HELP!! Sleep training

[Ktnich89]

Could anyone recommend how they trained there babies to fall to sleep on their own? My Lo is coming up to 6 months and his sleep is getting worse at night he's now relying on me to rock him which is new (I was ill the other week with sickness bug and MIL rocked him in pushchair for naps) how can I teach him to self soothe again? Hes waking every 2 hours sometimes every hour at nighy so really need advice we both need some sleep.
He does use a dummy sometimes but when he is fighting his sleep he slams his mouth shut when try with dummy.
Many thanks

[ItchyFoot]

We did controlled crying with dd1 at 7 months. Let her cry for a minute the first few nights and then gradually worked up to 3 minutes. Took less than a week. I would just go in and shush and pat her till she calmed down and tried not to pick her up.

[FATEdestiny]

Hi Ktnich89

Learning to go to sleep in the place baby will stay asleep is essential for self-soothing. If cosleeping that means lying down in your bed, if independant sleeping that means lying down in the cot. Going to sleep in your arms will not lead to self soothing.

Being able feel comforted is also necessary for self-soothing. A dummy for comfort sucking is something baby can learn to do themselves. Likewise a snuggle toy to cuddle. But you need realistic expectations. At 6 months old child may not have the physical dexterity to do these things without your help in the night. All you can do is teach ready for when they can.

Finally, a light sleeper will wake more frequently. A baby getting lots of sleep over 24h (including daytimes) will sleep more deeply. A baby easily woken by noise might benefit from white noise to drown out background noise. Black out blinds also help and being used to sometimes sleeping in 'busy' places like next to tv in living room or out in pushchair.

So you have comfort in place (dummy) and you can work on light sleeping. The main thing to tackle is going to sleep in the cot. Various techniques but the most useful at 6 months is likely to be Gradual Withdrawal.

I would remove one side off the cot and butt it up to my bed. Lie baby down in cot and I lie on my bed and cuddle right in together. Face to face, cheek to cheek. Firm Form hand on chest to keep baby still and calm, little bits of patting and shushing as needed. Reinsert dummy whenever needed. Lots of care, compassion, eye contact and physical contact until baby is asleep. Then extract yourself once asleep. Over time, reduce the amount of reassurance needed very slowly and gradually.