Things got better on their own!!

[squidkid]

We've recently seen huge improvements in sleep without any sort of training or changes to anything we've done. I just kind of wanted to put this thread out there as a positive beacon, because we had terrible sleep at various stages (12-14 months was the PITS) and maintaining my "everything is a phase, it will pass" philosophy got very difficult in the face of sleep deprivation and people saying "why don't you just try…"

We've had very good sleep for a couple of weeks now - and last night for the first time ever my baby refused to feed to sleep, refused a cuddle to sleep, pointed to the cot and did a little head tilt thing she does which means "tired", I put her in it, she went to sleep on her own, she slept for 12 hours and woke up at 6.30am.

It may not last but I've always tried to be led by baby and tried to have faith she would sleep well when she was ready, and trying to force her to do it early would only stress me out and upset her. She is 15 months old.

I hope it gives hope to some of you...

Thank you ... It does ;)
Especially in the middle of a 4 mth sleep regression at 3 mths!

This could be the glimmer of hope....

It really does, thank you!

Great post OP - I wonder this a lot as my DS was a nightmare during 4 month regression but has pretty much sorted himself out for now - not STTN but good enough for me at 6 months.

I saw this on a thread when I was feeling really down - I liked its tone

nurshable.com/2012/07/19/the-wio-wait-it-out-method-of-sleep-training/

Hi there I just wanted to add that , a few months ago my then 18 month dd was waking up a few times a night and also demanding a 5am feed . Then one day she just slept through and dropped the feed also without anything from me .....

It does give hope thank you!!! My view so far has been to wait it out, she'll sleep eventually (when she's 15 or thereabouts) and its proved an unpopular view with in-laws and friends... I'm starting to think about some very (very) gentle sleep training but its so heartening to hear things do just improve on their own!

Great post. I have to say I agree. They get there in their own good time. My two year old never had any sleep 'training' at all and he just slowly started sleeping better and then started going through. I made a point of not bringing him into our room but that was pretty much it.

I'm hoping my baby will follow!

So lovely to hear that it does get better without you doing anything. Thanks so much for posting OP. Can I ask, how old was your LO when the sleeping through eventually happened. 11 months and multiple wake-ups here still...

Aww Liveinthepresent, thank you for sharing the link I almost cried when I read it...

I was trying to put my 5wo DS to sleep in his crib the other night, and he just kept crying. So I picked him up and he slumbered against my chest so warm, snuggly and peaceful... and I thought to myself "If he "learns" how to fall asleep on his own, I'll never get to hold him like this when he's sleeping..." That made me so sad...

So f**k it... If he falls asleep after feed, I'll put him to sleep. If he needs a gentle rock or cuddle to fall asleep, I'll do it. If he wants to sleep on my chest, I'll let him. My instincts are telling me my little boy needs his mummy, needs to be held and hugged, so I'll just do it... Time flies so fast, I want to enjoy it without stressing about "right" routines, sleep training, etc.

Thanks squidkid for your post

Dd is 16 mo. Still wakes 4+ times from 7-7. So there is stil hope for me ?

Cutelittletoes 5 weeks - honestly please please snuggle and enjoy every minute -despite all the tiredness and worrying I had created 'bad sleep associations' my DS has grown so fast and I already look back at those early weeks so fondly - plenty of time to worry about the rest of it. They change so much in the early months I don't think you can do much wrong if you meet their needs and get to know what works for them as an individual.

Thanks Liveinthepresent, I'm trying to do that. Time does fly so fast - feels like he was born just last week, and he's nearly 6 weeks already...

cute I wish I'd followed all my instincts as you are much earlier on; some babies just need a little more to help them feel safe enough to sleep than others, it's not a bad thing at all. I think we made our ds more panicky and on edge by not letting him do this more when he was around 3 / 4 months and a worse sleeper as a result. (he's always been a frequent waker) I've now taken the full on 'over saturate this child with mummy and boob' tact so that he's the one to push me away when he's ready. ok so we've had a phase over the last week due to teeth and 12 mo jabs where he's had to sleep on me but tonight he's pushed me away.

wait it out and nurshables along with evolutionary parenting and isis online have helped me stick to my guns in the face of the sleep trainers!