I don't have a bedtime routine! Our schedules are so crazy with Phillip working overnight every other week that nothing will be normal until we can both work a 9-5ish job. I work 11-7 M-F and then I have a different bedtime for the weekend. It's just too much. Thankfully Jaxon does pretty good with bedtime whenever we actually get to do a routine like bath, play time, bottle then sleep.
So...last night we did it. We started sleep training. It was SO freaking hard. It took DS 2 hours to soothe himself to sleep. I went and checked in him every once in a while, but didn't pick him up, and I sat outside his bedroom. But, he did it and stayed asleep until I woke him up in the morning...
The last sat two weeks have been hell. He ONLY slept in my arms and it took forever to get him to sleep. He wouldn't even calm down for DH. I just couldn't do it anymore
@FTM53 I put my LO down for naps and bedtime drowsy, not fully awake. Naps are hit or miss, but if he's tired enough he will roll around for a few minutes and then fall asleep. At bedtime, we have a soother (with lights and music) that he is used to, so he will watch that and fall asleep. About 1/2 the time he will fall asleep, the other half he might cry for a few minutes. I just really can't do CIO, so I end up going to check on him after about 4-5 minutes, usually just to pop the paci back in his mouth.
Good luck to you....this sleep thing is rough sometimes!
So 2 nights ago baby girl fell off the bed in the middle of the night. I felt so horrible!!!! Thank God she was alright I stayed up the rest of the night monitoring her. She has slept in the bed with me since the beginning and I feel weird not having her next to me but She's like a little worm when she sleeps so now she sleeps in the crib. I still can't believe that happened!
Update: last night was 2.5 hours. Today was 30minutes. I hate doing CIO and it was never my intent, but even if I pick him up, he still cried and screamed inconsolably. That's what started the need for sleep training.
@lalamilk OMG! So happy she's okay! How scary. First few nights in the crib is rough.
@FTM53 CIO is tough. But I don't know how else teaching them to self soothe works. ETA - half my post disappeared...We had to do a couple tough nights but she got the hang of it quick and can now be put down drowsy at the end of the night. Nap time...not so much. Still trying to master that one!!
@FTM53 it's so so tough, but hang in there! For us, the 4th day was magic and she had gotten the hang of it, but the first 3 days were terrible. Don't even get me started on how awful naps are. It's exhausting!
I started at 2 months. I saw success with night time sleeping right away, but I just started getting success with naps this month. I didn't push naps at first because I didn't like her screaming too long at such a young age. Now she is unswaddled and has multiple self soothing options.
@babycakesday we started around 3 months. I think we just got of the 4 month sleep regression,but we never had bad bedtimes, just a lot of wake up tims during the night/early morning.
So, I was able talk some sense into DH and we are going to start sleep training after all the holiday guests leave (we had started on Friday originally) We figure it's going to be hard to be 100% consistent with family coming in and all the special events. Plus, even with a 'no tears' or minimal cry method, grandparents are going to want to console or be involved or give their opinions. We also have read many places were 6months is a good starting age.
I tried cio for a nap yesterday to try and get him to nap in his crib I only could take it for ten mins I then rocked him till drowsy laid him down and patted his tummy till he stopped crying then left he slept 45 mins. We're back to swing today lol
Stayed with CIO it last night and it was very difficult but I didn't give in except to feed him at 11pm and 330am. I'm thinking I need to refrain from feeding but he seems so ravenous for the bottle after his cries get louder. That's usually my indicator.
How in the world do I get these absolutely insane babies to nap for more than 30 min?! They do just fine at night, go to bed at 6:30-7, up at 11 and 2 to eat, up for the day at 7. But holy crap are the afternoons/early evenings brutal. They are so overtired and are absolute monsters. I've tried cribs, swings, rock and plays, and the only thing that seems to work is holding them, and I can't hold both at once! Any ideas ladies?
@shanparadise Trying to keep your *ish together with two, kudos to you! I'm dealing with the EXACT same thing! LO is in daycare until 2:30pm (if DH picks him up) and 4:15 pm if I pick him up. Basically, between 4:30 and 6:30pm is a fight! He almost always fights his naps at daycare and will only sleep for 10-15 minutes while there. I try to get him down before bedtime but again, he'll only stay asleep for 10-15 minutes the longest if I'm lucky otherwise as soon as I put him down and his head hits the pack and play or boppy, it's game over!. DH feels defeated with picking him up from daycare and trying to sooth him when he gets home before I do so I've been picking him up instead. Like you, swing, paci, bottle, NOTHING works unless "I" as in just me, stands up, bounces and rocks him. There is a 50% chance he will be calm and doze off. It is making me nuts as I have other things like dinner to prepare. I hope you find something to ease them into naps girl! You are my hero!
While naps are not the best, his NT sleeping and CIO (night two) went well last night! He went down at 7pm and woke up around 12:30 am and again at 5 am to feed. I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hope you ladies are finding CIO working for you. The sleep-sense read has been a good read!
My LO figured out she can roll on her tummy in bed and now just during tummy time 2 nights ago (she can roll back over to her back if she wants/needs)...let me just say she sleeps SO much better on her tummy. I thought she would but "back is best". I can't control if she does it herself though!
I have a friend with a baby born 7/5....so she's same age as many of our babes. She's coslept for a while now but is looking to transition her to the PnP or possibly crib. Any suggestions? Baby is having no part of it. I should also add she's always let her nap on her too. Basically this baby hasn't slept anywhere away from her in the last couple months. I'm not sure what sort of advice to give as this is very different from how L sleeps. I thought I'd reach out here and see if anyone has any suggestions!!
@TiffRox81 Oh No!! That sucks for your friend!! I work in behavior management and, unfortunately, your friend has now trained her LO to only sleep with/on her. She is basically going to need to do a type of sleep training to resolve the problem. My suggestion would be to hold the LO until they are dead asleep and then put them down. And she can also put one of her used (dirty) shirts between the mattress and sheet so LO can still smell mom. The shirt would need to be changed out every couple of days. Wish her the best of lucks!!
@TiffRox81 this was (is?) me! We're still working on it but we started putting her down during the day but still close to her. Now, she still sleeps in the bed with me, but not in my arms, and we don't have to cajole her to sleep. We can just lay her down. So the crib is the last step! Lol
...I can't help with naps though. She refuses and now I'm back to work so it's the BIL's problem now! Lol
@FTM53 I was kind of afraid of that. To each their own. I've never said anything negative but I wondered that - how do you break he cycle?! She also "refuses" to do CIO. Last night she said she'd let her go for 5 min and see if she calmed down. I'm no expert but my guess is the 5 min didn't make a difference, lol. Maybe 45....but probably not 5. At least I didn't have the baby that learned after 5. I will let her know what you're doing @KASG....slowly separating more and more. That seems like the best plan. I do think she's planning on adding the smells to her PnP and crib.
@TiffRox81 yeah, I'm doubting 5 min will do much. My LO sleeps fine in his crib and it took over an hour the night we tried CIO. It sounds like she's following slit of attachment parenting guidelines. She may want to contact an AP board for advice. Or she can try the no cry method of sleep training.
@TiffRox81 we co-sleep and plan to continue, it works well and M sleeps for 10-12 hours so I'm happy. plus baby snuggles are the best. For naps we have chosen to use a floor bed instead of a crib (more of a montessori style nursery). it works much better because I can lie down with him and then leave when he's asleep or nearly asleep. He sleeps much better that way than he ever did in the crib.
I will say that it's not for everyone but it works well for us (and others). I'm not worried about breaking the habit but to each their own.
@stellaluna14 Ok so for napping you're not with him and he sleeps in the bed? She wears her. Either in the ergo or just holds her the whole time. I think from time to time they do naps together in the bed. But she never leaves her. The problem with overnights now is no one is getting good sleep I guess. The baby is moving a lot and kicks her husband, lol. It wakes up everyone in the bed. So that's why she's thinking it's time to make a change. Do you have any suggestions that might work to keep baby in the bed?? I'm happy to tell her anything that might work!!
@TiffRox81 yeah he sleeps alone for naps, though sometimes I still wear him or hold him because I like to, but he will sleep in his bed alone now. as far as making cosleeping work, mastering side-lying nursing was THE BEST THING EVER. I never turn the lights on, and we are rarely awake for more than 5 minutes if he does wake up at all at night.
@stellaluna14 Hmm. That's exactly what she does. With the exception of leaving her for naps. But the baby does stay with a friend 4 days a week for about 6 hours a day and naps in the swing there! She's a pretty sharp cookie so I'm certain she did her homework on it all beforehand. Maybe it's just a phase. Our babies are very close in age and I'm certain L is teething right now. She could be bothered and uncomfortable from something else entirely. I think probably easing her away a little bit at a time is what she's going to have to do if she wants her in her own space. I do appreciate all the info!!!
Worst night of sleep ever he went down so easy around 730 then was up like every hour from 9-1ish he never even did this as a new born of course the night before I scheduled a practice drop off at daycare in the morning ahhh
I have a friend with a baby born 7/5....so she's same age as many of our babes. She's coslept for a while now but is looking to transition her to the PnP or possibly crib. Any suggestions? Baby is having no part of it. I should also add she's always let her nap on her too. Basically this baby hasn't slept anywhere away from her in the last couple months. I'm not sure what sort of advice to give as this is very different from how L sleeps. I thought I'd reach out here and see if anyone has any suggestions!!
I still cosleep with Jaxon because it's just him and I at night. I tried transitioning him to the crib a few weeks back and it was torture. I honestly don't have any advice except my next child will be put into that crib from day one. Don't get me wrong, I love sleeping with him, but I miss my bed sometimes. I think I'm going to HAVE to make him sleep in his crib because he's starting to roll and it's getting harder to keep him safe. He's pretty much always slept on his side from day 1... I have always tried to roll him over to sleep on his back but he ends up on his side no matter what.
(Y'all can judge me... but my mom thinks he sleeps in his crib. She is SO against cosleeping it's not even funny.)
DH tried to have LO nap yesterday afternoon after he picked him up from daycare since his naps are so inconsistent and short but was unsuccessful. The sleep sense read says to sit in a chair near the crib for an hour and 10 minutes and if they continue to CIO try it again later. This lady writes that there are no promises that this will come to them within a day or two or 10 for every baby is different but she guarantees it will work eventually. It was so difficult to come home and hear him but both DH and I are sticking to it! For bedtime, I refrained from swaddling him and just feed him and put him down at 6:30pm no paci's or "props" as she explains. When he was swaddled, he would only wake up around 2am and again around 5-6am. This time he went right to sleep but woke up at 10:30pm , 12, 1 & 2:30am. I fed him at the 10:30, 1am mark. The times in between he fussed some but put himself to sleep and that's what we are hoping this program is successful with! DH will try nap time again at the same time today. I'm just proud of him to read this tough program with me and be on board. I feel like he is understanding and contributing his parenting. Makes me feel hopeful!
For almost 2 weeks, DD2 has been waking up 4-7 times per night. I've been trying to not feed her each time so she doesn't get used to eating that often. Last night she only woke up 2 times! I feel much better! Less like a zombie.
When DD1 was 6 months old, she was still waking up 6 times per night. We got the book Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide... I love that baby isn't crying it out be herself. We followed the plan exactly and it worked really well!
@FTM53- I loved this method! There was still some crying because I wasn't nursing DD1 to sleep anymore. However, I was right next to her crib. I could pat her and say shush. If she started crying hard, I picked her up and hugged her until she was calm. If I remember right, the first night took 1 1/2 hours for her to fall asleep. The 2nd night was only 30 minutes! After the 3rd night, I moved farther from her crib, closer to the door.
DH has 2 weeks off for Christmas. DD2 will be 6 months on 12/30. If we need to do sleep training, we will do it winter break.
@holly142 Tell me more about not feeding during each MOTN wake! I'm curious about this. I currently feed each time. L will sleep 3-4 hours on average. 5 on a goodnight. But I assume she needs food each time she wakes! Am I wrong? I usually wake up to her moving around grunting in her crib. I usually get up us the bathroom then head to her room. By the time I'm getting there the grunts start turning to fuss...which I'm contributing to hunger. But maybe I'm wrong? We desperately would love to find a way to encourage her to eat like a fiend during the day and less at night!!
@TiffRox81- If babies are fed tons in the night, they get used to that and are genuinely hungry when not fed that much. This happened with DD1. Feeding was the only way I could quickly get her back to sleep and I was so exhausted I did that. However, at 6 months she was still eating 6 times per night. With DD2, she sometimes slept 5 or 6 hours at a time. Until she hit a 4 month regression. She then started waking up much more but I didn't want her to get used to eating at night every 2 or 3 hours. So I'm trying to only feed her if it's been at least 4 hours since I last fed her. If she eats every 4 hours, that means I'm only waking up 2 times in the night which I'm good with! The other times I'm walking her, patting her or giving her a pacifier to get her back to sleep.
B has decided that the middle of the night is a great time to practice rolling over. I keep waking up to him laughing because he's so damn proud of himself.
@shanparadise This is adorable. I would struggle to be annoyed.
I feed at every 3 hours in the night. He generally only eats off one boob, so I figure that's do able until he starts taking a bottle at daycare more regularly. I also never wake him to eat. So when he's in the mood to sleep, he'll only wake up once.
Man sleep training is hard!! We started Friday and it has gotten better each day, but my husband has been the one going in and patting his back every night and nap. Well today when he went to work, I had a MAJOR melt down when it was nap time! I couldn't handle him screaming! I was bawling and ended up picking him up. Then I freaked out thinking I F-ed up all the hard work we did over the weekend!! So I called my husband crying and freaking out and he reassured me that everything is fine and to just do what I need to do to get him to sleep. I ended up wearing him and he slept for 2 hours. I am not cut out for this...
Re: Sleep Regressions/Sleep Help
The last sat two weeks have been hell. He ONLY slept in my arms and it took forever to get him to sleep. He wouldn't even calm down for DH. I just couldn't do it anymore
Good luck to you....this sleep thing is rough sometimes!
@lalamilk OMG! So happy she's okay! How scary. First few nights in the crib is rough.
@FTM53 it's so so tough, but hang in there! For us, the 4th day was magic and she had gotten the hang of it, but the first 3 days were terrible. Don't even get me started on how awful naps are. It's exhausting!
DH feels defeated with picking him up from daycare and trying to sooth him when he gets home before I do so I've been picking him up instead. Like you, swing, paci, bottle, NOTHING works unless "I" as in just me, stands up, bounces and rocks him. There is a 50% chance he will be calm and doze off. It is making me nuts as I have other things like dinner to prepare. I hope you find something to ease them into naps girl! You are my hero!
While naps are not the best, his NT sleeping and CIO (night two) went well last night! He went down at 7pm and woke up around 12:30 am and again at 5 am to feed. I'm hoping there is light at the end of the tunnel! Hope you ladies are finding CIO working for you. The sleep-sense read has been a good read!
...I can't help with naps though. She refuses and now I'm back to work so it's the BIL's problem now! Lol
I will say that it's not for everyone but it works well for us (and others). I'm not worried about breaking the habit but to each their own.
(Y'all can judge me... but my mom thinks he sleeps in his crib. She is SO against cosleeping it's not even funny.)
It was so difficult to come home and hear him but both DH and I are sticking to it! For bedtime, I refrained from swaddling him and just feed him and put him down at 6:30pm no paci's or "props" as she explains. When he was swaddled, he would only wake up around 2am and again around 5-6am. This time he went right to sleep but woke up at 10:30pm , 12, 1 & 2:30am. I fed him at the 10:30, 1am mark. The times in between he fussed some but put himself to sleep and that's what we are hoping this program is successful with!
DH will try nap time again at the same time today. I'm just proud of him to read this tough program with me and be on board. I feel like he is understanding and contributing his parenting. Makes me feel hopeful!
When DD1 was 6 months old, she was still waking up 6 times per night. We got the book Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide... I love that baby isn't crying it out be herself. We followed the plan exactly and it worked really well!
DH has 2 weeks off for Christmas. DD2 will be 6 months on 12/30. If we need to do sleep training, we will do it winter break.
I feed at every 3 hours in the night. He generally only eats off one boob, so I figure that's do able until he starts taking a bottle at daycare more regularly. I also never wake him to eat. So when he's in the mood to sleep, he'll only wake up once.