Hi ladies. esk how's the sleep training going? And val? We decided to go down the sleep training route as commuting 120 miles three days a week and working on weekends/eves and getting no sleep was killing me.
We started on Friday. It was supposed to be the pick-up put-down method, but really we stand over the cot and just put our hands on her while she settles herself (sometimes this means her crawling about and rolling and flipping everywhere for ages!) and only pick her up if she's really properly crying. Once she's down we only go in if she's really crying and not just whimpering or moaning, and we pick her up and say 'time for bed Isobel, [kiss], night night' and put her back, and then stand with our hands on her tummy/back again. Sometimes i just leave her there if she's not upset. I don't make any eye contact.
On Friday it only took twenty minutes and she settled herself to sleep. She woke about 5 times in the night (pretty good for her!) and each time settled down to sleep after 15-20 minutes. Not much crying. Pretty pleased.
On Saturday it took about five minutes and she settled to sleep. She woke numerous times but settled quickly (again, with our help, but no rocking or breastfeeding). Then at 3am she went mental until 5am and I couldn't soothe her by picking her up. She finally went to sleep for about half an hour and then woke again, by which point I was crying too.
On Sunday she fell asleep after about five minutes with my help, woke a couple of times in the night but easily re-settled. Then at 3 she seemed mental again, so I gave in and fed her. She fed and I put her back in the cot, still awake, and went back to bed. We heard her start to cry but waited a minute and she fell asleep completely unaided for the first time ever. So we decided she'd get a 3am feed but no other feeds at night.
Last night she took a while to settle but dropped off at 8. She woke up at 4.30am. THAT MEANS EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS' SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!! I fed her and she went to sleep again, totally unaided, until 7.
I am now praying that this means the start of better things, and totally weirded out by having had six hours of sleep without interruption. Sleep training rules!
Seriously, though, we couldn't have done it before now. I think before 6 months she still had irregular feeding and sleeping patterns and needed me in the night, and then she was settling into nursery and getting colds and bugs, and it's only the last couple of weeks or so that she has been well and able to go through the night without a few feeds. But it really feels as if she's ready. Rocking and breastfeeding weren't working anymore anyway.
Interested to hear other people's progress and tricks!