Sleep training - what has worked for us

[becca3210]

Hello this is isn't a post to debate sleep training and please no negative comments. It is just to say what has worked for us in case useful to any exhausted parent out there.

Up until very recently my 6 month old slept in my bedroom. He woke very regularly for short breast feeds in order to go back to sleep and we regularly had to co-sleep. I was completely burnt out.

On Friday he moved into a cot in his own room. We did bath, nappy change, feed, story, sleeping bag and cot - making sure he stayed completely awake during the feed. I went in twice in the night to breast feed him and then he went back down in the cot.

I sat next to the cot whilst he was awake and verbally reassured him and sometimes touched him but didn't pick him up.

When he woke I gave him ten mins before going in and a lot of the time he put himself back to sleep in this time which I never thought would happen.

Nights three and four of this routine have happened and he has had one wake up each night!

Loud white noise and black out blinds are necessary to help as is 100 percent consistency.

Hope this is useful to someone.

[PolarBearStrength]

Well done! Sounds like you’re doing great!

[becca3210]

Thank you. We will probably have some dodgy nights to come but I am glad we have made a positive start

[wishing3]

Taking mental notes for the future, thanks. Glad it’s going well for you!

[Keha]

Can I ask, did he cry when he was in the cot and you reassure him? Was he self settling already? My LO is just coming up 8 months, shes bf or rocked to sleep and starts the night in her cot and then I bring her in with me to cosleep when she wakes up after I've gone to sleep. She sleeps well with me so I don't mind the cosleep ing, but I she often wakes a lot during the first part of the night before I go to bed. Sometimes she is fast asleep in my arms but wakes within a minute or two of being put in her cot. I feel like it's time for us to start helping her sleep longer in the cot, but I don't want to end up having worse sleep than now.

[mrssunshinexxx]

@becca3210

My lo is 4.5m old and from about 9-12 weeks old she was either sleeping through or waking once and now it has gone to shit she cannot connect ANY sleep cycles she's waking every 50/60 minutes I am broken
I need to start doing something but I do not want to leave her to cry I also wanted to keep her in our room until she was much older e.g 18/24m but I don't think that's gunna work

My issue is next door is an air B and B and the adjoining walls are between her nursery and it's often so loud with bloody holiday makers. Makes me really stressed the thought of them waking her up we can't swap rooms because hers is much smaller also up until about 4 night ago when she woke she would wake me chattering now she goes from 0-60mph very fast there's no way leaving her 10 mins or any length or time would do anything other than severely piss her off and make her impossible to settle

Pleas help someone x

[tonyroy]

What sort of White noise?

[becca3210]

Hi @Keha Yes he does cry in the cot though it doesn't go on for as long as I thought it would. At the moment it is taking him about ten mins before he is asleep. When he wakes he does cry. I have decided I am comfortable to leave him for up to 10 minutes though he is often settling himself back to sleep before the 10minute mark. As I have changed his routine I expected some protesting but he seems to be adapting quickly so I am hoping he will be accept cot with no crying soon (fingers crossed)! My son also slept quite well co-sleeping so I understand your concern.

[becca3210]

@mrssunshinexxx that sounds tricky with the room set up. Have you tried waiting the 10minutes I really didnt think my son would re-settle but I have waited to go in each time and that has definitely worked better than going straight in. I guess every baby is different - mine is really cross if I go in and don't pick him up so delaying going in is working better for us.

[becca3210]

@tonyroy we have a white noise machine from amazon that you can plug in. We play the waves option and play it loudly and all night.

[mrssunshinexxx]

@becca3210 can you link the white noise machine pls x

[becca3210]

The one I have is the big red rooster six sound noise machine. Just looked and it is currently out of stock but there are loads of other ones on there https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07X4XRPK6/ref=cmswwrwaaapiii_APt5Eb43JYZ60

[mrssunshinexxx]

Thanks @becca3210 how mental did your baby go when you left him x

[becca3210]

@mrssunshinexxx So last night he was awake around 1am and he was more grizzling rather than full on crying and there were gaps between cries where he went quiet so I decided to leave him and see what happened. He fell back to sleep within the 10minute wait. He woke once more at 3:15am crying was more full on and he was still crying ten mins later so I went in then, fed him and put him back in the cot. He was crying but this went down after time until he went back to sleep. I stayed in the room until he fell asleep but stayed very quiet and sat away from the cot. This seemed to help as I have realised any stroking/picking up etc only makes him more cross. He then slept in till 7:15