A little lost with sleep training

[YepYep1]

My baby is 10 weeks old and i am unsure when to start some form of sleep training. We already have a nice bed time routine. Everything i read says to sit with them and gently pat or rub them then leave them unless they cry, pick up to calm, then put back down to fall asleep and to do the same in night waking. However, i want to know when this method is best to start as obviously atm night waking is for feeding but how will i know that its not and to just try and settle her back down? Also i have read a few articles that have said putting down awake but drowzy never works and i must admit, i struggle to see that ever working with LO. Woukd like to hear your thoughts and any tips you may have about when to start and what to do.

I think YokoUhOh and BertrandRussell, that we all broadly agree that a good sleeping habit looks like a parent who:

• attending to a baby's needs immediately
• doesn't tolerate any crying.
• creates zero distress to baby and parents
• is stress free and simple
• is baby led at all times.

And there are several different ways of getting there.
• Independant sleeping is one way
• Cosleeping is another way
• There will be several other ways in between the two.

There is no need to discredit or downplay other ways as in some way wrong. It's only wrong when a young baby gets distressed, in my view.

i've used this method with all 3, starting at about 4 months. with the first it took 5 weeks before he fell asleep by himself. no 2 got it instantly. number 3 took about 7 weeks though i was less consistent than with the others. i did nearly give up with the first one after 4 weeks. luckily my brother did it with is kids and talked me out of it!

it's time-consuming but all three will sleep anywhere and have good sleep habits. i have no doubt that it has saved me a huge amount of time. all three go down to sleep awake and get themselves to sleep (they've 5, 3 and 15 mths now). i think it's the best parenting decision i ever made (which was, essentially, to copy my brother's success with his kids!)

oh and this was just for the night-time sleep. when they woke in the night for a feed they all fell asleep during feeding so there was no need to get them to nod off. i started with the daytime naps a few weeks after the night0time was well-established. i found that by that point they had got into a routine of napping at the same sort of times, so it wasn't too tricky.

good luck