleep Training?

Re: Thoughts on Sleep Training?

• tmk0325 member

  September 2016

  Following because I wish I knew. My boys are 13 weeks old (only 4 weeks adjusted), and are still eating every 3-4 hours around the clock. The longest stretch I got was 4.5 hours from start to start of feeds. Usually I get one that wakes up before the other and I have to stall the other one. I read BabyWise and I guess loosely follow that. 

  

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• ebilbao member

  September 2016 edited September 2016

  I never thought we could ever do CIO with DS, but once he got to 9.5 months old and still wasn't sleeping through the night and was super tired throughout the day, I knew we had to do something. This website helped a lot: https://www.preciouslittlesleep.com/ferber-weissbluth-cry-it-out-smackdown/
  
  We ended up doing CIO and it took two nights for him to sleep through the night. I would suggest Mom leaving the house and letting DH handle it if you think you can't. (I hid in the shower where I couldn't hear him.) I also wouldn't do it before six months. Before we did CIO, I thought it was cruel and heartless, and how could anyone do that to their kid? Now I believe it's the best way to do it, as I have friends who have tried "gentler" methods and their kids have terrible sleep habits, the parents are sleeping in the room with the kids, etc. 
  

  

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• ginger819 member

  September 2016

  At this age, no way would I let DS cry it out. With DD (now 16 months) we just consistently put her down drowsy but awake as much as possible and we started giving her a couple minutes to put herself back to sleep as she got older. Through some sleep regressions we would let her cry up to 10-15 minutes, but if she cried longer than that she usually needed something. As soon as she dropped her night feed at 6 months she slept a full 11-12 hours at night. We just stayed consistent and never really had to let her cry it out except a couple of times when she was exhausted but wouldn't go to sleep and there was nothing we could do to help her (she won't co sleep and didn't want cuddled). Now she takes herself upstairs when we ask if it's time for a nap or bedtime and is in a toddler bed already. I hope that our tactics work for DS too. It was low stress on all of us. 

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• jjang27 member

  September 2016

  @tmk0325 The author of Baby Sleep Solution says she did the training on her own twins before she started helping other families with twins and even triplets. Might be something you could look into? I have no experience with it myself, but it's out there.
  
  @ebilbao Right now my LO is still so young, and I absolutely cannot imagine doing CIO with him. Maybe when he's bigger my perspective could change. Thanks for sharing!
  
  @ginger819 I'm loosele trying putting DS down drowsy but awake now (about once a day). So far no success but will keep trying. Thanks for sharing!

  

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• steff226 member

  September 2016

  My LO is 5 weeks old and I'm starting to do the basics of sleep training. I don't let her cry more than a few minutes before i go up and soothe her but i have noticed she will fall back asleep after a minute or two if its nothing "needed" that woke her up. I think its still too early to follow anything super strict but the book "Moms on Call" has some great advice that you can loosely follow until you feel like baby is old enough to do some serious training. Maybe by starting the basics at an earlier age you won't have any major changes when you start enforcing it all out. When i say basics this is what i mean, try and keep a feed, wake, sleep schedule during the day, no naps longer than 2-2.5 hours during the day, swaddle and put baby down when drowsy but not sound asleep (i have actually noticed that if i put baby down after she is fast asleep she is more likely to wake up sooner and be upset). The book recommends having a bedtime routine to include a bath and relaxing things like massage and story time but our LO loves bath but then gets super pissed when you take her out to dry her off and put her pajamas on. We realized this was not helping to set up a relaxing atmosphere so we've skipped it the last few nights. We will try again in another week or two. No matter what you read about sleep training just remember that every little one is different and follow the advice given but let your gut feeling guide you also. If something doesn't feel right or you think baby isn't responding well try and change the scenario a little. Look up sleep training on Pinterest too, theres some great blogs about success stories there and i personally know a girl who followed the "Moms on Call" book and her baby sleeps like a dream no matter where he is!

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