at what age would you sleep train..

[lemondriz]

Dd is 7 months she is waking anything from every 3 hours to every hour at night I try and wait at least 3 hours between feed but have to stoke/kiss/cuddle back to sleep and if this doesn't work she will fall asleep and wake up every 10 mins or so.until.I.feed her she is breastfed from birth and she is on solids now at 3 meals of a full balanced diet! Plus finger food snacks and milk top up in day so surely should b able to last. And has gone 5/6 hours.in the day without feeding/eating even when u offer it!

I used the solve your child's sleep problems on ds at 6 months but every1 keeps saying that is too young now!

I sleep trained mine at 7 months. I got a lot of judgement but a lot of support also on here. I was in the same boat as you, I knew beyond any doubt that he wasn't hungry yet he was waking and wanting to comfort feed every hour. I was broken with it.

It took 6 nights (only 2 really awful nights) and then he started sleeping through. He's now 9 months and still much much better. I still feed in the night if he's ill or teething but otherwise he doesn't need it. We just had to break the habit.

Good luck!

I night weaned at 7m, which tbh is what I think you should be aiming for rather than sleep training per se. I'm not a great fan of the crying types of sleep training having tried it with DS and still feeling dreadful (it failed) nearly 4 years on. The no cry sleep solution is v helpful though.

DD was also bf and waking every 2-3 hours demanding a feed and not being settled without one.

I really pushed food in the day and gave a double bf as the last one of the day - bf before bath and before bed. I set a time before which I wouldn't feed, started at 3 hours after going down. Then after a few nights I went to 4 hours, then 5 etc. until there was no feed til 6am.

I'd do anything to settle her in between, best find was cuddling while bouncing on my pregnancy ball. I always offered water in a sippy cup in case she was thirsty, but no feed. Took about a week before she stopped waking for food. Still woke for cuddles 2-3x per night for a couple more months, but settled quickly usually. Coincided with starting nursery and getting ill all the time so usually woke poorly.

I'd also recommend finding some quiet time in the day for bf if you can to try to reverse the day night feeding cycle. There so much going on in the day they often don't take in as much as they should.

Good luck with whichever way you chose to go.

There's a book called Bed Timing which talks about how the stages of child development affect sleep training, and the good and bad ages to do it. 4-8 months is meant to be one of the best times for sleep training: they are going through quite a chilled, stable time as they start exploring the world, and they haven't yet developed separation anxiety. 8-12 months is a really bad time, since that's when they start learning to co-ordinate with other people, and separation anxiety hits. If you haven't done sleep training by then, it's definitely best to wait until they come out of that stage - although the 9-month sleep regression is what pushed me over the edge, having previously been completely opposed to sleep training. Then 12-18 months is another good time to sleep train, as they go through another phase where they are really interested in exploring the world, and are more willing to be separate from you.

That book doesn't talk much about how to do sleep training though, and I really struggled to find 'how to' details. The book by Richard Ferber Solve your child's sleep problems is pretty good. But the one which I think made the difference for me was the Millpond one.

I know it depends hugely on the child, but if you are lucky enough to have a child who responds well to it, and you get the right timing and technique (controlled crying definitely isn't just leaving a child to cry!), it isn't always traumatic.

Sorry, just checked the ages again - and the good phases are 5.5 - 7.5 months, then 12-16 months. (The book tells you all the good and bad times up to 4 years, but those are the ones which I expect you'll be interested in with a 7-month-old).

I'm in the process of weaning 8mo DD of breastmilk at night. She can still have formula if she's really hungry (as she doesn't seek it for comfort in the same way she does the breast) but we are gradually working up to no breast between bedtime and morning. We have been going for 8 days and are already up to 6.30am before a breastfeed, with hardly any formula in between. Very similar approach to Theyaremysunshine.

I mention this as DD has been an atrocious sleeper - waking anything up to 6 or 7 times a night and sometimes impossible to settle. This night weaning has not been a magic wand, but this week we have had some of the best nights we've had in ages - including one where she woke briefly just twice between 8.30pm and 8.30am - unheard of! A month ago she was regularly having three or four breastfeeds in the night as well as waking up at other times.

We've definitely got a way to go but it genuinely feels like progress, so I just wanted to share in case it was useful for you, OP. Good luck.

Ds1 was 7 months. He'd been weaned for nearly 2 months so I waited till he dropped night feeds then did it.

we are not sleep training but guiding sleep . we introduced a dream feed to get dd2 to sleep llpast 1am. once she was sleeping regularly til 5 at least we dropped it, but she was wise to our tricks and started waking again. so now at 8mo she sleeps til 4.30ish with a dream feed.

works for us..

Dd doesn't give me chance to.give a dream feed as she wakes every hour.. She probably feeds every 3 hours.now but still wakes every.hour and I have to put my hand under her face until she falls asleep.. I do feed her to sleep but then sort of wake her before I put her down. And have to hand face her to.sleep!! If I try and.feed her.before her bath and massage she just plain.refuses

Although I must say a few times it sounds as though her tummy is actually rumbling! I have tried winding

How about dropping tea and replacing with a bottle?

That way she gets more milk which will last her longer and it erases any chance her stomachs not reacting to a particular food very well.

We sleep trained at six months with cc but brother were wanting food at night so yet weren't hungry but tbh they never woke up much at night anyway, but that does sound a lot so I get why you want to do sleep training but I would try reducing solids and upping milk first :)

But neither (not brother)

Hv advised to up solids.. In the day to.ensure she is full.. Forgive me but I am unsure how less solids would work.especially as she is on a full balanced diet dairy, cards. Protein etc! The problem was there before solids and with solids.. Also she is bf and won't take a bottle at all.! which means I am.all on my own for night feeds and can't catch up on any of my sleep.deprivation

I feel your pain! We were exactly the same as you and I cracked at 6 months. From lots of advice on here we approached Andrea Grace who is a sleep consultant. She was very kind but firm and never expected us to to anything we weren't comfortable with. It was the best £275 we ever spent as our DS who woke up ever 1.5 half and had to be fed back to sleep slept through after 4 nights!!! And now at 9 months consistently sleeps through apart from illness etc. We are different people! Andrea categorically said our little one didn't need feeding as he was on 3 meals and 4 bottles (at the time). It was just do useful having someone create a plan suitable to him and our parenting styles as I was lost having read every book under the sun. So...I advocate sleep training at this age IF the technique is appropriate for your baby and we needed Andreas help to do that. Good luck xxx

I only suggested upping milk as milk is more calorific than the food they eat at that age and it might have meant she was hungry and thirsty. But if it was the same before then obviously it is just habit.

Ignore me

:)