Little ones sleep program

[KimmyLB]

Has anyone tried little ones sleep program? I need help with my 4 month olds sleep but dont want to fall into trap of desperately spending money on things that dont work. I feel a bit suspicious of these things that they are taking advantage of tired desperate parents!! Or if you have any other recommendations of programs that worked for you?

He slept ok until 12 weeks but for past 6-7 weeks he wakes every hour most nights and he cant seem to get back to sleep without being breastfed (and wont take a pacifier no matter what i do!). They say you need to teach them to sleep on their own but i really dont see how that is possible for mine as he is wide awake and crying as soon as you put him down, i have to feed him to sleep before putting him in co, or otherwise he needs to be moving (pram, car seat or baby bouncer). I was hoping it was a phase that he would grow out of but now I'm wondering whether he ever will. Has anyone had similar problems and can offer advice please?

I’m doing little ones now with my 9 week old. Most useful thing is the Village which is a Facebook group with live support and troubleshooting.
The routines themselves are same as Gina Ford but they have lots of methods for settling.

Worth the money I’d say.

OK thanks, I'm not a fan of Gina Ford's crying methods, is it based on those? as i am after a gentler approach x

No they have a variety of settling methods from feeding to sleep to controlled crying

I have used it for 7 weeks with my 19 week old as naps were all over the place & she was so hard to get to bed. It's not a miracle fix, it requires a lot of hard work but is say it's worth it, I've just had a lovely solid 2 hour nap from her in the cot! Good luck.

My friend bought it...seems to be along the lines of Eat Awake Sleep. Her baby's sleep is improving but then so is mine and I've not changed anything with him (both our babies are about 8 months old). I do think sleep is developmental to be honest and at 4 months you are in the depths of regressions / leaps / growth spurts...maybe see how it goes in the next couple of months as you may find it all sorts itself out naturally.

Thanks for your responses. Katniss i have been wondering whether its developmental and hoping he grows out of it but its been going on for about 7-8 weeks now and i keep reading that if i dont intervene it will NEVER get better. But to be fair that tends to be said by people who want you to buy their book / sleep program!

Mummrs that sounds promising! Did you find it was restrictive in terms of being able to go out and do things with your day? X

Yes it is quite restrictive to be honest, however there is a lot of guidance for the days you need to be more flexible so you don't panic and wing it. Today I had lunch with friends at 1pm which is in the middle of the lunch nap so I did an hour before and an hour after and it worked fine. I'm quite strict in the day with it but for me personally I would rather miss a few baby classes and lunches to get a good night's sleep & to be honest it can vary but since I started it I've had no less than a 6 hour block from her and even some 11-12 hours a night which is heaven.

Wow that sounds amazing! He naps very well in the pram when I'm put and about so i walk most places and try to time walking at nap times! Are naps on the go allowed or do you have to put them in their cot? I find i need to get out and about during the day or i go stir crazy

Little ones programme recommends naps in the cot- especially the lunch time one. I have the programme- in my opinion it’s not worth it. I got it when DS was 3 months and stopped using it about 2 months later, although I never stuck to it religiously. The nap schedules and wake times just didn’t fit my wee one. You can get all the same info online for free or on here, and a lot of it is just common sense.

Really, now that I think about, I don’t actually think that babies can fit a programme or guide meant for so many. They are all so different. If you want to message me I’d be more than happy to tell you more about the programme to see whether you think it might be valuable for you.

Hey FortheloveofJames, I've just come across this thread and I'd be really interested and grateful if you could tell me what u think of the little ones teaching self-settling methods? It is the only thing that is making me consider buying it as I already have other books on routine etc. My little one is 5 months soon and is rocked to sleep at naps and bedtime (although bedtime is a tough one for us never goes down early like everything online recommends but seems happy enough to be up) but saying that once she is asleep she doesn't wake after sleep cycles etc like most things say babies who are rocked to sleep do. She wakes once at night which I think is pretty good but as I'm a FTM I don't know. I definitely cannot let her cry for lengthy periods of time so that's why I was considering purchasing to get a gentler approach with steps on how to do it. If u get a chance to reply thank you so much

They have a number of methods to help settle your baby - but ultimately they recommend controlled crying with an initial gap of six minutes which is too long in my opinion.

Waking once a night at 5 months is amazing. Mine woke every 1-2 hours for the first year of life and has just started sleeping through at 19 months. She is fed to sleep and cuddled and is the most affectionate and independent little person. You really don’t need to teach babies to self soothe they get there on their own in there own time.

Hi @CEM18.

This was a while again now so my memory it’s limited towards it, However it does basically use controlled crying. It then said if they weren’t settling after a certain period to just feed/rock to sleep to ensure they slept. The whole thing is basically centred around what they think is perfect wake times for baby. So, in theory if baby isn’t over or under tired then they should easily drop off/settle themselves. In reality, we know that’s just not always the case.

Don’t buy it. Get rid of the books. Your baby is an individual and they are all so different. I was a FTM at the edge of sheer exhaustion due to a baby that never slept and I was looking for a solution. But I suppose this is exactly how companies like this make their money. DS is 15 months now and looking back the only thing that was wrong was my expectations. His awful sleep was normal for a 3 month old, just different to those that had got lucky. Once I ditched it things got massively better. He learned to settle himself at 5 months naturally. He continued to wake for a feed untill 11ish months. He’s been fab ever since.

Wake at 5 months is amazing. Baby will definitely still need a feed at 5 months. Sleep and self settling and developmental and honestly your baby will get there when they are ready. Using book routines/schedules only adds more stress that you don’t need!

One wake at 5 months is amazing* that should read 😂

Thank you all so much for responding, this is my first time writing on anything like this, despite reading hundreds of them. I pay no attention to the book I have because I'm not really a routine person and coming into this world must be so scary for little babies without trying to add a routine but recently was starting to wonder should I have incase I was just giving my little girl bad habits. But like one of you said she is the same, so affectionate and I couldn't imagine not letting her have me to go to sleep, although my back is starting to say different :) thank you all again, I'm just going to continue to stick with my gutt and go with the flow because she is a very happy and healthy little lady and that's the most important thing :)

Totally agree with everything you said. I don’t agree with creating bad habits. It’s just normal behaviour for tiny little humans- that have been behaving this way since the dawn of time. They grow up so fast and before you know it they won’t need you. When I have my next one I was be 100000% more relaxed 😂

In regards to the rocking though, seriously think about a rocking chair! We still snuggle in our nursing chair at bedtime.

I'm being aggressively targeted by their Facebook ads too! I have to say, their marketing is extremely good, as it is definitely tempting me with the idea that there is some magical formula of the exact right nap pattern that will solve all our sleep problems. However, I'm sceptical that I could get her napping on schedule and control how long she naps for.

She is nearly four months old and takes all her day naps in the sling. I think I have a pretty good idea of her awake times, but the length of her naps is all over the place. I don't believe that getting her to sleep in her crib is simply a matter of putting her down at the exact right awake time like they say! I think it would require some firmer sleep training methods, which I'm not willing to do at this age.

Oh and also they say that they should take all their naps in the crib in a dark room, which goes against the SIDS prevention advice to always have them sleep in the same room as you until 6 months. Unless we are supposed to sit in the dark with them?

Fantastic point. I’d actually makes no reference to SID guidelines at all. Obviously as with all aspects of parenting it’s account doing your research, weighing up/managing the level or risk and making a decision- however they don’t mention the guidelines at all. I don’t know if they target a world wide audience, and this will differ country to country. There’s no mention of reflux or colic or anything.

In all honestly it’s absolute rubbish. No better than all these independent ‘sleep consultants’ you see these days. They just have a fancy website.

If it gives you hope. My DS slept on me or in the sling for all naps untill 5 months when he suddenly fell in love with his cot and wouldn’t sleep anywhere else for a decent amount of time. He never fell asleep in the sling again

That does give me hope, thank you! For the moment, I tell myself that sling naps are less restrictive in some ways.

She's become a bit prone to cat napping lately, but I'm not sure that would be any different if she was in the crib.

I fell for their marketing and 100% worth it, wish i bought sooner.

Can I ask what was it that you found most helpful about it? Was it having something that told you what the nap schedule should be, or was it actual techniques to get the baby sleeping at those times?

Sorry to revive an old thread but @KimmyLB I’d love to know if you ended up getting this and what you thought? I’m so tempted to try but don’t want to waste money!

Hi @beebeesed we got the little ones program and have been using it for about a month, DD is now 6mo. She was already able to self-settle-ish (with me in the room, shhing and patting) for naps in her cot but only ever napped for 45min 3 to 4 times a day and was waking every 2 hours at night when I would bf her back to sleep which had been going on since her 4 month birthday. She was miserable & crying a lot, I was at my wits end for lack of sleep & crying a lot - we needed to do something.

Reading the plan helped me to understand the role hormones play in sleep and they described how a baby having 45min catnaps would wake early and every 2 hours during the night - sounded very familiar!

I used their advice to leave DD for 6 min if she woke before the end of her 'long nap' or during the night. Yes, she cried a little but she was fine and from day ONE she started feeding only twice a night and doing a longer lunch time nap - usually 1hr 45min. From day TWO she only woke twice in the night and I fed her straight away. She's been full of smiles since - I think because she's getting the quality rest she needs, and because I'm more rested we have more fun together when she's awake. She's in bed asleep by 8pm most nights so I have evenings with my husband again which is also lovely.

I don't follow the schedule for strict feed or nap times, I feed on demand and follow her signals for when she's tired. However, the plan did give me a better idea of when she was likely to be getting tired so I found it easier to pick up on her early cues.

I'm in awe of women who can keep up with their babies high level demands on our bodies and psyches for a year or more. However, that wasn't the right approach for us, we're both much happier now.

Anyone fancy selling it on? My friend is struggling with her little one but just doesn't have the money to buy the program. Spent so much on other things which haven't worked.

Well worth the money it worked for my baby from day one! Absolutely amazing