Sleep training for MOTN wake ups

[sandj918]

We're starting tonight. Charlotte is really good with naps and bedtime. But, she wakes up SO MUCH (sometimes as much as 10-12 times) and I eventually bring her into bed with us. Cosleeping would be fine except she thrashes around, scratches me in her sleep and I'm waking up every 45min - 1.5 hours. I actually slept at the foot of the bed last night just so she couldn't be near me.

So, we're at the point of the teaching her to sleep in her own bed. Im spending today reading and we'll decide on a method before bedtime tonight.

What method did you use? How long did it take? Any advice?

[eliza040502]

Sleepeasy. We trained MOTN shortly after six months. He night weaned at eight months. I kept track of the timing of the wake ups for a week and dream fed 30-60 minutes before the earliest wake up. I did this three times throughout the night since he had been averaging 3-4 wake ups. He weaned the first wake up (10pm), I slowly weaned the 3am. And then slowly dropped the midnight last.

When he woke MOTN, we treated it like going to bed with checks starting at 5 min. I never fed if he was awake. No diaper changes unless he leaked. I never took him out of his bed unless I fed. My H did the first night. He woke probably 3-4 nights but only fussed for longer than five minutes once or twice.

We pulled the paci too. That was causing the MOTN wake ups for us.

[eliza040502]

And good luck!

[cowplanet]

I've read Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution" and while it's certainly gentler than any of the various CIO brands out there, I think it's probably the most difficult to do for the parents, since it's very incremental and will take incredible consistency and discipline by the parents. However, I do recommend reading it if your library has it, because it gives you a lot of approaches based off "where you are now" and "where you want to go." We'd started using some of her gentle elimination techniques, and they seemed to work, but then we had croup, ear surgery, croup again, then H & I kept passing the plague back and forth. Now we're trying it again, but I think we're going to be a little less gentle.

I need to revisit the happiest baby on the block's sleep book. I read it way back when all we had to do was swaddle and she was out for the night.

Right now, we are focused on moving A's sleep association and dependence away from the pacifier, since losing it is the source of most of her MOTN wakeups. We debated going cold turkey (and having all the wine and coffee) vs. shifting her sleep association to a different object. As of yesterday, we are shifting her association. So, we got her this to attach to the binkie: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZPWWVVE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 1) she can't knock it out of the crib in her sleep and 2) we're hoping she'll start associating sleepy time with the cow and then we can eventually detach the binkie. If it doesn't work, then we'll go cold turkey. She did have troubles last night where it'd fall out when she rolled over, but by the end of the night she'd find it and cuddle. This morning when she woke up, she just lay there snuggling it. I'm so hopeful, it's not even funny!

Then we'll work on her going to bed without the bottle. She can take naps without a bottle, but the timing for her last bottle and bedtime collide and always have. But now with her teeth coming in, I really hate that we brush her teeth before her last meal (and in the morning, of course). I think that'll be a tougher association to break, especially because we haven't found any other sleep routine that calms her. Books and baths amp things up, and she does not know how to quietly play. Even DC says she never chills out (I thought we were interfering).

Good luck!

[London]

Are you still feeding her at all MOTN?

[sandj918]

Jun 20, 2016 9:39:00 GMT -5 London said:

Are you still feeding her at all MOTN?

Honestly? It's hard to tell. What usually happens is she starts rolling around a lot in our bed so I'll nurse her in the side lying position. But, I'm really not making much milk anymore and she doesn't nurse very long before going back to sleep. So, probably not.

[crystaleyes138]

cowplanet, I'm thinking of getting this for Jacob! He is constantly losing his binkie! Is A a tummy sleeper? Jacob starts the night out on his tummy, so I'm not sure how this would work for him.

[London]

Jun 20, 2016 10:25:54 GMT -5 sandj918 said:

Jun 20, 2016 9:39:00 GMT -5 London said:

Are you still feeding her at all MOTN?

Honestly? It's hard to tell. What usually happens is she starts rolling around a lot in our bed so I'll nurse her in the side lying position. But, I'm really not making much milk anymore and she doesn't nurse very long before going back to sleep. So, probably not.

Your first step to sanity might be to stop offering MOTN nursing. Especially if she's not really eating. SleepEasy has a good section on night weaning, but if you stop offering you might find she quickly figures out how to soothe herself.

Edit to add we used SleepEasy and loved it and had success in less than 2 weeks but this is us and every baby is different.

[sandj918]

Okay. We're going to start with the check in method and no more nursing (which really won't be a big deal I don't think). If, by chance, the check ins wind her up then we'll come up with another plan. Wish us luck!!

[cowplanet]

Jun 20, 2016 14:14:20 GMT -5 crystaleyes138 said:

cowplanet, I'm thinking of getting this for Jacob! He is constantly losing his binkie! Is A a tummy sleeper? Jacob starts the night out on his tummy, so I'm not sure how this would work for him.

A is an active tummy sleeper, she does circuits in the crib, but majority of her time is on her belly. She's getting the hang of the lovey and seems to like it. Funny note, it comes with a pretty good MAM fake, but A figured out it wasn't the real deal and looked at me like I betrayed her. ?