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Looking for happy sleep stories please!!

2 replies

KikiShack · 14/12/2013 23:31

I've been reading many of these sleep threads with interest as I'm thinking about getting my 9wo into good patterns to avoid sleep problems later if possible.
However it occurred to me that I have no idea how common it is for babies to just slip into good sleep behaviour naturally without any real effort.
My parents said they just kept me and my brothers with them in the evening in a Moses basket in a smokey living room until we were a few months or a year old, then they 'just put us down' and if we fussed they'd get us up for 5 mins then put us down again, and it basically worked.
My only other friend with a 1yo said her LO just always slept well at 7pm.
So am I worrying unnecessarily? I currently ebf and nurse LO to sleep, she goes down about 8.30 after a change, face wash and lullaby album while feeding routine (I'll aim to make this earlier after xmas but it works for now) and she normally has a dream feed around 11.30-12, then sometimes wakes twice at 2 and 5 then up at 7.30, and occasionally wakes once at 3 then up at 6. I feed her to sleep at each nw too.
She naps 3 or 4 times, for 40 minutes if we are home as I can't get her to sleep transition, but normally I'll force one or two longer naps in the sling. I swear she'd sleep for 10 hours in the sling if I left her, it's so tempting to try!!! For naps I either feed or rock/cuddle her to sleep.
Anyway my question is: will I definitely need to TRAIN her out of this and into self settling at some point when she's older, or is there a chance she'll just naturally slip into good habits when she's a bit older? Has anyone else's LO just slid into great sleeping? Or is this ridiculously rare? I genuinely have no idea what happens for most people.
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and any gentle advice appreciated xx

OP posts:
Happydaze77 · 15/12/2013 22:37

Try not to worry too much about creating bad habits, especially regarding feeding to sleep. Easier said than done I know, but I used to worry about it and I wish I hadn't.

Dd always used to feed to sleep, and nap on me, until she was about 3 or 4 months old. Then gradually it just stopped working. Things became difficult for a while and she would only nap in the pram.

At around 5 months, when she became very distractible while feeding, I started to feed her in bed, lying down. Then when she had finished feeding I stayed there, lying next to her (being as boring as possible)until she fell asleep. It didn't always work and so if she got upset I would cuddle her and start again (or get the pram out!). Once she was asleep I would sneak off downstairs and leave her asleep on the bed. (I recommend blackouts, white noise and soft music.)
Once she had learned to roll I would move her into her cot after she'd fallen asleep. Sometimes this woke her and we had to start again. (very frustrating)
Then one day, (when she was about 7 months I think) while I was lying next to her, I got so annoyed with her pulling at my hair, my nose, my boobs etc, that I picked her up and plonked her in her cot (wide awake) and left the room. Miraculously she self settled within about 5-10 minutes. So that's what I did from then on. The important thing was to leave the room immediately, even if she protested. A bit of grizzling is perfectly ok. If she stayed upset I would always go back in to cuddle her but usually she would just have a shout and then self settle. I actually found that I was distracting her more by being in the room, if that makes sense.

Whether she was just 'ready' to start self settling or whether we 'trained' her to is impossible to say but it worked. At 13 months she now has one lovely 2 hour nap after lunch and sleeps for 12 hours at night. If someone had told me 9 months ago that I would just be able to plonk her in her cot, walk away and she would self settle then I'd never have believed them. and would have wanted to punch them I can honestly say that I miss the feeding to sleep and cuddle naps now.

It sounds like she's doing well for both her naps and overnight. The naps will probably extend beyond one sleep cycle (consistently) at around 6 months and the night feeds will hopefully reduce as well.

Sorry that was so long. I hope some of it is useful.

chickien · 16/12/2013 14:41

Hi, I have nothing to add sorry, just wanted to say your post is similar to what I was trying to ask in a question I've just posted (I've rambled on a bit though lol) I'm happy with my lo napping on me etc, just keep hearing the dreaded 'she'll get in to bad habit' comments and I'm a little nervous about it. So thanks Kikishack and Happydaze77 I feel a bit more reassured :)

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