Whats the best way to sleep train a child?

Tara - posted on 09/20/2011

The best book I read was Happy Child, Healthy Habits (or something similar). The author is very direct, but it's good advice. It worked for both of my boys, one who slept well and one who was constantly up crying. His advice isn't always easy but stick with it. My children are now 4 and 6 and sleep very well.

Cynthia - posted on 09/20/2011

Wholeheartedly recommend...Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth....great book that can be referenced for years!

CN - posted on 09/20/2011

Haha I just posted this same question for my four month old. So far everyone agrees it's teething time and he needs some orajel or tylonal. Mine just starting tugging on his ear though so I am going to the Dr today to see if an ear infection is happening as well. This waking up every hour or so all night long has been going on for WEEKS!!! I mean like 3 or 4 weeks. NOT FUN!!

Tammy - posted on 09/20/2011

I'm sure the expert will cringe but I've successfully made it through four nursing kids (the oldest is 26, the next's 21, and the last two are 12 and 10). If you're dreading the fact that you are not able to get your sleep in, what we used to do is my husband would bring the baby to bed and I would like on my side and let the baby nurse while I got some much need shut eye. He would then put the baby back to bed once they had fallen asleep nursing. My babies all did very well. PS Whatever you do, don't stick a Nuk in their mouth to try and satisfy them. Nothing worse than seeing a three year old (or older) walking around with a Nuk. Good luck!

Kirsten - posted on 09/20/2011

I don't particularly like the way I'm doing it, but my 4 month old DD sleeps with us in our bed and sleeps through the night, sometimes waking up around 4 to eat, but other than that, she stays asleep.

@Sherri, it's just not true that babies nurse the same amount as bottle fed babies. "Breast milk digests easier than formula, which means it moves through your baby's digestive system faster and, therefore, makes your baby hungry more often." http://kidshealth.org/parent/pregnancy_n...

Siara - posted on 09/20/2011

I let my son crry it out. You know hes tired and wants to go to sleep, its hard to listen to them cry but its the best thing to teach them, its time for bed. Good Luck .

Lori - posted on 09/20/2011

I totally agree with Vicky, you are absolutly right.

Colleen - posted on 09/20/2011

my opinion will not be popular...that said here goes. Babies are NOT puppies, that said most people would gladly get up with the puppies...they will eventually adopt the routine of the family, enjoy those months...they really are just months and then the years will fly by and you'll wonder what happened to those few months...babies are God's way of telling us to sit our busy butts down and hold and nurse our babies.

Michelle - posted on 09/20/2011

Dawn, I fund I had a problem with my daughter sleeping through, in fact once she was placed in her cot for the night she would cry for hours unless I sat at the cot with my hand on her. When she was 15 months we moved home and the first night we did not have time to put up her cot so simply put a bed rail on her brothers bottom bunk bed. We put her to bed and she fell asleep within minutes and slept right through. The next night she was put in her cot and the crying started and so she was moved back to the bed and calmed right down.

Perhaps if your little one is in a cot you might try a bed with a rail as he/she may not like the cot?

Lourdes - posted on 09/20/2011

with wanting to nurse all the time which is aparently a comfort need. I suggest you schedule feeding times and stick to it.. again see your child health nurse or paedetrician regarding times and how much feeding that's age appropriate for your child.

Lourdes - posted on 09/20/2011

See your Child Health Nurse in your area.. Dr.Sears.com does also have some good advice. There's a really good book called Baby Sleep which is very practical easy to follow and they cover ages from new born to 5 or 6 yr olds. I myself had issues wirh sleep wirh my firat one who from age 6 month, to almost 2 wouls wake up every hour or two.. in the end, I got tired of rocking her to sleep so I dis the patting and gradually taught her to self soothe.

Nicola - posted on 09/19/2011

Hi there, entirely your choice what you would like to you as it's what you are comfortable with as everyone is different. I have just been doing Verbal Reassurance sleep training on my 6 month old son and he now sleeps from 7.30pm till 6am within 4 nights of putting it in place.
You can look up the exact instructions on this website - www.thesleepstore.co.nz. From what they say the baby is using being picked up and fed as a way to settle and they need to learn to self settle themselves. The general idea is that you put them to bed (in a different room) then in 5min if they have not settled themselves go into the room and without touching them say 'night night (their name) time for sleep, go to sleep' (or something similar) then leave the room. Then in 10min do the same thing, then 15min then 20min, then 25min. You do this everytime they wake as this reassures them that you are there for them but they don't need to feed to go back to sleep. I did this for 4 nights and my son is now sleeping through very happily. He is still breastfed and is fine. Read up on it - Verbal Reassurance or VR. Good luck.

Heather - posted on 09/19/2011

I was so happy to come across the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. There are some great tips on sleep training. 11 months is def. not too young! Our daughter is a little over 2 now, and she goes right down at night and at nap time. She's been sleeping a good 12+ hours at night since well before her 1st birthday. And 1.5 to 2 hours at nap time.

Vicky - posted on 09/19/2011

I havn't read all the posts in here, but I'd lake to say to those who think it is unsual for a baby to sleep thru at 11 months especially if breastfed, my son was fully breastfed till he weaned himself at 9months and he slept thru from 6 weeks. I know alot of others who are also fully breastfed who have started sleeping thru at 2 weeks! MOST of the people I know with kids around my son's age were sleeping thru the night by 6 months. And my son NEVER slept in my bed with me, he has always slept in his own bed. And when he wakes in the mornings, he lays in bed just talking to himself softly till I wake up enough to go see him. Dawn if you would like to start training, him, have you tried sending his Dad in to see him instead of you? He may complain for the first few nights, but once he knows he isn't going to get food out of it, he may just start sleeping thru. I am talking to those who posted in the first page here as I didn't read the rest!

Jill - posted on 09/19/2011

Sorry I coslept with my girl for a LONG time too.

Lori - posted on 09/19/2011

Book: "baby wise" by Gary ezzo and Robert bucknam
If you stick with this schedule I promise it will work
Done it, and watched 4 other families do it.

Ruth - posted on 09/19/2011

Babies this age developmentally need around 14 hours sleep in 24 hours. If his weight is over 7kg he could be sleeping through the night & having 2 day sleeps.

Laura - posted on 09/19/2011

I went through this recently with my Daniel. I decided at nap time to practice tough love. Very tough, but worked quickly. A few days before I did it I started playing soft classical music in his room so when I'd lay him down he was getting used to it. Sometimes he'd actually sleep for 15-20 min in his crib. Then about the third or fourth day I nursed him to sleep and laid him in his bed (he started just popping up the moment I laid him down. I hugged him and kissed him and said goodnight. I tried rubbing his back or stroking his hair. He cried his heart out and I just calmly (not calm inside - tore my heart) told him that I loved him, he was okay and that he was tired and needed to go to sleep. It took two hours the first day. The second day took one hour and the third took one and a half hours, but the fourth day took 15 minutes and the next day he just let out a tiny cry and fell back to sleep. I only did this for afternoon nap when I was alert enough to not give in out of exhaustion. I noticed, however, that he was sleeping soo much better at night - going down eaiser and sleeping longer : ) Now, every once and awhile he'll wake up as soon as I lay him down and I will pick him back up and nurse him again, but if he starts a pattern of it, I start the naptime tough love again and it only last fifteen minutes and only a day : ) I hope this helps : ) Oh, I put the music disc on repeat bc I noticed that he would wake up as soon as the music disc ended. Good luck!

Beth - posted on 09/19/2011

My Dr. said most kids are able to sleep through the night by the time they are 6 months old, they are able to eat more and can wait longer in between feedings. At 6 months both of my children were put in their own rooms and by trial and error with the last feeding, were sleeping all night long. We also got the camera monitors so we could see if they were really needing us or if they were going to go back to sleep on their own. Hope that helps!

Tina - posted on 09/19/2011

As people seem to be getting into full assault here an actual answer to your question -
I nursed DD1 and when she was 9 mths old her Doc. told me she wouldn't starve if she missed the nighttime feeding *wink* I read up on some of the methods and found that being consistent in our routine and letting her cry it out was working. At first I was terrible at it - what was really only 5 minutes seemed like eternity to me and I would go back in, pick her up and rock her back to sleep just to repeat the same thing a while later when she realized I was not there anymore...ughhh
So eventually I actually set the kitchen timer and would sit outside on the front steps if the crying got the best of me...
We never actually made it past 8 minutes...and she was out. Regarding the feedings - does LO take a Bottle? At that age I would introduce water or baby tea - nowhere near as tempting - DD lost interest in a hurry and found it wasn't worth it making a fuss over water/ baby tea. I may get flamed for this but in Germany where I come from people give their kids tea with the meals and nursing in between meals.

Julie - posted on 09/19/2011

Consistent routine,putting the baby down when sleepy, but not yet asleep, and giving the last feeding in a darkened room can all help. I always turned off the light in the room we were in when I gave my daughter her last feeding of the day. The only light came from the kitchen. As she fed, I'd sing to her, and always finish with the same song. (She is almost 6 now, and we still finish with the same song, although other parts of the routine have obviously changed.) By the time the song was finished, she was in bed for the night. A fan in the room for white noise. Yes, I did at first have to go back to her several times to comfort her, but it wasn't long before she was falling asleep on her own. In fact, the first time she slept through the night, I suddenly woke up, realized it was way later than usual for her to wake up, and ran to her room fearing the worst. She was just fine...and has slepth throug the night ever since. I think she was about 7 months old when she did that. It is the one area of teaching her that has come easy. Other things have proven much more difficult. :) You can't win them all, can you?

Samantha - posted on 09/19/2011

Each child is different. One of mine slept through the night beginning 6 months old the other two did not.

All three were breastfed 1 year (with no food) and part time until age 3 except my first who weaned himself at 2.

Each child is different and what I found is that their sleep patterns mimiced my sleep patterns during pregnancy. My first loves to stay up late -- like I did to do my work for gradschool. My second and third are asleep by 8:30pm about the time I fell aspeep when pregnant. I found that trying to manage their sleep just kept me awake.

Co-sleeping, a good diet, naps and strategic use of caffine got me through.

Tristan - posted on 09/19/2011

I followed the Save Our Sleep routine, and it worked so well. We all sleep all night, and our daughter sleeps 7pm until 7am.

Carissa - posted on 09/19/2011

After six weeks old you have built the trust of your child. If you are deciding to sleep train for your own sanity don't let other make you feel guilty about it. Everyone is different and you have to make decisions that are best for your family. That being said......
Unfortunately you just have to let them cry a little. Start by cutting out one of the feedings. Choose one specific time and when the child wakes up go to him/her. DO NOT TAKE HIM OUT OF THE CRIB. Rub, their head give a pacifier etc. Walk out of the room. Return in 5min increments until the child goes back to sleep. The next night stay with the same time feeding but go in in 10min increments. The next night 15min increments. It usually only takes a few nights, so stay strong. You are letting your child know that you hear them crying but that they are not going to eat. When you get rid of that feeding work on the next. One of my kids I had to do this with each individual feeding and one I only had to do it with one feeding and she slept through the night.
We are going to have to teach our children many things in life. This is one of the first. Self soothing to put themselves to bed. Your child will be better for it and so will you. Good luck.

Susan - posted on 09/19/2011

Hopefully no one misunderstands my post above. Making the person decision to not let a baby cry it out is not the same as deciding to not keep to a schedule. Deciding to keep your baby with you at night until the baby no longer needs you is not the same thing as not getting enough sleep at night. We all went to bed at the same time each night. We all got plenty of sleep. One solution that worked for us was to go to bed a bit earlier than usual. That made up for any minor interruptions in our sleep. Turning out the lights and going to sleep ourselves seemed to relax our babies and help them go to sleep. My husband still fondly remember waking briefly in the night to the sound of baby nursing. The babies all developed nap time schedules. They all got enough sleep, and so did my husband and I. We simply adapted to and responded to our children's needs. Two were breast fed and one was bottle fed for necessary medical reasons. As I mentioned before we used a cosleeper. The only time I can ever remember not getting enough sleep was when one of them was sick. These are personal choices, and each parent has to make their own. We had very good outcomes, and there were no negative consequences. Even though the OP specifically asked for advice about sleep training, I think it's good that mothers post with a range of options and experiences, including those that do not include sleep training. I've encountered many young mothers who were unaware that there are different POVs and different options. I am very grateful that I was introduced to the concept of cosleeping and child-led weaing.

Elfrieda - posted on 09/19/2011

@Liz

Well, he only slept about 9-12 hours out of 24, and the less sleep he got, the unhappier he was. He had something wrong with his digestive system when he was born, which made him scream when not in motion, and I think we spoiled him for falling asleep by himself by rocking him constantly those first 3 months. (although I still don't see that we had any other option) Sometimes he had a nap in the morning, sometimes not, sometimes he had a nap in the afternoon, sometimes not. He'd go to sleep for the night anywhere between 5 pm and 1 am. He went through phases, like when he was 7 months old, if I put him in his stroller and rode it over gravel, he would go to sleep, but was unable to fall asleep any other way, including for night. It was very particular, I couldn't go to the mall and drive the stroller there, that was too smooth! It had to be over a rough surface. I walked many miles in my pajamas back and forth up our driveway. Then suddenly his stroller didn't work anymore, and it had to be bouncy-rocking, holding him and sort of jumping. (no rocking chair, that was too smooth)



So I was not in the best mental state, but even looking back with a clearer head, I still can't decipher any pattern.

Valerie - posted on 09/19/2011

All children are different. Some sleep through the night (defined as sleeping 5 hours or more) and some don't. Ages for reaching this milestone vary. Please withhold judgement on other moms who have had different experiences than yours. Judgement doesn't help anyone.

For those who are adverse to using cio methoods, as I was, the book "The No Cry Sleep Solution" might be helpful to you. I found a lot of info in there that I could use to help my children learn to relax to sleep. I was also able to adapt the info for lots of other situations. :)

For those who do use cio methoods. No judgement given. We each do what works best for our own families. Mom's work is hard enough without us judging each other. :)

Liz - posted on 09/19/2011

Elfrieda, what did your son do before your routine? Would he just go to bed at random times? Just curious.

Elfrieda - posted on 09/19/2011

Our house was chaotic and miserable before we started "imposing" a routine. (started at around 6 months and succeeded at around 10 months) Now we're all much happier. Maybe it was my son's personality, but he didn't really fall into a rhythm by himself, but he sure was relieved when I created one for him. (calmer, more cheerful, less grumpiness)

My husband and I also lost our pale, lined, baggy-eyed faces, and became much happier, more laid-back parents once we knew generally how the days and nights would go. And anyone can babysit now, as long as they follow the routine, our son is pleased to go to sleep.

Susan - posted on 09/19/2011

I highly recommend that moms and dads learn about child development and specifically about the development of a baby's brain prior to deciding about sleep training. There is a documentary out about babies that covers it, and there are plenty of books. I based my decision to not sleep train on learning about the development of a baby's brain. Until they reach a certain age, babies are incapable of being manipulative. It's impossible for a baby to "run the household." However, a baby is helpless and his needs are the priority. They only cry because they have a need, and they learn that by crying the need is filled. If the need is not filled when the baby cries, it affects how the neurological system develops. Severely neglected babies can grow up with serious problems and be maladapted as children and adults.. There is a book called "At High Risk" that explains how early neglect can cause lifelong problems. Sleep training is not serious neglect but in my opinion it could be a mild form of neglect and there was no way I was going to go there. I wanted to consistently respond to my baby's needs whether it was day or night. Obviously an 11 month old is not a newborn, but as I said before, my children let me know when they were ready for more separation. This process of separating continues until adulthood, a step at a time. It's also a part of their development. Why rush it? It's important to pay attention to what the child needs, and when they are ready for the next step you'll know. Each child is different too, so what works for one may not work for another, even if they are siblings. Another reason I didn't sleep train is this: Did early humans have separate rooms and separate beds for their babies? In my opinion it's natural and normal for moms to keep their babies nearby at night. Anyway my oldest is 24 and I don't regret not sleep training.

Tammy - posted on 09/19/2011

I know to some it seems harsh, however my son was put onto a bedtime routine as soon as he was 3 months old. We moved him out of our room into his own room and into the crib. We followed the same routine every night and it only took 2 weeks to get him acustomed to it. We started with a bath at 630, read a few books, cuddled and rocked for a little while, then while he was still needing a bed time bottle we fed him and then tucked him in at 8pm. He is now 3 and goes to bed with no issue sleeps through the night, and even switching from the crib to a bed was no issue at all. I find my son thrives on the predictable routine. Even if he sleeps away from home, if who ever has him follows the routine as close as possible he will go to bed for them too with no trouble. He has even learned that he has to stay in his bed until we come to his room to get him up. It can work well if your consistant!!

Faith - posted on 09/19/2011

I have 4 children, 2 boys, 2 girls. All of them were breast fed for the entire 1st year. All of them slept thru the night by the time they were 6 weeks old. Babies love routine...you can
actually see them relax. I followed a parent directed feeding and sleeping schedule of about every 3 hours. Obviously this depended on the schedule for the day. I would never "nurse my babies to sleep", but rather keep them awake for a short time after feeding and then lay them in their beds to fall asleep on their own. They were all very good sleepers and I didn't have to manipulate them to fall asleep. I loved the book, Babywise. It is a wonderful book.

Dawn - posted on 09/18/2011

Ok I have 11 month old twin boys. I have been exclusively breastfeeding. They are now on solids and I had thought that would help the 4-5 times each of night waking to nurse. Nope.....so here is what I have done this past month. Nurse to sleepy but NOT asleep. Put them in crib. They would fuss, but I would stand there and do some patting and lots of shhhhhhhh night night. I did that for about a week. Then I put them on a feed schedule. I decided 2 times per night was reasonable to eat-every 4 to 5 hours. You might think once per night or not at all. You need to decide how hungry baby is or is baby just sucking for a couple minutes and then going back to sleep. Than for a few night when they wake up don't feed unless it is on schedule and when they would wake up between feedings I would pat and shhhhhhh until back asleep. I kept track of pattern to figure out when they would wake and feed the most. Then I moved to a pre-emptive dream feed. I would wake baby before scheduled feed time and feed baby. If baby woke before schedule I would get baby back to sleep and then wake baby a little later and dream feed. I did this for about a week. It broke the cycle of waking and wanting to feed to go back to sleep and in the process they have learned new ways to fall back asleep. One of my twins stopped waking to feed. The other one is still pretty hungry at night, but he is only waking up twice now. Once at midnight and once at 5. Let me tell you with 2 babies nursing on me all night it was crazy! I was up 8- 9 times per night. I am amazed that I have moved their sleep to something tolerable. This really worked to break the all night snackers habit.
Good luck!

Susan - posted on 09/18/2011

In my experience, a co-sleeper bassinet is indispensable. It's not necessary to get completely out of bed to pick up the baby or put him back. I just had to sit up a bit. I kept all three of my babies with me through the night. At first I would sleep most of the night with the baby in my arms. Gradually as they were able to sleep longer, I moved them into a crib, but never believed in letting them "cry it out." It was easiest for me to put the crib at the foot of our bed so I could easily get up and soothe the child and bring him into bed with me. Gradually they outgrew needing me at night, each in their own time. A time came for each when they were ready for their own room and their own bed. Usually by age two or three. And they let me know! "Mom, I'm a big boy now!" It's one thing I've done as a mom that I've never regretted - letting them set the pace for separating at night.

Kayte - posted on 09/18/2011

I am a mother and grandmother - what we did, the parents and I, is let them cry themselves to sleep. Not to the point they screamed and got so upset but you have to put them to bed on a schedule and stay away from them. I understand how hard it is but you have to be the parent and not let your child run the household.

Lara - posted on 09/18/2011

As all these messages show, there's a huge variation in baby needs and baby personalities, as well as in mom's needs and mom's personality.

It sounds like what would work for you now is to have the baby start sleeping 6+ hours a night (that's what the pediatrician means by "sleeping through the night"). I personally found it easiest to reach this point by getting my babies up to 12 lbs., the general weight at which babies are able to eat enough to sleep that long, and then gradually stretching the time between two of their nighttime feedings. Pick the two you want to stretch out to six hours -- usually you want a chunk of time at the beginning of the night or a chunk of time at the end of the night.

This is really non-traumatic for the child and meets your needs too. Your needs count too, and a baby almost a year old certainly has more than enough stomach capacity to sleep through the night and not need to eat every three or four hours. This can work well for both of you. Most importantly remind yourself that you are doing a great job as a mom. You are.

Pauline - posted on 09/17/2011

I have four boys and have done the same for all. I'm so grateful to have my evenings to myself. At about 8 weeks I have had a chance to determine what the last feed of the night will be. My 8 week old right now nurses at about 8, then again at 9 but once that last feed is finished he goes into his bassinet. He's usually awake when I put him down. The first few nights were obviously a little confusing for him because until that point he had been held until he slept. He'd cry, I would go in every 2 minutes to shoosh him. Didn't pick him up, didn't talk to him. Just soothed him until he was quiet. It seems tedious, ever 2 minutes, but he had the security that I was there when he "called". I knew he was okay because he would begin to get quiet as I walked into the room. That first night, when he went to sleep, he woke up to feed at 4 am! That was about a 6 hour stretch! The second night didn't take quite as long for him to sleep. On the third night he knew that when he was put into his bed it was bedtime. It's been about two weeks and he's now sleeping from 9 pm to 4 am...feeds then sleeps again until. I've done this with all my boys. At about 6 months 8 pm is bedtime and they will usually sleep until 5 or 6 am where they're fed and put back down so mommy can catch a few zzzz's. Even at 11, 9 and 3 my old boys know that bedtime is sleep time. Mommy is always there but once they hit the sack they're sleeping. It's been a blessing. Good luck to you!!

Sandra - posted on 09/16/2011

When I was nursing my child I gave her the breast all day long as much as she wanted but when it came to night time I did not. I cut off at the time my child would go to bed. However, I started this since I started nursing. I think now you would have to slowly cut back each hour you are nursing at night time until the baby understands no nursing at a certain time. Babies are smart.

Mary - posted on 09/16/2011

I have a 7 month old and he still wants to breatfeed in the middle of the night. I am trying so hard to wean him off that because he weighs enough to be able to sleep through the night without being breastfed and I think he is old enough. I let him cry for no longer than 15 min. I check on him and sooth him. If he has cried for 15 min I know maybe he has a dirty diaper or is too hot or too cold...he usually only cries for about 2 min and sooths himself back to sleep tho. but when 4am roles around I always give in and feed him cause I feel sorry for him:( I always want to comfort him but I also don't want him to be spoiled acting when he is older. I found that blackou curtains help A LOT!!! and white noise. I use a CD that is ocean sounds and have a "sleep sheep" My son loves the white noise and his pacifier:)

Tanya - posted on 09/16/2011

For a second, I thought I had posted this myself and forgotten I'd done it. I know exactly how you feel. I pseudo sleep trained her recently while my older dtr (3 y.o.) was away for a wk. That way we could freely do the CIO. I put my shirt in her crib to have something that smells like me. After holding her for a short moment, we set her down and rub her back and say "night, night." then walk out. We let her cry it out for several minutes (10-15ish) and would go back in and NOT pick her up and rub her back and softly say again, "night night." Had to do this for about 4-5 nights and gradually, the crying stints would shorten. She still gets up at 1am every nt and I still nurse her because it's easier, but at least now she sleeps for about 6 or so hrs after that. So, she's not fully sleep trained, but way better than she was since I was her human pacifier and still sort of am at 1am. I'm about to wean her since she'll be 1 on Sept. 26th. I think things will vastly improve. I'm going to miss nursing though. :(

Pat - posted on 09/16/2011

man, wish I had a baby monitor 33 years ago! That is a great idea! However, I do think soft music and cuddling for a limited time is a soft way to fall asleep. My 15 year old asked me to read to her while sitting on my bed for a summer. A lot was happening in her life (good things) but she needed her mama for a time before she turned in, and this often happens throughout their development. Pat NIckerson (ECE)

Pat - posted on 09/16/2011

Breastfeeding? Often, a baby who nurses will want that just to soothe, as well. At 14 months, my daughter was weaned, although I did give her a formula bottle-first with expressed milk, then with a good powdered formula so I could get some time to myself-including more sleep! Formula is more filling, so check with your doctor first, please. One at night might make her sleep longer. Some kids just want to be held more, and I am an advocate of more attention earlier the better the child will feel about her/himself later on. My son never slept all night until he was eight. My daughter woke up between his wakings all night long. What a zoo! :) Thank GOD my husband was good about coming in from work at 1:00 a.m., taking my son to the rocking chair to soothe him, while he just handed my daughter off to me for a nursing. Nursing was easier than falling asleep over bottles I over boiled (before bottle warmers) for my son. :) Nursing, however, means they are joined at the hip to you for quite some time. I had secured my daughter in front of me in a sling when she was a baby so I could take care of my son. She is a healthy, and happy woman (32) and was a happy little girl. So is my son. I was a stay at home..if you work outside the home, you definitely need more sleep, and half formula or weaning may be a good idea. Also, try soothing music on all night...makes them snore and sleep soundly, usually. :) Good luck! (Pat Nickerson (ECE) and Home Day Care Provider

Michelle - posted on 09/16/2011

Wow Karen... a little arrogant don't you think? LOTS of kids don't sleep through the night at 11 months. I guess a lot of parents out there just aren't as good at sleep-training as you.

Amy - posted on 09/16/2011

I haven't seen this on here yet, I don't agree with everything but could be a starter for you. We did some not all things.

http://www.happiestbaby.com/

We also have used
http://www.sleeplady.com/

let us know what you try and like and what you tried and didn't like! Good luck.

Minnie - posted on 09/16/2011

I don't sleep through the night. Why should I expect my daughters to (5 and 3)? Last night I went to bed with them at 8pm, woke up at 1am, went back to bed at 4am, got up at 8am. That actually is a NORMAL sleep pattern for humans. We didn't start out sleeping these long stretches.

Kristina - posted on 09/16/2011

I feel your pain! I was still nursing on demmand until my daughter was 11 months. Everyone I knew thought I was crazy for doing this and that my daughter should have been sleeping through the night by then. It wasn't until her pediatrician told me at her 12 month check up that I could start her on whole milk that I started to try to wean her. Now my daughter is 17 months old and she still wasn't sleeping through the night! She would drink whole milk in a bottle usually 2 times a night. I finally reached my breaking point last week. It took 3 very long nights of rocking her and placing her back in her crib every hour or two and then by the 4th night she slept through the whole night! It was hard and my husband and I took turns getting up with her. We just kept rocking and comforting her when she would cry for her bottle. Its been about a week now of peacful nights and everyone is so much happier! My daughter is eating more at breakfast and she is well rested! I hadn't had a full night's sleep since long before I was pregnant. If you feel that your baby is ready to stop nursing at night then find another way to comfort him/her at night. That is what worked for us. And don't listen to the critism! You know what is best for your family. Although it was very emotionally difficult to wean her from nursing I know it was the right time for us. Best wishes!

Kristi - posted on 09/16/2011

My 12 month old wants to nurse many times in the night because he is teething and it is comforting to him. He also won't eat food very well ( only wants to nurse) so he's hungry every 3 hrs. He's my last so I love getting up and nursing him every 3 hrs.

Catherine - posted on 09/16/2011

i have two kids who with slept through the night from six months and i foster so have got many babies into a good nighttime routine n sleeping through by six months also . the baby needs to learn to fall asleep by himself . i always do bath bottle n bed at from 7 pm onwards placing baby in cot when drowsy but not asleep then keep going back in the room when crying every couple of mins , pat babies tummy saying night night but avoid eye contact and dont pick baby up . then i give a feed around 11.30 when i go to bed without waking baby up . its took a couple of nights each time but it has worked many times over for me .

Brandy - posted on 09/16/2011

Sorry. After my daughter weaned herself from nursing, i dried up pretty quick, even with pumping, and had to switch to formula. it was almost a direct switch. If she can get by without the switch, then by all means, do so. I couldn't though.

Aleks - posted on 09/16/2011

While Brandy has given some good advice... I have to ask: WHY OH WHY do people HAVE to try and convince a breastfeeding mother at every twist and turn to SWITCH to formula. IT IS UNNECESSARY especially when the mother has been successfully breastfeeding this long, yet not long enought for the NORMAL physical, mental and emotional development of the baby to occur.
It is seriously frustrating - especially in this day and age.
But that is just me, I guess.