Non-sleep training success?

[Tubbytele]

Just that really - any success stories of having not sleep trained your lo and found that they became independent sleepers when they were developmentally ready on their own?

Need the encouragement as a FTM of 5 month old DS. He is currently either rocked or nursed to sleep and does sleep well in his cot once laid in there but recently going through sleep regression and he's waking up every hour. Some nights are better than others and would love to hear other people's experiences of not sleep training.

TIA

[mynameiscalypso]

Never sleep trained here. DS taught himself to fall asleep about 9 months. He's had a bit of a blip and likes someone to stay with him when he goes to sleep now but you just have to be in the room, you don't need to do anything. He goes to bed at 7, wakes up around 6.30 (most of the time) and has done that since 9 months.

[Tubbytele]

@mynameiscalypso Thanks for sharing that, that's so encouraging to know. How did you put him to sleep before he managed to fall asleep on his own?

[mynameiscalypso]

We did the rocking and feeding to sleep for a while - probably longer than he really needed. We then moved on to lying him in his cot, singing the same song on repeat and stroking his back until he fell asleep. It wasn't something we planned or did deliberately, I think he'd just got to the stage where it was too awkward to rock him (and feeding to sleep stopped working 😭)

[Tubbytele]

@mynameiscalypso I know the feeling, DS is getting too big and heavy to rock at 5 months so I can't even imagine at 9 months lol

[Thatwentbadly]

DD1 coslept and was cuddled to sleep. She was sleeping through the night reliably by 3 yrs old - can’t remember specifically when it started but I remember it went to pot for a couple of weeks when DD2 was first born. She was in her own room by this point and we had only been cosleeping with her from when she woke up during the night for a while. She was about 4 by the time she was happy to sleep without someone else in the room.

DD2 (20 months) is bf to sleep (so much easier than than ff DD1) and sleeps by herself until first wake up when DH goes in with her until she wants milk. She is still in my bed and will be for a while.

[Tubbytele]

@Thatwentbadly thanks for the info :)

[Seekingadviceplz]

My baby was a crap sleeper at 5 months, cried to sleep every night (was given a bottle at bedtime but never fell asleep on it), woke several times a night and took me ages to get him back to sleep even after i fed him (i was bfing). I did a VERY gradual withdrawal, every 3 days doing a tiny bit less, for about 5 weeks until, in theory, i would have to do nothing for him to fall asleep. It didnt work...he still cried going to sleep every night (with me or his dad there comforting him) and woke several times a night. After that, I stopped stressing over his sleep and just found ways to cope, if he didnt go back to sleep after inserting dummy I fed him lying down and co-slept (when i woke back up an hour or 2 later he would be fast asleep and i could move him back to his cot easily). Gradually, he started getting better. I would have to reinsert the dummy a few times a night but his feed would get later and later, until one day around 8 months he slept through. He's a great sleeper now, rarely wakes before 7am, goes to sleep happily by himself at night and for naps. At 5 months though, I never thought I'd see the day.

Also I used the huckleberry app and found it great. I could never tell when my baby was tired, and the app just took the stress out of deciding when to put him to sleep.

[jamsandwich1]

My DS went through the 4 month sleep regression and we had a horrific time. Waking hourly for 8 weeks, never napped longer than 45 mins. It was HIDEOUS. Suddenly overnight he just seemed to sort himself out and started sleeping through when he was 24 weeks. He started sucking on the end of his grobag which seemed to soothe him. He had blips at 9-11 months and recently with the arrival of DD but is back to his usual self now and sleeping well. Sadly DD has been going through the 4 month regression now for 4 weeks.
Some nights are better than others but I’m stressing again that it will last forever! Hope things improve for you soon.

[Tubbytele]

Thanks for this @Seekingadviceplz and @jamsandwich1, really encouraging to know it gets better.

I've been trying the dummy since DS was a month old but he took it for a couple of days and then never again, though we tried many times until it just got too obvious he doesn't like the dummy lol I liked the huckleberry app and tried it for a while but DS makes it obvious when he's tried by rubbing his eyes or yawning so tends to fall asleep well with the rocking or nursing. I dont mind at all him waking in the night and needing a feed, but it's when he's waking every hour that it gets really difficult and tiring. Most of the time his eyes are still shut and he falls back to sleep quite quickly with our help but sometimes it just varies. I'm planning to go back to work in June and am a secondary school science teacher, so really hope his sleep gets better.

Hope things improve for you too @jamsandwich1, let me know how it goes for you.

[Tubbytele]

Just wanted to share an update with anyone who needs encouragement. DS who is now 9 and half months, has learnt to sleep on his own as long as I'm next to him. He did it himself and no longer needs any bouncing, rocking or feeding to sleep. I know every baby is different but I hope this gives some encouragement to anyone going through tough sleeping with their babies.

[SantoPalo]

@Tubbytele thank you for the update, it is very reassuring as I was wondering whether to sleep train my little one

[Leodot]

@Tubbytele definitely reassuring! Thankyou! 😞My DD has slept through the night from 9/10pm until around 4/5am since she was 10 weeks old and then suddenly at 17 weeks we’ve hit the 4 month sleep regression and we’re having hourly wake ups, refusing naps in the day and becoming an overtired stressed little baby which is so awful. Glad to know sleep can sort itself out without needing to sleep train. I’m also a teacher so have been thinking about being back at work when she’s 9 months. Where does your DS sleep? In a bed next to you or in your bed?

[Tubbytele]

Glad to help @SantoPalo

[Tubbytele]

You're welcome @Leodot
DS has always been a terrible sleeper in the cot, and one day I just placed him on my bed and he stayed asleep! That was the night I started safely co-sleeping and since then he sleeps next to me on my bed. DH sleeps in the spare room and so DS and I have the whole bed to ourselves! We had to put bed guards on the sides though as he rolls around a lot in his sleep and clearly likes all the space. I returned back to teaching when DS was 8 months. Where does your DD sleep?

[Leodot]

She does her night sleep in her Moses basket next to me and all her day naps are in my arms while I sit on the sofa and watch tv or read etc. I’ve tried a couple of times to get her into her basket during the day but she always seems to wake up. I don’t know why as she is very happy in the basket at night and always slept through until this week. I don’t mind her napping on me during the day though as I love the cuddles and I love how if she suddenly wakes, she sees me, reaches out for me and smiles and then falls asleep again instantly as she knows I’m there. I just feel guilty about not getting much done during the day but I know she’ll never be this little again ❤️.

[Leodot]

I did co sleep with her every night for the first couple of months when she was a newborn then I popped her in her basket one day and she just settled.

[Tubbytele]

Sorry @Leodot, I didn't get a notification so didn't know that you had replied. Enjoy those cuddles and don't worry about not getting things done during the day, those things can wait