Is anyone thinking about sleep training? I'm strongly considering it. DS has never STTN and none of my usual tricks are working anymore! He's gone from 3 wake-ups to 6 or 7!!! The poor guy is so tired!
If you are thinking about it, are you planning to follow a specific method/book? If you've already begun the process, can you share your experience?
I'm planning on using the Ferber method the week after Labor Day. She turns 6 months on September 3 and we are camping that weekend so I don't want to deal with it then, but when we get home, it's on. She goes down easily at bedtime and overnight, but naps are getting really hard. I usually nurse her to sleep and the older boys are just too loud for her to go down anymore. She's been missing naps over it and can't handle that. Ferber worked really well for DS and I think it'll work great for her too. The few times I've been super busy and she's started crying and I couldn't get to her, she usually calms down pretty quickly. I don't think she will be one to fight it forever. I'm hoping that sleep training will also help her sleep though more than one sleep cycle for naps. During the toddler nap time I can usually get her back down multiple times, but she needs to learn to get herself back to sleep.
Post by SheilaTheTank on Aug 14, 2016 9:27:11 GMT -5
I really don't understand what sleep training is, so I don't know yet.
Right now K wakes up 1-2x per night and she is ravenously hungry. She's small and definitely needs any calories she can gets. But I'll nurse her and then once she's done, I'll pop a binkie in her mouth and put her back into her crib and walk away. We still nurse and rock to sleep to get her down initially, but it doesn't take that long and sometimes she fights it because she just wants to be left alone.
I think we already have a good method. Similar to Ferber's method. We don't pick him up if he cries after he's already down. He usually stays asleep for the most part. He's in our room so if he does happen to wake we just Pat him and give him his paci. He's been STTN since about 10wks.
I think we already have a good method. Similar to Ferber's method. We don't pick him up if he cries after he's already down. He usually stays asleep for the most part. He's in our room so if he does happen to wake we just Pat him and give him his paci. He's been STTN since about 10wks.
I think we already have a good method. Similar to Ferber's method. We don't pick him up if he cries after he's already down. He usually stays asleep for the most part. He's in our room so if he does happen to wake we just Pat him and give him his paci. He's been STTN since about 10wks.
This bisch.
Lol. DS1 was a horrible sleeper. He didn't sleep through the nite till after 12 mos. And nothing worked for him. LO gave momma a break this time around
Lol. DS1 was a horrible sleeper. He didn't sleep through the nite till after 12 mos. And nothing worked for him. LO gave momma a break this time around
I shouldn't complain. I had a newborn that STTN and was never instructed by my pediatrician to get her up to feed her.
Lol. DS1 was a horrible sleeper. He didn't sleep through the nite till after 12 mos. And nothing worked for him. LO gave momma a break this time around
I shouldn't complain. I had a newborn that STTN and was never instructed by my pediatrician to get her up to feed her.
Is your pedi concerned about her weight? Because at first ours was really stressed about waking him up to eat every 2-3hrs.
So I sorta want to do something, I am not even opposed to CIO... But I don't know how to decide what's a wake up for no reason vs hungry anymore. LO puts herself to sleep for naps and bed at this point with very little fuss. She is an excellent napper, pretty consistently taking 3 decent naps. Usually one nap is 1.5-2 hrs and the rest are 45-1 hr. We are attempting to wake her at the same time everyday now, although sometimes she wakes up a little early. Since we have moved she wakes up 4+ times a night, and this better than when we first got here. It's like a 4-5 hr stretch and then a 3 and then every 2 or less. She was doing 2 wake ups before and was so close to 1. I don't feel like she is ready to STTN but I don't think she needs all of those wake ups. We nurse on demand during the day and she is a bit of a grazer, so I am not really sure how to decide if she is hungry or not MOTN.
I shouldn't complain. I had a newborn that STTN and was never instructed by my pediatrician to get her up to feed her.
Is your pedi concerned about her weight? Because at first ours was really stressed about waking him up to eat every 2-3hrs.
She was, but never once said anything about waking her up. We went weekly for the first few weeks for weight checks. Once she hit her birth weight at 3 weeks the pedi wasn't concerned. Then we had like 6 weeks of stellar growth. Since then she's like "nope, I gained enough weight, I'm just going to be tiny for forever!"
I still can't put her in one size CDs because she's too small. At this rate she'll be potty trained by the time she fits in them.
Is your pedi concerned about her weight? Because at first ours was really stressed about waking him up to eat every 2-3hrs.
She was, but never once said anything about waking her up. We went weekly for the first few weeks for weight checks. Once she hit her birth weight at 3 weeks the pedi wasn't concerned. Then we had like 6 weeks of stellar growth. Since then she's like "nope, I gained enough weight, I'm just going to be tiny for forever!"
I still can't put her in one size CDs because she's too small. At this rate she'll be potty trained by the time she fits in them.
Maybe she's just petite. Max is a chunker. He's probably 17lbs or more. He was 16lbs 4oz at his 4mos. Our pedi was like stop feeding MOTN since 3mos. You might want to let her fuss a bit before feeding. It might be more of a habit that she is waking and not really because she is hungry.
We need to figure something out. S is a HORRIBLE sleeper and I am about to lose my shit! He fights his naps, and will only stay down for 35-55 min. Thankfully he goes down for bed really easily, but will only sleep for 3 hours (sometimes less, rarely more) and seems STARVING at each wake up. We try other methods to soothe him before feeding him, but he doesn't usually calm down. When I finally start to nurse him, he eats almost furiously! He has never been a comfort nurser, so he will unlatch when he is done and lays right back down and goes to bed.
You just described how DS was as a baby exactly. It was a really hard first year, by on his first birthday he started sleeping through the night. At about 9 months I started with 1 nap a day and he actually took a decent 1.5-2 hour nap and woke up happy instead of grumpy. And I was less frustrated. Just wanted to give you some commiseration and hope that it won't be like this forever. At 2 he now sleeps 8-7 and takes a 2 hour nap daily.
Nights aren't an issue. She's been STTN since 8wks. I think she would have even earlier if I hadn't been waking her to feed bc of her weight issues. The kid likes her sleep.
But naps have been inconsistent bordering on awful at times lately. I finally had to let her CIO yesterday after she'd basically skipped the nap before.
TTC since Sept 2012 M/C on 5/01/13 at 8 wks AF finally appeared 11 wks later per Provera Diagnosed with PCOS on 7/29/13 Three Failed Medicated Cycles, NTNP Indefinitely BFP #2 9/14/14, EDD 5/23/15...MMC discovered @ 9w2d; D&C 10/23/14 ***BFP #3 7/4/15, LO born 3/17/16***
Post by peachesncream on Aug 14, 2016 11:46:05 GMT -5
We will probably start sleep training soon, we need to transition DD1 to a twin bed so that DD2 can have the crib. After that transition we will do a sort of modified Ferberizing. I don't mind MOTN wakeups, with DD1 we made a bottle and she would feed herself and go back to sleep. I plan on doing the same with DD2 since she is petite as well.
We will probably start sleep training soon, we need to transition DD1 to a twin bed so that DD2 can have the crib. After that transition we will do a sort of modified Ferberizing. I don't mind MOTN wakeups, with DD1 we made a bottle and she would feed herself and go back to sleep. I plan on doing the same with DD2 since she is petite as well.
Did you have trouble getting DD1 off the bottle? We're on day 2 of taking away DD's bottles and it's been pretty brutal so far!
We need to figure something out. S is a HORRIBLE sleeper and I am about to lose my shit! He fights his naps, and will only stay down for 35-55 min. Thankfully he goes down for bed really easily, but will only sleep for 3 hours (sometimes less, rarely more) and seems STARVING at each wake up. We try other methods to soothe him before feeding him, but he doesn't usually calm down. When I finally start to nurse him, he eats almost furiously! He has never been a comfort nurser, so he will unlatch when he is done and lays right back down and goes to bed.
DS eats a lot overnight too. Plus his wake ups are all over the place so I don't even know where to start when it comes to weaning him at night! He does like to comfort nurse too though, and it can be hard to figure out if he's nursing for comfort or because he's hungry.
So I sorta want to do something, I am not even opposed to CIO... But I don't know how to decide what's a wake up for no reason vs hungry anymore. LO puts herself to sleep for naps and bed at this point with very little fuss. She is an excellent napper, pretty consistently taking 3 decent naps. Usually one nap is 1.5-2 hrs and the rest are 45-1 hr. We are attempting to wake her at the same time everyday now, although sometimes she wakes up a little early. Since we have moved she wakes up 4+ times a night, and this better than when we first got here. It's like a 4-5 hr stretch and then a 3 and then every 2 or less. She was doing 2 wake ups before and was so close to 1. I don't feel like she is ready to STTN but I don't think she needs all of those wake ups. We nurse on demand during the day and she is a bit of a grazer, so I am not really sure how to decide if she is hungry or not MOTN.
This sounds close to our situation but that first stretch keeps getting shorter and shorter and it is becoming more and more difficult to get him to sleep to begin with. I used to put him down sleepy but awake, then I started nursing him to sleep, and now it's anyone's guess what will work!
We will probably start sleep training soon, we need to transition DD1 to a twin bed so that DD2 can have the crib. After that transition we will do a sort of modified Ferberizing. I don't mind MOTN wakeups, with DD1 we made a bottle and she would feed herself and go back to sleep. I plan on doing the same with DD2 since she is petite as well.
Did you have trouble getting DD1 off the bottle? We're on day 2 of taking away DD's bottles and it's been pretty brutal so far!
No problems but we didn't "night wean" (don't know if it is still night weaning for FF babies haha) until she was 10-11 months.
Post by cinnamonsmiles on Aug 14, 2016 14:32:44 GMT -5
I used The Sleepeasy Solution with DS and will probably do the same once she turns 6 months. Up until 4.5 months, she slept 9-9 with only one wakeup to eat. Now she sleeps 830-7 with 3-6 wakeups and I am losing my mind. I have no idea why she is waking up, and she only wants to nurse back to sleep (so for like 30seconds). She's so close to finding her thumb that I think it will go much quicker than it did with DS.
I'm terrified of sleep training with the possibility of waking DS though. He is by far much harder to put back down than she.
Post by sunshineshades on Aug 14, 2016 19:11:17 GMT -5
I'm not sure what I plan to do. I'll probably read up on some stuff and decidein a month or so. I may do nothing. I didn't really with dd1 (other than sometimes dh rocking her in the motn instead of me nursing her)and she finally sttn at 9 months.
E is already a better sleeper than her most nights at this age. I'm light years ahead of where I was with dd1 (she had no bedtime, napped on me, slept in bassinet beside my bed. E does all her sleep in her crib unless we're out and has a bedtime). So I'll reevaluate when I can't take anymore. I would like her naps to last longer. I think that is more an age thing from what I have read.
I'm not sure about cio because of waking dd1 plus if she's like her sister she'll scream for hours on end.
I used The Sleepeasy Solution with DS and will probably do the same once she turns 6 months. Up until 4.5 months, she slept 9-9 with only one wakeup to eat. Now she sleeps 830-7 with 3-6 wakeups and I am losing my mind. I have no idea why she is waking up, and she only wants to nurse back to sleep (so for like 30seconds). She's so close to finding her thumb that I think it will go much quicker than it did with DS.
I'm terrified of sleep training with the possibility of waking DS though. He is by far much harder to put back down than she.
I did sleepeasy with DD. I think it was a J14 thing! I just re-read the key chapters and I'm going to start tomorrow. I had talked myself into waiting a couple weeks, but I put DS down an hour and a half ago and we've already had 4 wake ups and I know he's tired. I think I'm going to do it in my room so he doesn't wake DD up and I'll sleep on the couch. DH has already been sleeping in the guest room, which is too far away.
So I sorta want to do something, I am not even opposed to CIO... But I don't know how to decide what's a wake up for no reason vs hungry anymore. LO puts herself to sleep for naps and bed at this point with very little fuss. She is an excellent napper, pretty consistently taking 3 decent naps. Usually one nap is 1.5-2 hrs and the rest are 45-1 hr. We are attempting to wake her at the same time everyday now, although sometimes she wakes up a little early. Since we have moved she wakes up 4+ times a night, and this better than when we first got here. It's like a 4-5 hr stretch and then a 3 and then every 2 or less. She was doing 2 wake ups before and was so close to 1. I don't feel like she is ready to STTN but I don't think she needs all of those wake ups. We nurse on demand during the day and she is a bit of a grazer, so I am not really sure how to decide if she is hungry or not MOTN.
I often have trouble figuring out if R is hungry or not as well. She usually wakes every 45 - 60 mins till about 11, then every 2-3 hours after that. I used to feed her at every wakeup, but I figured she probably didn't need all that. So what I do is try to calm her and give her the pacifier. If she calms easily, I know she's not hungry. If she wakes up again within 10 mins, I'll feed her. Otherwise, I just pat her back, give her the paci, and shush her to get her back to sleep. I only pick her up if she's hungry or needs a diaper change. It has taken weeks, but she's finally to the point where she can put herself back to sleep about half the time. I only feed her 1 - 2 times a night, though she wakes at least 5 times most nights and often more times than that.
I used The Sleepeasy Solution with DS and will probably do the same once she turns 6 months. Up until 4.5 months, she slept 9-9 with only one wakeup to eat. Now she sleeps 830-7 with 3-6 wakeups and I am losing my mind. I have no idea why she is waking up, and she only wants to nurse back to sleep (so for like 30seconds). She's so close to finding her thumb that I think it will go much quicker than it did with DS.
I'm terrified of sleep training with the possibility of waking DS though. He is by far much harder to put back down than she.
This is pretty much us exactly. Solidarity love tit.
I'd love to get Chase to consolidate his naps in the next month or two. I think Colin was around 6 months old when we got him to a consistent 2 naps per day schedule on the weekends. I have no recollection of what we did last time, though! I guess that was probably about the age when he could start popping his pacifier back in by himself. He already goes down awake and is able to put himself back to sleep when he's in the mood, so I'm hoping that's the missing link. Because 3-4 shorter naps leaves me... always thinking about naps!
We're also somewhat night weaning. Chase STTN more often than not and his size is no concern, so our pediatrician's advice was to offer his paci (he doesn't get it at bedtime) rather than automatically nursing him. I know the thinking behind night weaning is that with time, they learn not to bother making a fuss because they aren't getting anything out of it anymore, and it certainly worked out that way with DS1. But I'm just not sure how effective it'll be since he's not waking up consistently - and therefore not nursing in the MOTN - in the first place. I'm not overly concerned at this point because we're in such a better place than we were at this age with DS1, but it's still worth seeing what happens.
I don't know what I want to do if anything. I feel like he is truly hungry when he wakes up at night, but I'm not 100% positive. He could be waking out of habit, but how do you really know? He only wakes up twice and DH takes the first. I'm fine with that for now.
I don't know what I want to do if anything. I feel like he is truly hungry when he wakes up at night, but I'm not 100% positive. He could be waking out of habit, but how do you really know? He only wakes up twice and DH takes the first. I'm fine with that for now.
I am with you on this. The important part of sleep training to me is the ability for the child to self-soothe him or herself to sleep. I don't mind MOTN wakeups and giving a bottle but I don't want to be sitting there, feeding the bottle, rocking, etc. I don't want to have to rock LO to sleep then say a silent prayer as I lay her down that I don't jostle her awake. That is pretty much the only thing I hope to get out of sleep training at this age!
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.