Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Sleep

Join our Sleep forum for tips on creating a sleep routine for your baby or toddler. Need more advice on your childs development? Sign up to our Ages and Stages newsletter here.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

If you did PU/PD

64 replies

Cosmosis · 10/01/2011 11:44

did it work, and how quickly? what age did you do it?

DS is 18 weeks and feeds to sleep for pretty much all his sleeps (unless we are out in car/pram basically). Occassionally in the night he will go back to sleep on his own, so I don't automatically pick him up whenever he wakes. I think I need to get him to self settle more though as he is waking ridiculously often and not always for hunger.

Please tell me it will work and will not be horrendous

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

muslimah28 · 16/01/2011 11:40

thank you mewkins thats really really helpful. i must admit im having wobblies thinking about how many tears there'll be. but i keep reminding myself, its not CC, and with any NCSS method (which in theory PUPD falls under even though its more commonly known as a BW method) there will still be tears. and i also keep reminding myself that i don't think i have any other choice. i don't have any reliable method to put ds to sleep other than the hammock (which is about 80% reliable, not fool proof by any means) and he is literally too tall for it now....

mewkins · 17/01/2011 21:28

No problem, you will be fine and I'm sure your little one will get the hang of it in no time. Remember it's for their benefit and that the crying is frustration that they can't get to sleep rather than being upset with you - you will stay with your ds the whole time reassuring him.

Original poster

Cosmosis · 20/01/2011 17:51

I'm still planning on doing this but just not sure on timings. Should I do it when still in the middle of a regression, or should I wait it out a bit longer and then try it?

OP posts:

muslimah28 · 20/01/2011 20:51

hmmm i would guess you should probably wait til the regression is over as from my limited knowledge i think you're essentially fighting a losing battle. their body just wants to wake up in those times!

well as for us, at the moment we're still planning on going ahead, ds and me had colds last weekend but are over them although ds still has a streaming nose. do you think that matters? its not keeping him up any more than usual!!

we decided to use the travel cot for a few weeks while we still have hammock and cot in the bedroom (our room is jam packed to the walls right now!). the travel cot is a bit smaller so it made sense.

have been letting ds spend a bit of time in there, sometimes hes ok in it, usually not though....

im still confused about how it varies for sitting and standing babies, as ds can do both.

i'm also not sure how much of it is actually picking up and putting down and how much is just comforting them iyswim. dh did an impromptu trial run this week ( i know its not advised and could cause confusion, it just kind of happened and then we thought we'd see how it went, we did this for about an hour) and ds seemed to settle better if dh patted him and comforted him in the cot rather than picking him up. (nb he didn't sleep after this....am preparing ourselves for a long hard slog tomorrow night )

pointythings · 20/01/2011 21:24

I did PU/PD wit DD2 when she was 11 months and I'd had it with the night feeds - we were BF and she started pulling off and falling asleep the moment I got let-down so I thought right miss, that's it.

The first night I had to pick her up 40+ times, I kid you not. I picked her up the moment she grizzled. After 3 nights she was sleeping through 8 till 7. and we carried on BF.

Not sure how it would work with an 18wo in the middle of a major regression though, I wouldn't advise it until that was over.

BTW patting and comforting them in the cot without picking up is known as shush-pat from Elizabeth Pantley's No-cry Sleep Solution - also a baby-friendly option IMO.

muslimah28 · 20/01/2011 22:15

thanks pointythings thats really helpful. so i guess what we're doing is shush pat rather than pupd.

Original poster

Cosmosis · 21/01/2011 16:05

I'll still be reading if you want to carry on posting for support muslimah :)

I am trying various things at the moment to gently encourage self settling and I do think it is helping a bit - he seems to be easier to rock to sleep for naps than he was anyway.

OP posts:

muslimah28 · 21/01/2011 17:08

aww thank you!! as we were out all day i managed to make sure ds got two good naps, at good times,today in the car. this should mean he's well and truly tired for tonight when we do this!

am less nervous than before now ive realised we should start with shush pat. the reason being that i used to do this with ds when he was younger, and we stopped at about 10 or 12 weeks when we realised rocking was easier and also we got a hammock at about this time, which made rocking very very easy. looking back on it, i feel pretty darn silly for having switched,but hey ho. let's hope ds remembers....

Original poster

Cosmosis · 21/01/2011 17:29

Ah that's a good start then :) I have round recently that sometimes just a hand on his chest will send him back to sleep at night.

OP posts:

muslimah28 · 23/01/2011 11:35

quick update- we're two days in and things are going remarkably well, i'm so relieved and so shocked as well!! me and dh were fully expecting to get zero sleep on friday night and for ds to take hours to get to sleep with shush pat and no rocking. he took just an hour!! i waswell and truly shocked when he nodded off.

the way its panning out now,it seems as though ds will wake as often/maybe slightly less often so we still have that to deal with but at least he can sleep without rocking which i just cannot describe how much of a relief that is.

as i've read so many times on here, sometimes your kids just surprise you with what they're capable of when you least expect it....

CountBapula · 23/01/2011 17:45

Ooh, sounds good! Keep us updated - we're probably going to try it in a month or so once DS is out of the 4 month sleep regression ...

Original poster

Cosmosis · 24/01/2011 08:42

excellent, I was wondering last night how you were getting on.

OP posts:

CountBapula · 28/01/2011 19:16

How's it going, muslimah? Any progress? Was chatting to nct chum earlier who seems to be having results with it too.

Lia1977 · 29/01/2011 12:00

Hello all! I hope u ladies dont mind of me sharing my experience with PUPD.My baby is 17 weks today and is EBF. Ive always fed/ rock him to sleep but these strategies stopped working so well and it was taking me ages to have him asleep. He is also a big boy (98th percentile) so virtually impossible to hold him until he sleeps. Over the last week Ive been working myself up and panicking about the PUPD. My DH and I decided to have a go at it on thursday night. LO was very drowsy (half asleep)after his bedtime routine so it only took us about 20 minutes. Yesterday i tried it during the day in one of the naps and again 20 minutes. After going some of ur messages I realised that I was doing it wrong. I was still rocking him before I put him to bed so last night he went to bed wide awake but tired. It took us an hour and a lot of crying. It was painful to watch. After 30 minutes I stopped picking him up because he wouldnt stop crying, like it's done with the PIPDCD I stayed the other 30 minutes next to him shushing and patting, eventually he fell asleep. This morning Ive PIPD twice (LO woke up at 7am and has had 2 naps already. The first time25 minutes, second time 8 minutes and only picked him up 3 times. I am in shock that this is actually working!!! If you are in any doubt GO FOR IT!!! Ill keep posting, if it's ok xx

CountBapula · 29/01/2011 12:26

Please do, Lia, I'm trying to pluck up the courage to do it myself - and well done, sounds like it's working!

lucyandbenji · 29/01/2011 13:25

ooh, Im about to try PU/PD too....am desperate for sleep!! Anyone want to do it together?

lucyandbenji · 29/01/2011 13:27

Lia, I just read what you wrote...so encouraging Thanks!

Lia1977 · 02/02/2011 13:39

Hello ladies! Just a quick update on how we're getting on with PUPD. I have to say that while im writing this, LO is in his cot settling by himself ready for a nap. It has worked!! We have been doing PUPD for 6 days and we saw changes very quickly. Probably 2 days in and we stopped picking him up because he didnt cry anymore. Night time sleep is also going well. In the past, he woke up every 2/3 hours and now only wakes up once at 3.00am. Ive introduced dream feed at 11.00pm. The only thing that i dont get is that every night, when he goes to bed, he will settle quite easily but after 45 minutes he wakes up. We then have to pick him up and shush/pat and put him back in his cot(awake!!) so he can go back to sleep. Does anybody know why this happens?

mewkins · 02/02/2011 13:48

Hi Lia,
This happened with DD a couple of times in the beginning - waking after one sleep cycle and having to be settled again. Think the first sleep cycle is still very light sleep so fairly easy to wake. We find this still sometimes happens if DD has trapped wind sois not quite comfortable. Sorry, not much help for you.

CountBapula · 02/02/2011 13:51

Ooh Lia, that sounds great! I really must get on and do it but am a bit scared! I am such a wuss ... Very inspired by your success though!

Lia1977 · 02/02/2011 14:08

Thanks Mewkins. It's helpful to know that it can happen.
CountBapula I was very scared too. Last week I wasnt even sleeping because I knew I was going to do it. My advice is: dont do it on your own for the first couple of days. If you have a feisty baby they are going to really fight it so it'll be tiring. You also have mumsnet!! How old is your baby?

CountBapula · 02/02/2011 14:11

He's 19 weeks. And is VERY feisty - is yours the same? Am worried that the very spirited little ones won't respond well to sleep training ...

Lia1977 · 02/02/2011 14:22

Mine will be 19 weeks on saturday and also very feisty. I guess once you're doing it you will have to work out if the picking up actually calms him down or makes things worse. With us, he got even more worked up so I stopped picking him up and just shush/ pat him in his cot. Start slowly and test the waters. I kind of cheated in the beginning. Once he was asleep I made him open his eyes to then lay him down in his cot.

CountBapula · 02/02/2011 14:56

Well, I've sort of already been doing that for a couple of months - trying to put him down very sleepy but awake. I usually shh/pat in my arms until he closes his eyes, then plonk him down so that he wakes a little bit, then shh/pat in the cot. If he's in the right mood he'll stay down; if not I pick him up and put down again. Weirdly he often closes his eyes again when I pick him up, even if he's been crying. So am hopeful that picking him up will comfort him.

Would love to get to where you are though - being able to just put him down and leave him to it rather than have to pace up and down with him then sit with him for ages to make sure he's really asleep. Since he's turned 4 months he's waking much more frequently at night, too. Would love it if he only woke once!

We're planning to try it when DH has some time off in a couple of weeks.

Lia1977 · 02/02/2011 16:14

I got lots of advice on this website:
www.sleepytot.com/sleepytot_community.phtml
You can actually ask a question and explain your personal situation and they will reply to you.
Keep posting any updates!

Flip

1 2 3

Swipe left for the next trending thread