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Sleep

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Original poster

Did you have to sleep train your child or did they miraculously learn to sleep through on their own?

25 replies

ElleBellyBeeblebrox · 27/03/2014 07:17

I'm asking because I'm a wimp basically, DS is ten months now and is still up 2-6 times a night, I usually just bfeed him to get him back off again. He was self settling and only getting up once at about three months but a stay in hospital and the four month sleep regression sent it all down the shitter, and we've never really recovered. Anyway, I'm hoping that he will gradually learn this skill himself and stop waking for feeds when he is ready, is this ridiculously naive of me? Im not doing cc and attempts at night weaning has led to hours of screaming. Any of your experiences would be appreciated! Thankyou

OP posts:

Littleoaktree · 27/03/2014 07:21

Both of mine just suddenly stopped waking, ds1 was 15mths and ds2 was 19mths. I tried night weaning with ds2 as I was getting desperate from the lack of sleep but that was a total failure and then one night I woke up and realised he hadn't woken up and then that was it, he didn't look back and now only wakes if he's ill. I was relieved as I couldn't cope with doing cc either.

beatofthedrum · 27/03/2014 07:33

Mine did miraculously change...when I took the cot barsoff. Wish I'd thought of that one 6 months earlier!

starfish12 · 27/03/2014 07:45

Mine did too when we put him in his own room - went from feeding/comfort sucking 3-6 times a night to sleeping through. He was about 4.5 months, it was also about he time he found his thumb to suck

SurreyArmyWife · 27/03/2014 07:58

I understand what you are going through. Our DS steadily slept better and better until the 6 month point, when it all went down hill. However he is now 10 months and things are finally gradually improving. The only thing we changed was introducing a proper bedtime routine, and not letting him fall asleep breastfeeding. At its worst we were up 6-10 times a night. Now it's only twice and the 5am wake ups are less frequent. I still breastfeed at night, and haven't changed how often I often I offer a feed.

I have read about developmental stages and sleep regressions, and spoken to other mums who are in similar positions. I didn't find any magic solutions, but it did help me accept the situation. I hope you see an improvement soon, it will get better.

poocatcherchampion · 27/03/2014 08:24

yes us. with dd2 7mo we introduced a dream feed cos I had had enough of getting up at 11pm and she slept til at least 5 ever since!

drawohamme · 27/03/2014 08:33

DS gave up the night feeds at 8mo without any input from us. So glad I didn't do sleep training but but I must add his night feeds were pretty easy, he was good at self settling with a full tummy. I think if it had been more disruptive I might have thought differently.

peggyundercrackers · 27/03/2014 09:05

our DD has always slept through from about 4 months, she sleeps from about 7:30 through til about 8ish, sometimes a little later but never earlier - when she started sleeping through we fed her before she went to bed at 7:00 then we would wake her at 11 to get her last feed but we just stopped waking her and she didnt waken - she has been bottle fed though not breast fed - we had too many issues early on with BFing and she kept loosing weight so we stopped. She has been in her own room in a cot from 4 months. we find that if shese cold she will wake but if shes cosy she sleeps really well.

Original poster

ElleBellyBeeblebrox · 27/03/2014 09:06

Thankyou all, some encouraging words there!

OP posts:

Estrellita · 27/03/2014 11:55

My DD went from waking every couple of hours, co sleeping half the night, and needing to be fed and rocked to sleep to asking to get in her cot, laying down, self settling and sleeping through the night without any training. We tried gradual withdrawal several times from age 1 to about 18 months but it was ineffective and upsetting. DD just changed overnight, like some kind of miracle, around 23 months.

Estrellita · 27/03/2014 12:09

Oh, we did night wean around age one. But only had success because DD was happy with DH coming in to give her a cuddle. He has always helped at night, since she was a newborn. He was actually able to settle her a lot quicker than I could. If I went in she just wanted to feed and be close to me all night. If he couldn't settle her, or she was really upset, he'd bring her in our bed to feed and co sleep. I am lucky. He is really good with her and handles sleep deprivation better than I do.

Night weaning didn't help DD sleep better unfortunately. She still woke loads. But I didn't have to go in to feed and settle her every time, so that helped me a lot.

Original poster

ElleBellyBeeblebrox · 27/03/2014 22:13

Estrellita that's reassuring! So she just cracked it on her own. We had a similar issue in that when I attempted night weaning he still woke anyway, and was just much harder to resettle. As usual with baby sleep, i feel clueless!

OP posts:

jumblebee · 27/03/2014 22:15

My DD is 7mo and sleeps roughly 7pm till 7am. We didn't do any sleep training, she just decided when she was in her own room to gradually cut down on night feeds. First tooth has just come through and I'm thoroughly prepared for it all to drastically change when more come in

indecisivedaisy · 27/03/2014 22:22

Sleep trained DS1 (gently, no cc) and he has slept through since around 7 months.

Have also tried to gently sleep train DS2 but he is immune, and still wakes up twice most nights at almost 3 .

I have, however, successfully trained DH to do more than his share of dealing with the non-sleeping toddler .

cerealqueen · 27/03/2014 22:25

We sleep trained both around 10-12m as there was so sign of self settling with either (both fed to sleep) and with DD2, at 12m she still woke 3x night and was in our bed. Gradual retreat takes longest but easier on both parents and baby.

learnasyougo · 27/03/2014 23:43

ds was a terrible sleeper for ten months. I'm talking about one block of 3 hrs, then a 2, then 1 hour was the absolute BEST night we could hope for. Some nights he never slept more than an hour. getting him to sleep took 40 minutes bf each time. so 9pm to 6am saw me tend to him nine times.
We tried ferber method (disastrous and never again! ) and at 7.5mo we tried pupd. This helped a little bit (we had the odd night with a 5hr sleep) but then at ten months he just... got it. Nothing we did.
At 15 months we tried to leave him to fall asleep without one of us being by his cot and blow me, he did.

Now we just read two stories and he lays himself down and I leave the room. No tears. No upset and I can't put it down to any 'method'. Our sleep routine is always very jolly, though. Lots of tickles and laughter at the changing table, fun when teeth cleaning. bedtimes are pleasant and fun, games of a peekaboo and silly noises. Maybe that helps him feel good about bedtimes.

MooseBeTimeForSpring · 27/03/2014 23:56

Around 18 months I started telling DS that he'd had enough boob and should roll over and go to sleep. It took a while but it worked.

Round about 2 I started to say no if he woke in the night. First night he cried for about 10 minutes, second night about 3. He hasn't asked since.

DS is now 2.3. He was down to 2 feeds a day (before nap and bed). I'd had enough and DH was being less supportive, so we went cold turkey.

That was a week ago. He now sleeps 6:30-6:30. Naps have been non existent tricky, hence the early bedtime. Can't complain about 12 hours straight though :)

Original poster

ElleBellyBeeblebrox · 28/03/2014 00:16

12 hours straight...so there's light at the end of the tunnel?! (I do have an older dd but had to crack night weaning with her as I was going back to work on night shifts) I've just spent an hour feeding, then cuddling, singing etc. Please just "get it" DS!

OP posts:

jaggythistle · 01/04/2014 07:54

I'm totally lazy (and work FT) so always bf mine back to sleep when required.

Also DH sleeps like a stone so took aged to ferry him awake to help.

One was able to settle by himself by 8 months and wad mostly only up a couple of times a night from about 10.

Slept through most nights by about 18 months and has done 7/8 to 7 since before he was 2. Also a thumb sucker.

T the youngest has been frankly awful, but I still just feed to sleep and partly Co slept in desperation. You can now put him to bed and he'll fall asleep happily at night and for naps. Still up once a night at almost 2, but bearable after previous performance!

jaggythistle · 01/04/2014 07:55

They do both have pyjamas/teeth/story/song routine. Youngest sneaks in a bf, but then lies down to sleep with comforter.

Chacha23 · 01/04/2014 08:52

I'm sort of half-half... At around 3 months I put DD in her own room and tried to limit night feedings (would only feed her from 3am onwards, when I knew she could actually be hungry). Was a bit tough for 1-2 nights, but then she got the hang on it very quickly and suddenly, has been sleeping through since (fingers crossed).

Seems to me like she was basically ready and just needed a little nudge from me.

Janorisa · 01/04/2014 08:54

We didn't do sleep traning, but it was 18 months before DD SLTN.

JonathanGirl · 01/04/2014 08:58

Mine stopped waking up by themselves, but I think they were around 18 months, which lots of friends thought impossibly late.
But I didn't do anything, it just happened organically.

beccajoh · 02/04/2014 21:33

My daughter has just started doing 12 hours most nights at 21 months. We did a little bit of CC at 14 months (she resisted all the gentle ST methods) and that got her doing 7-7 with a bottle of milk at 10pm (previously up 4-5 times a night wanting milk).

She was quite ill last week and on the back of that has suddenly started not needing the 10pm milk.

breatheslowly · 02/04/2014 21:45

We had to do sleep training at about 16 months for DD to go to sleep without being held/rocked. But we never had to do middle of the night sleep training. I now can't remember whether this was because we just took her into our bed when she woke up or whether she slept through. She is now 3.5 and comes into our bed in the middle of the night about 50% of the time, but we are fine about that. I'm not awake enough in the middle of the night to make her go back to her room and stay there.

MissTink · 03/04/2014 22:31

My son is 13weeks and sleeping from approx 8 pm-7.30am. I did this by gradually pushing back his feeding time so say he woke up at 2.00 I would push it till 2.30. I then realised he wasn't really feeding but just waking up and having a little moan and I was mistaking that for hunger. So when he woke I would lay in darkness and let him have a little grissle 9/10 he would fall asleep in 10min if he actually cried I would then feed and comfort him. By doing this I managed to get to just one feed in the night. Then one night he started to cry I checked the time and it was 5.30am and for the last week it has been getting later so he cut the night feed out himself.
I think I am pretty lucky as he is my first and very laid back but it did take perseverance not to just pick him up soon as he made a sound.
I also have a very strict bedtime routine which I stick to but no set time if he gets grissly at 7 I will put him to bed then if we're out and about and we get back late I do it then but I always do the same thing and use the same products so he associates those particular smells with bedtime.
Good luck x

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