Sleep training

When did you sleep train your DC and what technique did you use? DS, 5+ months, will only go back to sleep by being nursed into a milk coma.

Re: Sleep training

with dd1 we did cio at 6 months. DS is 4.5 months and im going to do cio next week. He was sttn (8:30pm-6am) until about 2 weeks ago when he started waking around 4am. since i know he is capable of going that stretch without eating im going to bite the bullet and deal with cio.

it was a long, tiring 3 nights with dd but SO worth it!

Sleep training

I tried it halfheartedly around 7 months and probably a few times after that. It was rough and I couldn't stick with it. At that age I always reverted to nursing back to sleep. I finally did it full out at 16 months and it went well.

Re: Sleep training

It was around five months for us.

Julian slept through the night since the moment he was born. Even in the hospital, when he was in the room with me, he would sleep through the night!! We were lucky. I was there for four days because of a c-section and all the nurses would comment on his sleeping and how good he was. Anyway, for five months and from day one he would go down for the night around 7-8pm and sleep until 7-8am. No issues. Just to be safe, to make sure he wouldn't wake up in the night, I would set my alarm for like 2am and do a quick dream feed. I probably didn't need to but I was paranoid about him all of a sudden starting to wake for night feeds and never going back!

So, I would wake, change his diaper in the crib and give him a dream feed of like four ounces... this was in the very beginning. He wouldn't even wake for it. Then, when he started on cereal this wasn't necessary anymore because I would feed him the cereal before bed and that would be plenty filling.

Around five-ish months he was too big to be swaddled so that was when we had a little bump in the road. He would go to sleep but would wake up around midnight to be swaddled. But he couldn't, he would just break out of it. So, it was like he was done with being swaddled but wasn't emotionally ready to give it up

One night we just broke him of it, cold turkey, using the cry it out method.

We picked a day where we were off the next day so if we got no sleep it wouldn't be a "suffer through work" the next day situation. Remember, we were spoiled with a kid that sleeps twelve hours a night from word go! LOL! So, to us, not getting a perfect night's sleep was unacceptable I could slap myself!

Anyway, he woke around 1am, cried for like 20 minutes. I was like oh my WORD, beside myself but I stayed strong! I would go in after ten minutes and give him his bink, rub his back, shhhhhh him, and then leave. He would continue to cry and after about twenty minutes, he stopped and fell off. I was like YAY we did it. Until 2:30am LOL so again, rinse/repeat. We would let him go ten minutes, go in and soothe with the methods above, and then leave. The soothing would be about 2 minutes, nothing long at all. Just to let him know, we are HERE but you are going to have to do this on your own kiddo!

And he went back to bed after only like five minutes after I left. So, improvement! Then, around 3:45am lol back up. This time, he cried, I was waiting the ten minutes to go in and soothe and he gave up before I even had to. That was it.

And then the next night, woke around midnight, cried for two minutes and went back.

After that, never did it again. Now, he goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up around 7am. He naps once a day for about two hours -- two times a day when he is tired or going through a growth spurt.

CIO worked great for us. He, even at five months, it was like he totally "got it". Even now, he goes to bed and it's like he KNOWS we are there but it is time for him to go to sleep and we'll see him in the morning.

Good luck!!!

Re: Sleep training

Message edited 10/8/2014 9:36:00 AM.

Re: Sleep training

Posted by JWG421

Posted by DaniRella

It was around five months for us.

Julian slept through the night since the moment he was born. Even in the hospital, when he was in the room with me, he would sleep through the night!! We were lucky. I was there for four days because of a c-section and all the nurses would comment on his sleeping and how good he was. Anyway, for five months and from day one he would go down for the night around 7-8pm and sleep until 7-8am. No issues. Just to be safe, to make sure he wouldn't wake up in the night, I would set my alarm for like 2am and do a quick dream feed. I probably didn't need to but I was paranoid about him all of a sudden starting to wake for night feeds and never going back!


At 6 months now, we really need to try it- I am alone w my son overnight and i became selfish bc i need sleep too LOL
i also need some ear plugs but i cant stand when he cries

So, I would wake, change his diaper in the crib and give him a dream feed of like four ounces... this was in the very beginning. He wouldn't even wake for it. Then, when he started on cereal this wasn't necessary anymore because I would feed him the cereal before bed and that would be plenty filling.

Around five-ish months he was too big to be swaddled so that was when we had a little bump in the road. He would go to sleep but would wake up around midnight to be swaddled. But he couldn't, he would just break out of it. So, it was like he was done with being swaddled but wasn't emotionally ready to give it up

One night we just broke him of it, cold turkey, using the cry it out method.

We picked a day where we were off the next day so if we got no sleep it wouldn't be a "suffer through work" the next day situation. Remember, we were spoiled with a kid that sleeps twelve hours a night from word go! LOL! So, to us, not getting a perfect night's sleep was unacceptable I could slap myself!

Anyway, he woke around 1am, cried for like 20 minutes. I was like oh my WORD, beside myself but I stayed strong! I would go in after ten minutes and give him his bink, rub his back, shhhhhh him, and then leave. He would continue to cry and after about twenty minutes, he stopped and fell off. I was like YAY we did it. Until 2:30am LOL so again, rinse/repeat. We would let him go ten minutes, go in and soothe with the methods above, and then leave. The soothing would be about 2 minutes, nothing long at all. Just to let him know, we are HERE but you are going to have to do this on your own kiddo!

And he went back to bed after only like five minutes after I left. So, improvement! Then, around 3:45am lol back up. This time, he cried, I was waiting the ten minutes to go in and soothe and he gave up before I even had to. That was it.

And then the next night, woke around midnight, cried for two minutes and went back.

After that, never did it again. Now, he goes to bed around 7pm and wakes up around 7am. He naps once a day for about two hours -- two times a day when he is tired or going through a growth spurt.

CIO worked great for us. He, even at five months, it was like he totally "got it". Even now, he goes to bed and it's like he KNOWS we are there but it is time for him to go to sleep and we'll see him in the morning.

Good luck!!!

Message edited 10/8/2014 12:08:57 PM.

Re: Sleep training

We did a modified Ferber around 7 months.

Re: Sleep training

I never followed any specific plan. I just followed their cues and stuck to regular bedtimes and routines. As soon as they went one night without a bottle that was the LAST time they ever got a nighttime bottle. I also had set routines for bedtime from the beginning so they knew what to expect at night.

IF they woke up at night I would soothe them or hold them in their rooms where it was dark and quiet but I didn't take them anywhere else in the house. I NEVER brought them into my bed unless they were REALLY sick because I didn't want to get in that habit.

We did coddle my DD a little more when she was young (she was our 1st) and we would hold her to fall asleep but that ended up being VERY annoying so we learned our lesson. With my DS I always put him to bed on his own as soon as he showed signs of being tired. Since he was itty bitty he has been able to put himself right to sleep and we NEVER hear a peep from him until the morning.

Naps took a little longer to work out but both of my kids were STTN (12+ hrs) at 8 weeks old.

Re: Sleep training

Re: Sleep training

DD I didn't need to, she started STTN on her own at about 10 weeks.

DS, however, needed CIO, he had a nasty nursing to sleep habit and kept increasing the number of times he'd get up in the night, so at 5 months we did CIO and it worked like a charm, at 17m he is an awesome sleeper, just like his DD.

Re: Sleep training

Re: Sleep training

This is what I did with both my kids.

Sleep training

Re: Sleep training

A few months ago around the time DS turned 1, he started not being able to fall asleep even after having his milk at night, he would scream, stand up, throw himself around, and freak out if someone didn't hold his hand. It got so bad that it took forever to get him to relax & fall asleep. I said enough is enough & let him cry it out... after a while I'd go in & give him a kiss & lay him down, but I wouldn't stay. The first few nights he cried for a long time, but then it was less & less. Now I can put him down even not totally asleep & he might fuss around for a minute or two at most but he gets himself comfortable & falls asleep. What an improvement! I wish I had done it sooner, but I'm not sure if it would have worked actually for him much earlier. This only worked for him when he's going to bed for the night, it hasn't worked at all for naps, at least not for my DS.

Sleep training

We tried at 6 months but our lo and we just weren't ready. We gently sleep coached starting at about 10.5 months and just the other night she started sstn (12 months / 2 weeks old). I can't do the whole CIO and I'm 100% happy with the method we used.