When Did You/Will You Start Sleep Training?

[mickmurph]

We're at a little over three months and trying to decide when to start PU/PD training, either now or start at 4 months. Currently we swaddle and bounce to sleep with a wubbanub until he is in a good sleep and then set him down in his rock and play. Generally he goes to bed between 7-8, wakes up 2 times a night to eat and goes right back down until about 6:30 AM. 

What is everyone doing currently for sleep? Whatever it takes or adopting a sleep training method or waiting until later?

Has anyone successfully done PU/PD?

[babyzebra]

I'm just going with whatever DD does for now. She's 3 months and I think she sleeps fairly well for that age. She usually wakes up 2 or 3 times each night.

The earliest I personally would ever consider sleep training is 6 months, but I hope to not have to sleep train DD. When I'm talking sleep training though, I'm talking the Ferber method or one of its various modifications. I used that method for DS and it did make his sleep better.

I think that PU/PD can be started a little earlier, but I'm not totally certain. I don't think it would have worked for DS, but all babies are different and I'm sure it works well for some. I would be interested to hear how it works for your LO.

[greysonsmom]

I think it's a bit early to sleep train.

What is PU/PD?

[happyday]

We won't sleep train.
If I was, it wouldn't be until 6 months.

[titania]

I'm just trying to instill good sleep habits for now. Like a routine and trying to put her down drowsy but awake. I don't know if we will sleep train but I will probably wait until 6 months if we do.

[mickmurph]

Sept 25, 2016 19:32:01 GMT -5 greysonsmom said:

I think it's a bit early to sleep train.

What is PU/PD?

PU/PD is a term coined by the Baby Whisperer for Pick Up, Put Down. It's gentler than CIO with picking up your baby every time they cry and putting them down when they stop. You might do it over 100 times each time but eventually you're supposed to be able to put them down and they go to sleep on their own.

Happy to hear others are holding off on sleep training as well. Our little guy only wakes up about twice a night and we're fine with that. It's getting rid of our bouncing to sleep habit that we need to kick!SaveSave

[mickmurph]

Sept 26, 2016 16:38:05 GMT -5 titania said:

I'm just trying to instill good sleep habits for now. Like a routine and trying to put her down drowsy but awake. I don't know if we will sleep train but I will probably wait until 6 months if we do.

How is it going on the putting down drowsy but awake? That's something we haven't mastered yet. SaveSave

[manybellsdown]

Sept 26, 2016 18:22:21 GMT -5 mickmurph said:

Sept 26, 2016 16:38:05 GMT -5 titania said:

I'm just trying to instill good sleep habits for now. Like a routine and trying to put her down drowsy but awake. I don't know if we will sleep train but I will probably wait until 6 months if we do.

How is it going on the putting down drowsy but awake? That's something we haven't mastered yet. SaveSave

I didn't have success with drowsy but awake until DD was much older, maybe six months?

I also generally don't plan to sleep train. PU/PD down sounds impossible--100x per night?! What's the theory on how that works?

[greysonsmom]

Sept 26, 2016 18:21:12 GMT -5 mickmurph said:

Sept 25, 2016 19:32:01 GMT -5 greysonsmom said:

I think it's a bit early to sleep train.

What is PU/PD?

PU/PD is a term coined by the Baby Whisperer for Pick Up, Put Down. It's gentler than CIO with picking up your baby every time they cry and putting them down when they stop. You might do it over 100 times each time but eventually you're supposed to be able to put them down and they go to sleep on their own.

Happy to hear others are holding off on sleep training as well. Our little guy only wakes up about twice a night and we're fine with that. It's getting rid of our bouncing to sleep habit that we need to kick!SaveSave

From my experience with my son, that would have never worked. He wouldn't ever go back in the crib if I kept picking him up.

[woodengirl07]

I'm not planning on doing anything, honestly. lol. I just can't add any more to our routine.

[bgkc4]

mickmurph,your routine sounds exactly like our previous routine. We were putting her down to sleep around 8:30 in the rock n play and she would get up 2x per night to eat and go back to sleep immediately until 7am. In the last two weeks we've been transitioning her to a crib (she's 4 months last Saturday) because she's rolling too much for the RNP and she didn't like being strapped in it overnight. So far she's getting up 2 (sometimes 3) times a night. She eats and goes back to sleep usually, but not as quickly or easily as she did in the RNP. I haven't researched sleep training and don't know if we're going to do it. We do try to stick with a bedtime routine (bath, feeding, twinkle twinkle song, lights out).

[titania]

Sept 26, 2016 18:22:21 GMT -5 mickmurph said:

Sept 26, 2016 16:38:05 GMT -5 titania said:

I'm just trying to instill good sleep habits for now. Like a routine and trying to put her down drowsy but awake. I don't know if we will sleep train but I will probably wait until 6 months if we do.

How is it going on the putting down drowsy but awake? That's something we haven't mastered yet. SaveSave

She will actually do it on occasion. But it is hit or miss. We keep trying though!

[babyzebra]

Sept 27, 2016 11:41:01 GMT -5 titania said:

Sept 26, 2016 18:22:21 GMT -5 mickmurph said:

How is it going on the putting down drowsy but awake? That's something we haven't mastered yet. SaveSave

She will actually do it on occasion. But it is hit or miss. We keep trying though!

If I could ever put a child down drowsy, but awake and then have said child fall asleep I would consider my life as a parent a success!

[titania]

Sept 28, 2016 4:57:38 GMT -5 babyzebra said:

Sept 27, 2016 11:41:01 GMT -5 titania said:

She will actually do it on occasion. But it is hit or miss. We keep trying though!

If I could ever put a child down drowsy, but awake and then have said child fall asleep I would consider my life as a parent a success!

Haha! 😆 Well while she has done it a few times, her favorite is to scream in my arms fighting sleep while I bounce her until she passes out, so I think I just have a very mercurial baby. 😉

[Stringy]

I was also in the whole "drowsy but awake is a myth" camp with DD1, who we had to rock, sing, sush and pat for hours before she'd sleep, and who didn't STTN even once until she was 2. TWO! And spent a good chunk of that time in our bed, which we never wanted or planned to do. But it was the ONLY WAY.

So you can say I gave this a ton of thought this time around, or I just got lucky.

Early on with P I realized she calmed when swaddled, even if she didn't fall asleep. But when it was time to fall asleep, I'd swaddle, binky, and turn on her glowworm - every single time (unless out and about and in car or carrier, but that's not more than once a day). And then walk away. So far it has worked. I often have to go back in and replace the binky or rarely re-start glow worm (he pays for 10 minutes). More often that not she's asleep before he ends.

Occasionally in the late afternoon/evening she is too fussy to manage on her own, so I pick her up and sway (in swaddle w/binky) until she has calmed, then put her back in. And usually that's enough.

Overnight now she is in a MMSS - I nurse in the rocking chair, burp enough to wake her up if she's dozing - put her in her suit, binky, glow worm, leave. And I rarely ever have to go back then. This is around 730 in her crib in her own room. She wakes between 1-3 to eat and occasionally again around 5 and sleeps until 8 or 830.

We moved her to her own room around 10 weeks because transitions are hard and we wanted to get it over with before she was old enough to be aware of where she is. She didn't even notice.

I am scared for the 4 month wakeful though, we are approaching 4 months and there's been more 2-3 wake up nights than 1 wake up nights lately. And one glorious 0 wake up night.

ETA: oh, the question. I'm hoping we stay on this path which I can keep up for a while. If the 3+ wakeups pick up though, we will do something. I dunno what. Probably start with not feeding at each wakeup, and move to not picking up, and letting her cry a bit (once she's a few months older) to give her a chance to go back down.

[taberbtb]

**lurky loo**

Our nights look very much like Stringy 's. MMSS and all, DD is 3 months this week. I will say that I have unintentionally left her to fuss because I was busy with her sister and there's only so much you can do with 2u2, and I think that has helped her to learn to put herself to sleep easier than her sister did. If I had a choice though, I probably wouldn't have left her.

[mickmurph]

Sept 28, 2016 12:48:05 GMT -5 Stringy said:

I was also in the whole "drowsy but awake is a myth" camp with DD1, who we had to rock, sing, sush and pat for hours before she'd sleep, and who didn't STTN even once until she was 2. TWO! And spent a good chunk of that time in our bed, which we never wanted or planned to do. But it was the ONLY WAY.

So you can say I gave this a ton of thought this time around, or I just got lucky.

Early on with P I realized she calmed when swaddled, even if she didn't fall asleep. But when it was time to fall asleep, I'd swaddle, binky, and turn on her glowworm - every single time (unless out and about and in car or carrier, but that's not more than once a day). And then walk away. So far it has worked. I often have to go back in and replace the binky or rarely re-start glow worm (he pays for 10 minutes). More often that not she's asleep before he ends.

Occasionally in the late afternoon/evening she is too fussy to manage on her own, so I pick her up and sway (in swaddle w/binky) until she has calmed, then put her back in. And usually that's enough.

Overnight now she is in a MMSS - I nurse in the rocking chair, burp enough to wake her up if she's dozing - put her in her suit, binky, glow worm, leave. And I rarely ever have to go back then. This is around 730 in her crib in her own room. She wakes between 1-3 to eat and occasionally again around 5 and sleeps until 8 or 830.

We moved her to her own room around 10 weeks because transitions are hard and we wanted to get it over with before she was old enough to be aware of where she is. She didn't even notice.

I am scared for the 4 month wakeful though, we are approaching 4 months and there's been more 2-3 wake up nights than 1 wake up nights lately. And one glorious 0 wake up night.

ETA: oh, the question. I'm hoping we stay on this path which I can keep up for a while. If the 3+ wakeups pick up though, we will do something. I dunno what. Probably start with not feeding at each wakeup, and move to not picking up, and letting her cry a bit (once she's a few months older) to give her a chance to go back down.


-------------
Also dreading the 4 month sleep regression and I think we are starting to see it. Has started to be up 3-4 times a night and he won't eat on some of those wake-ups, just wants to be bounced back to sleep. Keep me posted on how you are doing, sounds like we are both hitting it!

SaveSave

[mickmurph]

Sept 28, 2016 4:57:38 GMT -5 babyzebra said:

Sept 27, 2016 11:41:01 GMT -5 titania said:

She will actually do it on occasion. But it is hit or miss. We keep trying though!

If I could ever put a child down drowsy, but awake and then have said child fall asleep I would consider my life as a parent a success!

I love you for saying this! This whole time I have been wondering what kind of monster child we have created with our bouncing to sleep but it sounds like a lot of others are also just in the survival mode of doing whatever it takes.SaveSave

[mickmurph]

Sept 27, 2016 8:55:54 GMT -5 bgkc4 said:

mickmurph ,your routine sounds exactly like our previous routine. We were putting her down to sleep around 8:30 in the rock n play and she would get up 2x per night to eat and go back to sleep immediately until 7am. In the last two weeks we've been transitioning her to a crib (she's 4 months last Saturday) because she's rolling too much for the RNP and she didn't like being strapped in it overnight. So far she's getting up 2 (sometimes 3) times a night. She eats and goes back to sleep usually, but not as quickly or easily as she did in the RNP. I haven't researched sleep training and don't know if we're going to do it. We do try to stick with a bedtime routine (bath, feeding, twinkle twinkle song, lights out).

We started transition to RNP today, and two naps have gone down the tubes so far. We're using the Magic Merlin Sleep Suit to try and help us but his startle reflex is still strong enough that even the sleep suit doesn't fully mask it. So there's lots of picking up and bouncing back to sleep and starting over going on. Glad to hear your transition sounds like it's going fairly well though!SaveSave

[frecklesnbrains]

I don't think anyone can claim parenting success (or failure for that matter) over how easily their baby goes to sleep or sleeps through the night. I feel like the babies run the show. Some are easy and some are really, really challenging. My DS almost always falls asleep from a fully awake state if I put him in a dark room and give him a pacifier. I claim absolutely no credit for this!

[vivela]

Do you guys wake up your babies during the day if they are sleeping a lot? Some days LO takes long naps, sometimes 2-3 hours, in addition to his usual post-food 20-40 minute naps. Sometimes it seems to correspond with him staying up until some awful hour of the morning, sometimes it doesn't. I always let him sleep because I figure if he needs it, he needs it. But he's hitting four months now, so I'm wondering if I should try to wake and engage him to get him more tired in the evening.

[greysonsmom]

I only wake her if we need to leave the house.

[manybellsdown]

I definitely always let sleep happen if I can. I feel like sleep begets sleep. DNW overtired baby.

[pbandj714]

Oct 3, 2016 22:18:21 GMT -5 vivela said:

Do you guys wake up your babies during the day if they are sleeping a lot? Some days LO takes long naps, sometimes 2-3 hours, in addition to his usual post-food 20-40 minute naps. Sometimes it seems to correspond with him staying up until some awful hour of the morning, sometimes it doesn't. I always let him sleep because I figure if he needs it, he needs it. But he's hitting four months now, so I'm wondering if I should try to wake and engage him to get him more tired in the evening.

I do, but only because I keep the two of them on the same feeding schedule as much as possible. L likes to sleep much more during the day than G, so she is usually the one I'm waking. Usually it's NBD.

[titania]

Oct 4, 2016 9:11:59 GMT -5 manybellsdown said:

I definitely always let sleep happen if I can. I feel like sleep begets sleep. DNW overtired baby.

This exactly. An overtired baby is the worst.

[txmommy14]

Oct 3, 2016 8:21:33 GMT -5 frecklesnbrains said:

I don't think anyone can claim parenting success (or failure for that matter) over how easily their baby goes to sleep or sleeps through the night. I feel like the babies run the show. Some are easy and some are really, really challenging. My DS almost always falls asleep from a fully awake state if I put him in a dark room and give him a pacifier. I claim absolutely no credit for this!

This is incredible. I could do this with DS. No way in the world DD would let me do that! 😂

[sandandsea]

Sept 26, 2016 18:22:21 GMT -5 mickmurph said:

Sept 26, 2016 16:38:05 GMT -5 titania said:

I'm just trying to instill good sleep habits for now. Like a routine and trying to put her down drowsy but awake. I don't know if we will sleep train but I will probably wait until 6 months if we do.

How is it going on the putting down drowsy but awake? That's something we haven't mastered yet. SaveSave

Ds2 does drowsy but awake really well. Ds1 never and still doesn't at 4.5 years. I thought it was a myth until ds2 did it and then I was shocked!!!

[sandandsea]

Ds2 was doing a great job only waking around 3 and then 6 until he started daycare this week. He was up every two hours last night. I'm praying it goes back to normal soon because I can't keep it up!

[Stringy]

Well P has a bad cold now and is waking 3/4 times and not happy unless she nurses. Combine that with being 4 months this week and I have a feeling I'm never sleeping again.

[athn64]

Oct 9, 2016 6:28:08 GMT -5 Stringy said:

Well P has a bad cold now and is waking 3/4 times and not happy unless she nurses. Combine that with being 4 months this week and I have a feeling I'm never sleeping again.

We are also in this hell. T&Ps