Sleep training

hubby and I are currently in sleep hell right now. My 5 month old DS was sleeping beautifully (8pm-4am waking to eat and back to sleep until 630 or 7) and then as soon as he hit 4 months it was like a switch flipped. His night waking has progressively gotten worse over the last month and we are DYING. Attempted to start cry it out last night and it was a disaster. He just cried and cried and cried and hubby and I didn't have the heart to let him go longer than an hour on and off. Long story short, we aborted it and DS ended up in bed with us. All we are left with today is 2 exhausted parents and an extremely overtired baby who now has a hoarse voice. I am at my wits end and I don't know where to go from here.

What methods worked for you? If you did CIO, how long did you let your LO cry before giving up?

Sleep training

4 months is a common sleep regression. Personally I don't bring the baby into bed with me, but that's totally your call.

CIO does not mean to let the baby cry themselves to sleep. I would read Dr. Ferber's book for the correct methods.

Quick synopsis:

We have a whole bed time routine, give hugs, kisses, lay her in the crib with her bunny, rub her belly and say shhhh i love you then walk out.

After 5 minutes of crying go back in, don't pick her up, rub her belly and say shhhh. Don't stay in there for longer than a minute or two even if they are still whimpering. You are just assuring them that you are still there, not putting them back to sleep.

Next time wait maybe 7 or 8 minutes of crying. Repeat.

The idea is to progressively wait longer before going in there to reassure them that you are still there. It didn't even take 3 nights and it worked. We sometimes have to re-implement it after she's been sick and her sleep is thrown off.

Obviously I am pro Ferber method, but I'm sure you will get varying opinions. I do have to say, you need to to it when you and the baby are ready. Some people say 5 months is too early, some don't. I think we did at 6 or 7 months.

Good luck! Def download the book!

Sleep training

DS's sleep has been both good and disastrous over the past 10 months. From 2-3 months, he slept like a dream. From 3-6 months, he was a disaster. I was getting maybe 3-4 hours a night. At 6 months, we introduced solids and did cio and he started to STTN again. Then at 8 months, he regressed again. CIO did not work this time. I would do the Ferber method described above and send my husband in to soothe him since he associates me with food. After 45+ minutes of this, I'd just nurse him back to sleep. It's only in the last week that he has started sleeping better - he just turned 10 months. And I think the only reason he is sleeping better is because he now sleeps on his stomach...

Sleep training

From 4-8 months my DS sleep was a disaster. I can't believe I lasted that long with my sanity. She got 8 teeth within that time so I think that was a big issue. At 9 months her sleep was definitely better. We did Ferber with my first baby at 6M because I didn't think it was his teeth. and it did work for periods of time (then would have to be re done).