How are they going the sleep?

[sanibel21]

So with DD1, we did the whole swaddle, white noise, feed, then rock to deep sleep and put down thing, every time she went to sleep. Around 3.5 months it stopped working in a big way and we did Ferber for bedtime, but not middle of the night. We had multiple night wakings that I started feeding for (desperately guessing growth spurt) which lasted months.
In not being as available to DD2 as I could be with DD1, I've put DD2 down places like her crib and bouncer seat, and she's actually fallen asleep on her own, with maybe a few fusses over a period of 5-10 minutes. No actual crying.
So right now I just laid her down after feeding, swaddling, and putting white noise on as an experiment. She has not fussed at all and actually is moving and grunting less and less.
It got me wondering if I did it wrong with DD1 or if DD2 may just be a baby that can learn to fall asleep better. Then I wanted to know what O16 is doing about putting their babies to bed.
Also it was hard to add binky use to each option so feel free to comment if they're using a binky and if you replug them multiple times or just give it once.
And anything else you think relates to this question.

[adouces06]

We did the whole routine with DS as well. After months of tough bed times (he would fall asleep eating then wake up when we put him down), we finally let him cry it out. It worked, but MOTN sucked and he ended up in bed with us from like 8-11 months old. Finally, we moved to letting him cry it out at night (unless it was a full on scream), and since he has slept great.

I have noticed with DD that she also falls asleep great on her own. Much like yours sanibel21, my DD fusses a little then settles herself and falls asleep. I was thinking the other day how I probably should start some sort of routine with her before the 4 month wakefuls approach. As of late she has been using a binky. Last night, I replugged her probably 3 times as she fell asleep, but once she was out I didn't bother with it.

ETA wakefuls not Wakefields

[vavavictoria]

Mine is kind of a hybrid. We did the same thing as you with DD1. I swaddles and bounced her for eternity on the exercise ball with white noise.

We still swaddle with #2 bc she has major startle reflex issues still. But now I bring her out in the living room and sit her in her bouncer after doing some tummy time. She chills there until she gets cranky then I give her the paci. Some nights she will sit there and put herself to sleep. I then swaddle her and out her in the rock n play and rock her a sec to ensure she is out.

Some nights I feed her to sleep when she refuses to chill out. Some nights I walk around with her until she is drowsy enough to sleep.

Either way I feel like the whole bedtime situation is so much less stressful with this kid. I don't know if it's bc she is more chill or bc I am.

[becole]

I think your experience with 1 and 2 is very similar to mine. I fed to sleep until Ferber with 1. This one I let fuss a bit or I'm just busy and I don't know what he's doing but he goes to sleep.
But there's also just the simple fact DS2 requires less assistance. We don't need swaddle white noise or a paci - he just doesn't like any of them.
That said- I was getting longer stretches by now with #1 but not consistently - always up and down.
#2 is consistently only sleeping 2-3 hour stretches or less.
Last night I put baby in a crib in the room next to mine for the first time and he slept almost 3 hours. I think DS1 woke him up. So I'm going to be doing that again. I think he will be STTN more quickly if I ignore all the tiny noises and wait for the big cry.

[jillian]

She usually nurses to sleep or I walk around or stand and sway until she's asleep then she gets laid down with a pacifier and usually stays asleep. She stirs from 4-6am and I replug and she goes back to sleep. She's been steadily sleeping through the night for the last 2 weeks. Longer and longer stretches each night. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's not a fluke. Maybe this is a reward for her sassy behavior the first 6 weeks of her life.

[fem]

DD1 I had to nurse to sleep, then it became a habit and lasted past age 2.

DD2 I swaddle, turn on white noise and feed her, then I just hold her sitting in my bed reading a book until she falls asleep. No rocking or anything though. I should try setting her form drowsy soon.

[ksyknelvr73]

All 3 we have done drowsy but awake and they go to sleep on their own. We do use white noise and swaddle. DS1 relied heavily on a pacifier at night.

[dke2010]

DD1 was swaddled and used a pacifier. We rocked to sleep until we sleep trained. She was sleeping pretty long stretches by 6 weeks.
The twins are very similar and have been sleeping in about 6 hour stretches for the past month. Last night they slept for 8 hours in their RNP! I'm planning to move them to the crib in their room soon. That's when I'll start putting them down drowsy instead of rocking to sleep.

[iwantbacon]

DS1 hated naps until he was 15 months old; would only nap if held. At night until maybe 6 months, it was feed to sleep--a deep sleep--with pacifier and rocking to sleep. Eventually, we did sleep training with white voice and pacifiers.

DS2 so far for bedtime is diaper, swaddle, feed, burp, sleep. Sometimes he is asleep, sometimes half asleep when I put him in. If he's half asleep and stirring, I might add the pacifier--this is also the same for MOTN. He is usually half asleep then add the pacifier.

DS2 naps, I'm still working on. He will easily nap in the car or stroller. At home, I usually give him the pacifier and either hold him or put him in RNP in whatever room I'm in. If he falls asleep in my arms, I transfer to RNP. Sometimes I do rock him in the RNP if he's really fighting sleep.

[sanibel21]

Thanks for the replies so far!
So DD2 did just fall asleep on her own for bedtime last night. It was so crazy to me.
I don't know if it was flukey coincidence or related, but she was up at 1230, 130, and 230. Where she had had three nights of sleeping until atleast 4 I kept plugging her and she'd fall back asleep, until I finally fed her at 3. It was never crying. Just wide awake grunting and wiggling. I think it was gas. But of course I also think it could have been how we put her down.
I just don't want to get into the thing I did with DD1 of her waking earlier and earlier and before I know I'm back to feeding her three times a night.
@kitchen I know it's annoying to you but your etas with no spaces make me laugh.

[becole]

sanibel21 why are you concerned about feeding?
My DS2 is 8 weeks on Wednesday and last night I fed him each time he woke- because he's hungry. It was at 12,2,5, and 7:30. He went to bed around 8.

[britta]

So...I don't really feel like I fit into any of the the categories really, but I picked "Feed to sleep."

Both my boys seem(ed) to know when nap/bedtime is(was), so they naturally fall(fell) asleep during their bottles. For nap, after their 11-12p bottles, and for bed, their 8-9p bottles. And there's no waking them. Because of DS2's GERD, we keep him upright for 20-30 minutes after feedings, sometimes in the rocking chair, but again, he's asleep before his bottle is even done.

So, with DS1, we "fed to sleep" until the respective nap/bedtime bottles were dropped (around a year for bedtime, earlier for nap time because solid foods). Then we had a routine of sitting in the rocker doing his breathing treatments, saying prayers, read two books, and then rock to sleep for bed; books and rock to sleep for nap. Once he was too big to be rocked, books in the rocker then he climbs into bed and we rub his back for a few minutes. He's a unicorn maybe and every time we transitioned something (dropping the bottle, stopping rocking, etc) he just went with it without issue. I will probably try to do the same thing with DS2, since he seems to be following the same sleeping patterns as DS1, but realize we may need to adjust.

[saraml13]

With DS1, we did swaddle, white noise, nurse to sleep for night time. For naps he mostly slept on us or in the car seat or stroller. He hated the swing and tolerated the vibrating seat, but rarely fell asleep in it. We used a pacifier, mainly to help him fall asleep for naps at this point. It wasn't critical to night time sleep until he was much older. He started rolling so we stopped swaddling at 3 months and he reversed cycled when I went back to work, so night time sleep was a disaster. At 6 months I did Ferber for bedtime, but still got up whenever he woke MOTN. I wished I had done it sooner, because the couple minutes of crying he would do was much less than the crying involved in an endless round of nurse to sleep, try to move to crib, wake up, cry, repeat.

DS2 is an easier baby. We still do swaddle, white noise, nurse to sleep, but he doesn't have to be in as deep if sleep. He will often fuss a tiny bit and then settle in. He's a much better napper. If he is fed and tired he will fall asleep in a swing or bouncy seat with a little fussing. Most days I can get him to take an afternoon nap in the crib in a sleep sack instead of swaddle. He won't take a pacifier.

I think a lot of it is just that DS2 had an easier personality thanDS1. DS1 was very high strung and every little thing set him off. Part of it is also the second child factor. DS2 certainly has more opportunity to fuss it out and fall asleep on his own since I can't always get to him immediately.

[pixiechar]

DS1 was feed to sleep and slept with us, after he weaned it was snuggle to sleep. It was a pain and he didn't become a good sleeper until around 2.5, he also needed to be swaddled at the beginning.

DS2 is a hybrid. He usually falls asleep on the breast, but will also bounce/pat/snuggle to sleep. He'll sometimes fall asleep in his swing. He also sleeps with us, but he's a belly sleeper so I'm hoping that once he's rolling, we can transition to the bassinet on his belly. He doesn't like to be swaddled but he will take a binkey, which DS1 never did. He sleeps 3-4 hour stretches with sometimes a 6-hour stretch thrown in. He usually falls asleep around 10pm, from 8-10 is his witching hour and he tends to be very fussy but won't sleep.

[sanibel21]

Dec 13, 2016 8:26:19 GMT -5 becole said:

sanibel21 why are you concerned about feeding?
My DS2 is 8 weeks on Wednesday and last night I fed him each time he woke- because he's hungry. It was at 12,2,5, and 7:30. He went to bed around 8.

We'll she's gone three nights of 8 hours.
With DD1, she slept through the night then slowly started waking up earlier and earlier and I started feeding her for those. And then I was feeding an 8 month old 3 times a night, when I had had a 2 month old who slept through the night. I just don't want to get into that nightmare again. I know it was only one night. Nut also I don't think she was hungry because she wasn't screaming crying and she went back down each time we gave the binky.

[danizee]

I use white noise, swaddle and nurse to sleep. MOTN sometimes I'll feed her (if it's been a decent stretch) if it hasn't I just give her a paci and let her try and put herself to bed. It usually takes much longer this way though because when she starts to drift off the paci falls out of her mouth and she wakes back up.

For all of you that put down drowsy are they bottle babes or do you just nurse earlier?

[danizee]

Dec 13, 2016 9:51:31 GMT -5 sanibel21 said:

Dec 13, 2016 8:26:19 GMT -5 becole said:

sanibel21 why are you concerned about feeding?
My DS2 is 8 weeks on Wednesday and last night I fed him each time he woke- because he's hungry. It was at 12,2,5, and 7:30. He went to bed around 8.

We'll she's gone three nights of 8 hours.
With DD1, she slept through the night then slowly started waking up earlier and earlier and I started feeding her for those. And then I was feeding an 8 month old 3 times a night, when I had had a 2 month old who slept through the night. I just don't want to get into that nightmare again. I know it was only one night. Nut also I don't think she was hungry because she wasn't screaming crying and she went back down each time we gave the binky.

I get it. Same thing happened with DS1 too. He was 11 months and still waking to nurse anywhere between 2-4 times per night purely out of habit. So for DD (because she has slept 5+ hour stretches since birth) if it's a short stretch I offer the paci first and if she is hungry she will let me know. If she just needed help getting back to sleep then she will fall asleep with paci. If it's a long stretch then I just nurse her.

[Deleted]

SS here.

DD during the day falls asleep on her own when she's tired. She can be in the swing, the crib, on her playmat, being worn, in her carseat etc. At night, she won't fall asleep on me if her life depended on it. However, she spends 10 minutes laughing with DH and then she'll fall asleep. Then he puts her down in her box and sleeps for up to 6 hours. She does not like being swaddled as she sleeps with her arms up.


DS hated being swaddled but also slept on his stomach due to his reflux. We found out early on he loved to have a blanket over his head, so we put one on him at he was falling asleep and then remove it when he was asleep. DD also enjoys a blanket up over her face to snuggle. DS could fall asleep on his own and was doing so up until about 10 months ago. Now we have to stand over him.

[becole]

Dec 13, 2016 10:04:29 GMT -5 danizee said:

Dec 13, 2016 9:51:31 GMT -5 sanibel21 said:

We'll she's gone three nights of 8 hours.
With DD1, she slept through the night then slowly started waking up earlier and earlier and I started feeding her for those. And then I was feeding an 8 month old 3 times a night, when I had had a 2 month old who slept through the night. I just don't want to get into that nightmare again. I know it was only one night. Nut also I don't think she was hungry because she wasn't screaming crying and she went back down each time we gave the binky.

I get it. Same thing happened with DS1 too. He was 11 months and still waking to nurse anywhere between 2-4 times per night purely out of habit. So for DD (because she has slept 5+ hour stretches since birth) if it's a short stretch I offer the paci first and if she is hungry she will let me know. If she just needed help getting back to sleep then she will fall asleep with paci. If it's a long stretch then I just nurse her.

Babies have growth spurts and lots of back and forth. They don't just sleep a 6 hour stretch and then that means they don't ever need to wake and eat at 3 hours again.
I get what you're saying with the 8 month old and eating out of habit but I don't think you can equate that at 2/3/4 months. They're still having huge growth spurts every 1-2 weeks and they need the extra calories at night. If it works for you, you can definitely not feed. But I would say if she was waking every hour for a couple hours and then gave you a stretch once you fed her, it was hunger.

[danizee]

Dec 13, 2016 10:25:17 GMT -5 becole said:

Dec 13, 2016 10:04:29 GMT -5 danizee said:

I get it. Same thing happened with DS1 too. He was 11 months and still waking to nurse anywhere between 2-4 times per night purely out of habit. So for DD (because she has slept 5+ hour stretches since birth) if it's a short stretch I offer the paci first and if she is hungry she will let me know. If she just needed help getting back to sleep then she will fall asleep with paci. If it's a long stretch then I just nurse her.

Babies have growth spurts and lots of back and forth. They don't just sleep a 6 hour stretch and then that means they don't ever need to wake and eat at 3 hours again.
I get what you're saying with the 8 month old and eating out of habit but I don't think you can equate that at 2/3/4 months. They're still having huge growth spurts every 1-2 weeks and they need the extra calories at night. If it works for you, you can definitely not feed. But I would say if she was waking every hour for a couple hours and then gave you a stretch once you fed her, it was hunger.

For sure, I hear what you are saying. I'm not rigid about it, I judge based on how she is acting. If she is crying after giving her her paci, I would feed her. If she is rolling around grunting and fussing and I give her her paci (like last night) and then she sleeps for another 2-3 hours then I figured she wasn't hungry just needed some soothing back to sleep.

[sanibel21]

Dec 13, 2016 10:25:17 GMT -5 becole said:

Dec 13, 2016 10:04:29 GMT -5 danizee said:

I get it. Same thing happened with DS1 too. He was 11 months and still waking to nurse anywhere between 2-4 times per night purely out of habit. So for DD (because she has slept 5+ hour stretches since birth) if it's a short stretch I offer the paci first and if she is hungry she will let me know. If she just needed help getting back to sleep then she will fall asleep with paci. If it's a long stretch then I just nurse her.

Babies have growth spurts and lots of back and forth. They don't just sleep a 6 hour stretch and then that means they don't ever need to wake and eat at 3 hours again.
I get what you're saying with the 8 month old and eating out of habit but I don't think you can equate that at 2/3/4 months. They're still having huge growth spurts every 1-2 weeks and they need the extra calories at night. If it works for you, you can definitely not feed. But I would say if she was waking every hour for a couple hours and then gave you a stretch once you fed her, it was hunger.

I understand what you're saying and appreciate your point of view. It was the whole reason for starting this poll, to see what everyone was doing it with regards to sleep, to make sure I wasn't missing anything with what I did with dd1. I was experimenting since she wasn't super fussy or crying. Of course I'll adjust as needed and and would never insist or persist with something that wasn't working or was causing major distress in my baby. the other night she had woken up early and we binkied her and she went back to sleep for 4 hours, so I was wondering if it was something similar. But when it happened multiple times that's when I decided to feed.

ETA binkied instead of beat, omg

[becole]

Dec 13, 2016 11:52:23 GMT -5 sanibel21 said:

Dec 13, 2016 10:25:17 GMT -5 becole said:

Babies have growth spurts and lots of back and forth. They don't just sleep a 6 hour stretch and then that means they don't ever need to wake and eat at 3 hours again.
I get what you're saying with the 8 month old and eating out of habit but I don't think you can equate that at 2/3/4 months. They're still having huge growth spurts every 1-2 weeks and they need the extra calories at night. If it works for you, you can definitely not feed. But I would say if she was waking every hour for a couple hours and then gave you a stretch once you fed her, it was hunger.

I understand what you're saying and appreciate your point of view. It was the whole reason for starting this poll, to see what everyone was doing it with regards to sleep, to make sure I wasn't missing anything with what I did with dd1. I was experimenting since she wasn't super fussy or crying. Of course I'll adjust as needed and and would never insist or persist with something that wasn't working or was causing major distress in my baby. the other night she had woken up early and we binkied her and she went back to sleep for 4 hours, so I was wondering if it was something similar. But when it happened multiple times that's when I decided to feed.

ETA binkied instead of beat, omg

It's all what works in the moment to get more sleep for me right now.
I'm really frustrated with the short stretches and feeding all the flipping time, but it is what it is right now. I keep thinking maybe he's not getting full during the day but he's like 90% height and weight and I think he just needs a lot of food to get my supply to match his size.
I definitely wasn't suggesting you're distressing her in any way. But I was suggesting that perhaps if you fed at the first wakeup, maybe she would give you another long stretch. Or maybe not. Who knows.

[penguin129]

AG had GERD/reflux. We didn't know it for the first 2 months or so. Bedtime and naps were a nightmare. She only slept on me, in the bouncer, or the RNP. There was a lot of driving around in the car to get her to sleep. Even after she went on the medicine I was in nap jail for the longest time. We tried to sleep train, but it wasn't for us. She would cry to the point where she threw up a few times so that was that. She also had night terrors and would wake up screaming, crying, and disoriented around 7 or 8 months so we went from putting her in the crib to co-sleeping.

HL was sleeping in the crib or in the co-sleeper. Since she's switched to formula and started having more signs of GERD/reflux we switched her to the bouncer most nights. We bounce her and let her stay in there overnight because I don't want to chance that she'll wake up during the transfer. AG woke up every single time. During the day she is in the bouncer, RNP, or in the ring sling to sleep. We've been spared the car rides thus far. I haven't tried any white noise or anything like that.