Did your babies sleep ever really improve without sleep training?

[Ams25]

This is an honest quest union, would love to hear from people that it did! With my first, his night wakings got worse and worse until I was on the edge of breakdown when he was nine months and up nearly every hour every night. In the end we did controlled crying, which I was massively against but was desperate. It worked in one night and he now sleeps through every night. My second is now 5 months and also wakes frequently... Despite the success with controlled crying the first time I still hate the thought of doing it (obviously he's too young now anyway) and would love to know if things do get better without extreme measures... Any miracles out there?

Mine did. Gradually, without doing anything, he bit by bit woke less and less until he was sleeping 11-12 hours. He was two by then, though. Not sure if you'd classify it a success story or a nightmare!

Yes, absolutely. Bad until we got through the 4 month sleep regression, then improved on its own until by about 7-8 months we were down to 1-2 wakeups a night (I was still breastfeeding on demand) and then of course we hit the 9 month sleep regression and that was pretty bad but once we got through that, slow but steady progress. By a year she was waking once a night, and I switched her to bottles rather than breastfeeding by 14 months, so one or the other of us got an uninterrupted night's sleep every second night when it was the other's turn.

By 16 or 17 months we were getting semi-regular 12-hour stretches, and on the other nights she only woke once. Somewhere just past 18 months the uninterrupted stretches became the norm, and except for little sleep disruptions since (illness, etc) have continued that way.

My DS started to sleep through at 10 weeks.. I thought it was all going to be to good up be true, and it was!
From about 12/13 months he started waking 5/6 times a night, every night.
He's now 20 months & I have recently done controlled crying, and now apart from the odd v. Early morning, he's sleeping 12 hours a night!

My DS started waking 1-2 hourly at four months and carried on until he was around eight months. We tried all sorts of things at around six months, on the advice of a sleep consultant (gradual withdrawal, night weaning) - none of which worked. We just gave up and I bf him through the night and basically did everything 'wrong'.

Around eight months we started to see longer stretches once he worked out how to settle himself by rolling onto his side or tummy when he woke in the night. By his first birthday he was sleeping through occasionally. Now at 13 months he sleeps through 8pm to 6am three or four nights a week. The other nights he wakes once and I bf him back to sleep. He's still bf to sleep at bedtime too.

I wouldn't have chosen to wait it out - I was so exhausted I ended up with depression - but we had no choice. Luckily he just figured it out by himself.

Interesting... Wonder if we'd left it with DS1, things may have improved anyway. Not sure I can wait two years for a full nights slep though Jumpyjack!

Count... I feel your pain. It's so hard when you have no sleep. Glad things are better for you now

Yes. Gradually. I'm rubbish at rememberig exact ages but by a year he woke up once in the evening, again when we came to bed (co-sleeping) for a couple of minutes, and usually one more time in the early hours, for a bf. By 2 he was only waking in the evening (doesn't like to sleep alone) and now at 2 1/2 doesn't often wake, sleeps 8-8ish.

Oh Count, I am so happy for you. You had a really rough time. I am now in a similar boat. DS is 9 months and has been waking up every 1-2 hours every night from about 5.5 months, and being difficult to put back to sleep about 1/3 of the time, even with feeding. I recently night weaned in hope of stopping this madness. The wakings have gone down to twice a night very quickly, which I thought was heaven. But then he started waking up again. [hconfused] So here I am thinking "control cry or not control cry." But you give me hope. I think I'll give him a bit more time.

Thanks PatronSaintofDucks, and sorry things are tough for you. Really hope it improves soon.

ds1 and ds2 slept through of their own accord once they were about 13 months old, so, yes.

however dd is 21 months and still nowhere near.

Yes! My ds1 was the same as yours, never an unbroken night until we did controlled crying at 11 months as return to work loomed.

DS2 was similarly up a LOT in the night for feeds, and I would just give in so as not to wake ds1... result was ds2 was still up every 2.5 hours at 11 months. Then I stopped breastfeeding at 12 months and he was immediately miles better - now at 18 months he often sleeps through.

The key for us was not night-weaning but total weaning, and I think it was probably connected to his learning to walk too.

Yes. Dd was woke at least two or three times a night from four to eight months. Got even worse at eight months but then gradually better. at fourteen months we will get eleven hours about seventy five percent of the time. I did nightwean around ten months but no sleep training. They do all sleep through eventually. Much of her first year is a blur though.

Yes, at 7.5 months DS went for much longer (waking only at 4/5am for feed and then back to sleep) and then started going 11/ 12 hours all on his own. He regressed at 8/9 months but now sleeps soundly again at 11 months - also without sleep training.

Well first 6 months were horrible then a mild improvement then 9 months went backwards. Improved again at 10 months, first sleep through at 12-13 months then teething of molars made thins quite hard plus colds etc. By 18-19 months sleep was regularly 11-12 hours - because I was pregnant (still am - it's taking ages!), I got DH to deal with every night waking as couldn't take it being in the first trimester - we inadvertently night weaned DS. now at 2.1 his sleep is great except for bedtimes!

My twins are just over 12 months old and I've never done any sleep training. I am breastfeeding them on demand and cosleep from the first waking after I go to bed (they start the night in cots).

We've had good patches on one/two feeds each, and bad patches of three/four feeds each between about 10pm when I go to bed and 6am ish when they get up for the day. We've also had rare nights when one baby or the other sleeps through (never together though, sadly). I think they are each sleeping through more regularly in the last few weeks, though they probably only manage it once a week each.

I have recently returned to work and I think they're sleeping better because of that. They're either with my mum or at nursery when I am at work, and I think that tires them out more than a day with me (sadly, I think that's because they are more stressed, nit because they're more active).

I am hoping that the frequency of the sleeping-through nights will keep rising. I am a long way from any sort of sleep training involving crying, though I might ask my mum to spend a night withthem and see if she can get through it without feeding them and without them crying. That would show me whether they're after milk or just cuddles. If it's just cuddles, I'd consider withholding feeds to try and progress to sleeping through.

Hope you get some sleep soon

I was going to ask pretty much the same question! DS (DC2) is 3 months. The only additional issue is that we co-sleep - is there any hope from co-sleepers?

lilysma - absolutely. Co-slept with DD until she was 6 months old. She then went into her cot in her own room. From 7 - 8 months was a nightmare but from 9 months old she has slept from 7.00pm to 6.00am with only the odd waking up. Never done any sleep "training" at all.

If she's a bit under the weather then I let her drop off to sleep on my lap before putting her in her cot. If not, then I just pop her in and stay with her until she falls asleep. If she gets upset then I pick her up and when she's calm I put her back down again. If she gets very upset then I just let her fall asleep on my lap.

Thanks UKSky - that gives me some hope! Do you Bf and did you Bf to sleep when co-sleeping? DS settles quite well in the bed with me without necessarily feeding back to sleep but from about 3am starts to want to feed back to sleep every half hour to an hour...

Between 4 and 6 months my DS's sleep improved on its own despite not doing anything and co-sleeping / bf'ing every time he woke. I have always bf'd him to sleep - until he's completely fast asleep. When bf hasn't worked, I've rocked him till completely asleep and put him down asleep.

I improved DS's sleep with ideas from the No-Cry Sleep Solution at 7 months (he was waking 6 or 7 times a night after a holiday sent his daytime routine completely out of the window) but it went to pot again when he hit the 8/9 month sleep regression.

I couldn't be bothered to work on it again and he woke 3-5 times a night between then and 13 months. Then he suddenly started waking just once a night, at my bedtime. We co-sleep and I've always bf'd him every time he woke.

Since then it's been up & down - more waking during developmental leaps, but his default pattern is one waking a night.

We've had more wakings since starting teething at 18 months (22 months now and the last tooth is almost through - hooray!) but for the month before the molars started, he was waking at my bedtime 6 nights a week and sleeping through once a week.

lilysma, that sounds like an overtired pattern to me - DS would do that if he ended up being awake for much more than 1.5-2 hours between naps at that age.

BTW the sleep regressions are at 5/6 months, 8/9 months, 11 months, 13 months, 15 months, 17 months and 18-21 months.

I would definitely look at the No-Cry Sleep Solution for alternative ideas to CC though. The toddler one is very good - better than the baby one IMO for people with older children.

That's interesting Angeldog re the ovetired theory. It's quite possible since he doesn't nap well - i.e. he usually has 3-4 half hour to 45 min naps in the day. I just can't seem to get him to sleep for any longer, especially in his basket. I do get him to sleep on his own in there at least once a day and he is not fed to completely asleep (I use shh-pat-pat) - largely because he won't settle that way. I realise he's just waking after one sleep cycle and then can't go back to sleep again but don't know how to fix this other than lie down with him. He almost always cries a bit before going off to sleep, and I can't face a second round of crying! He also naps in the sling and pushchair (sometimes he goes for longer in pushchair but not always). Any suggestions...??

Probably not overtiredness then as that's to do with being awake for too long between naps - but might be sleep deprivation (not enough sleep over all).

My DS was also a short napper at that age but he did grow out of it. I found the sling helped, as did bf'ing him once he woke - but for a long while none of those things helped him go off again, it was just time till he was able to be resettled for a second sleep cycle.