Sleep Training

Andrea - posted on 02/19/2010

Hello...its funny you mention that becuase I broke down last Sat and tried ferberizing despite it being so contraversial. I agree- very hard but my daughter did not cry that much. First night 20 mins, second night woke 1am and cried 40 mins. Since then she has not woken at all and goes to bed "awake but drowsy" and puts herself to sleep. I have not taken the paci from her. But now if it falls out, she puts herself to sleep knowing no one will come in and put it back. It has only been a week so not sure how long it will stick but it has been the best week of sleep!! Only problem is she goes to bed at 7 and wakes at 5:30. I let her talk and play until 6 before I get her. I wish she slept until 7 like she did before but I will take 5:30am over waking through the night!!

Sibel - posted on 02/18/2010

Well, I tried cutting the feeding back, tried the pacifier, and none of it worked. A friend mentioned ferberizng my baby, so I goggled it. And well, it worked. I am sleeping once again at night - yeah! The first night I tried ferberizing my baby, he cried from 3-5am. IT was hard. Harder for my husband, The next night, he woke up at 3am, and settled back to sleep, then screamed from 4-5:15am. The third night, he slept for 13 hours. The fourth night, he woke at 4am, and I was too tired to let him cry it out, so I fed my baby. He slept through the 5th night. Since then, he goes to bed at 8pm, sometimes he wakes up between 11-midnight, and I give him one bottle, then it is straight back to bed for him. Then he sleeps til 7am. Ofcourse, I still have the occasional 13 hour sleepy baby. I am in heaven now! Try Ferberizing. It worked for me.

Sibel - posted on 02/05/2010

Hi there, my baby stopped sleeping through the night at 3 months as well. He is just 5 months old now. When he wakes up in the night, he only takes the breast for 5-10 minutes, and then goes back to sleep. As I was reading some of the comments here, I will try to cut the feeding back myself during the night, and offer the pacifier. I am not too sure how that will work as my baby doesn't always wants his pacifier. Maybe, just by giving him the sucking motion, he too may once again sleep through the night. I too won't let your baby cry during the night until atleast your baby is 6 months old. Goodluck!

Lauren - posted on 02/05/2010

If you're really having trouble, we got a mattress that vibrates
I turn it on and his mobile and by the time the mobile runs down he's asleep. Don't take the pacifier. Studies have shown putting baby to bed with a pacifier reduces the risk of sids.

Christina - posted on 02/03/2010

My little man has always done well at night. In the beginning though he would fight his sleep until 2-3 am. I'm not a big fan of letting him cry it out, so what I done was after I laid him down and he woke up I would wait 30 secs and go in, pick him up and calm him down not back to sleep, and then lay him back down, and I would leave the room. The next time I would add 30 secs, so I would wait a minute and then go back in pick him up calm him down and lay him back down. You can do this as many times as you need to each time by adding 30 secs but never exceed 5 mins. I never got past the 2 minute mark with my son before he fell asleep. After a few nights of this I would lay him down and he would stay asleep. I was skeptical of this method too but it really works, and he don't have to cry for a long time. Now I got him on a routine, at about 730pm I feed him a vegetable, give him a bath, and then a night bottle and then he goes to sleep at about 9pm and sleeps till about 7-730am. And he doesn't like to be late starting his routine lol!

Andrea - posted on 02/03/2010

I have been tracking her sleeping for weeks, even before I put this post, trying things here and there and I noticed that the only times she has slept through the night are the nights I put her to sleep at around 7:30 (versus between 8:30 and 9). Could it be as simple as her being overtired? I am going to continue the early bedtime as her new schedule and see what happens. And after hearing everyone's advice I am def not going to take the pacifier away from her. I like the tips from Julee's suggested book Happy Sleep Habits, Healthy child- looks like the author is right, for my baby at least!

Catherine - posted on 02/03/2010

my daughter used to be a very good sleeper until she was poorly for a few weeks and her routine got upset. i used sleep training to help her get back into her routine. i dont leave her to cry but i do let her winge for a minute or 2 cos sometimes she `ll settle herself. when she starts properly crying to be comforted i pick her up, cuddle her til shes quiet and put her back down. i also moved her back into our room so she could hear, smell and see us. the first night was a long difficult one but the habit seems to be breaking and im not up all night anymore - she just wakes at 5am for a feed and goes back down. i wouldnt try to remove the pacifier until shes settled

Julee - posted on 02/02/2010

Oh...and don't break her of her pacifier....if it helps to soothe her, let her have it. If she falls asleep with it in her mouth, she'll spit it out eventually. And, remember, it's not like she'll need it until she's 16!!! She'll figure out on her own when she's ready to get rid of it.

Julee - posted on 02/02/2010

I was having the same problem. I have been reading the Weissbluth book..."Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child." Based on your baby's temperment, there are several suggestions from "let cry" to "check and soothe." I suggest reading that book. We got three important points from that book, create a bedtime routine, put her to bed a bit earlier, and learn to read her drowsy cues for napping during the day. We give Sofie a bath, use Johnson's bedtime bath (in the purple bottle), then give her a bottle with two tablespoons of cereal in it. We then put her down drowsy, but not asleep, and let her soothe herself to sleep. She usually wakes up once during the night for a feeding, after 6-8 hours of sleep, then sleeps another 3-4 hours. The first night we tried that, she woke up probably every 45 minutes whining and talking, and did some harder crying for about 25-30 minutes only once. That night, I fed her a nighttime bottle at 1 am, and she slept through until 7 am. Ever since then, she has been waking up only once at night.
During the day, I watch for her drowsy cues for naps, keeping her awake for no longer than two hours at a stretch. For Sofie, she gets whiny when she's tired. So, I bring her to her room, rock her until she's drowsy, then put her down. She naps about 2-3 times a day for two hours at a stretch. That book preaches that "sleep begets sleep," and that seems to be true. She is a happier baby when awake, and is now sleeping longer during the night. Hope these suggestions help...good luck.

Andrea - posted on 02/02/2010

Thank you to everyone for your help and advice. I am going to try a lot of what was mentioned here. I am glad to see other moms agree that taking away the pacifier at this age is not necessary-despite what my Dr says. I go back in forth between saying 4mths is too young to sleep train to 4mths is a good age to start light sleep training. I have now gone a week without night feedings, just waking 2-3 times a night to give her the pacifier so she can fall back asleep (she spits it out) Lindsey- I do want to try putting her in her crib awake. Did you use a pacifier while you did this or not? And if so, did you put the pacifier back in while she cried/settled herself to sleep? Also Katlyn, I like your idea about introducing the stuffed animal as a new association. I will try that as well. thanks to all!

Lindsey - posted on 02/02/2010

Hi I had the exact same problem! I breast feed my daughter! She was going good sleeping 5 + hours and then went down to 1 or 2 well i was getting so stressed and felt enough was enough! So Just this past 2 weeks I started at around 6 or 7 feeding cereal mixed in with my breast milk so she has a fuller stomach i just give her a little in a bowl then bathtime then feed and then bed! And when i lay her down in bed i lay her down awake(awake was the key for us) and she crys but i soothe her every 5 to ten minutes and i now swear by this! Her first night she cried for 45 mins. slpt for 8 woke up to feed and then slept 5 more! and it has been averaging 10-11 hours a night with one time waking up to be fed! I didnt want to do the cry it out method but am so happy i did!!! I do the same for naps during the day! Give it a try you should be able to tell if your baby can't handle it yet or if you cant! Good luck! I understand the stress and confusion why it goes downhill! :)

Becky - posted on 02/02/2010

Is she breast fed or formula fed? If you're bottle feeding, maybe try giving her a bigger bottle before bedtime - or bigger bottles throughout the day, and if you're nursing, try offering one more feeding during the day, even if she's not asking for it. It may be that as she's getting older, she's needing more to eat and if she's not getting it during the day, she'll wake in the night for it.

She also might be starting to have some teething pain, even if you can't see any teeth coming in yet. I like the Hylands teething tablets - they work well for calming baby and they're all natural, very safe even for a young baby. Giving her those before bed may help if it's teething pain that's waking her.

Gotsome - posted on 02/01/2010

I spoke with a dr who suggested that 4 months was also the right age to start sleep training, so we tried - it's still a work in progress. Our little guy has never been a sleeper & we also use a pacifier. The same dr also said that babies don't have a natural instinct that allows them to soothe themselves & therefore using a pacifier can be important to help bridge this gap. For us, I agree with you, I wouldn't even dream of taking the paci away - way too many changes at once & in my opinion there's nothing wrong with having something to help your daughter soothe herself, especially during this very important training - for her & you!

Sarah - posted on 01/31/2010

I would say let her keep the pacifier, its so comforting for them. I was thinking of cutting it down around 6 months and totally stop by a year. (thats the plan anyway, lol) But my little guy hasnt slept through the night since he was 2 months old. It seems like since that big growth spert, he hasnt settled. I thought that the cereal would help, but hasnt. So the closer he gets to 6 months, if he doesnt start to skip that night time feeding i will be soothing him without it. There are several different methods of sleep training. I'm sure they are all available through the internet. Or some books through the library. good luck. we could all use it, lol.

Sharee - posted on 01/31/2010

my daughter has been sleeping 10-12 hours a night since 10 days old however when she was going through a growth spurt recently she was waking through the night for feeds. I gave her a dream feed at 10:30 and another at 12 and this got her through till 7am. I have now dropped the 12 feed and will continue the 10:30 dream feed till she is getting enough solids. worth a try!

Candice - posted on 01/31/2010

i think you should let her have her paci if she needs it to go to sleep she is only four months old when she gets older she will give up her binky when she is ready as long as she doesnt need it 24/7 let her have it at night

Tracy - posted on 01/31/2010

HI, so uping his daytime feedings and doing a dreamfeed at 11pm should help him sleep better through the night. Dreamfeeds are just ploping the bottle nipple in the babies mouth while he/she are sleeping. I do this every night with my daughter and she usually sleeps until 6am. I also do a bedtime routine of bath, light play time(30min), then music/lullabyes, then bed.

Lauren - posted on 01/31/2010

The advice my doctor gave me was to cut back the feedings at nighttime, which worked wonders! He would eat tons at night, every 2 or 3 hours. The first two nights everytime he woke up I fed him 2 ounces and he fell back asleep.. then I cut back to 1 ounce and now if he fusses I just give him his paci. Within a couple days he went from eating every 2 or 3 hours at night to now every 7 or 7.5 hours! He eats a lot before bed though.. sometimes cereal and between 6 and 9 ounces. If he wakes up before 11 or 12am I will give him a full bottle but if its after that I do not. I also start giving him full bottles again if he wakes up after 6am. Works wonders if the reason he is waking up is to eat. Cut back nighttime feedings and daytime feedings will increase.

Katlyn - posted on 01/31/2010

Hey!
I have the exact same problem, my boy is 4 months old and slept through the night from the time he was 6 weeks old and 2 weeks ago, he started waking up every couple of hours..lately it's been int 15-20 min intervals... I suggest you read the book "the no cry sleep solution" by Elizabeth Pantly... AMAZING book... it's working for me so far.. I would strongly recommend getting a safe stuffed animal (with no parts that can fall off etc, and it should be firm, not floppy) and hold it between the two of you each time you feed him or her and try to sleep with it under your shirt for a night, and then give it to your baby and because it has both of your scents on it, it should help her sooth herself back to sleep... My son won't take a pacifier so unfortunatly I can't give you any help on that one... good luck!

Sonja - posted on 01/30/2010

Hi andrea
My baby started sleeping through 9-5 at 2months old, he is now 5months and about 2weeks ago he started waking up at night (2in the morning) for a feed, he wont go sleep without his feed, but i'll give him his bottle lying down, he'll fall right back to sleep, but now i'm struggling to get him to sleep through again.
He is having porridge at night and in the morning, it doesnt seem to make a difference, some people say he could be teething that cause them to sleep less.
My baby loves his pacifier, and i am not planning on taking it a way as it comforts him, some say you should replace it with a teddy, but for now as long as he is happy, i'll let him have it.
Good luck with your daughter.

Tessa - posted on 01/30/2010

She's too young for crying it out. Ignore your doctor. Rock her to sleep, let her have the paci at night. GENTLY take away the paci. Don't do it cold turkey.

Becky - posted on 01/30/2010

Well, if by sleep training you mean letting her cry it out, I have read that you should not do that before 6 months at the youngest. I don't do it at all, ever, so I haven't really researched it, but that's what I've read in various sleep books. Not all 4 month old babies are able to go through the night without a feeding, so to let her cry it out when she is truly hungry could be harmful to her.
Personally, I'd let her keep the pacifier. She needs some way of soothing herself, and if you take that, you're likely to become her soother, unless you substitute it with something else.

Lindsay - posted on 01/29/2010

yeah my baby girl sleeps through the night and shes 4 months. i give her a bath between 8 and 9. and she'll fall asleep a little after 9 and sleep through the night till morning. i found having that routine of giving her a bath at that time everyday really helped. i can also go lay her in the crib on her own and she'll fall asleep. my big sister taught me to play a cd with nature sounds on it. having that on soothes her and she'll sleep right through. maybe you can try that? and try that johnsons nighttime bubble bath, that always knocks her out too.