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Gentle sleep training - is this counterproductive?

4 replies

Nutbutter · 22/11/2018 19:01

My baby is 7 months and was ebf before weaning, has still never taken a bottle and refuses dummies too. We co slept until 5.5 months when I started trying to get her to sleep in her cot. I don’t want to leave her to cry so have been feeding her to drowsy then transferring her to the co sleeper cot and lying beside her till she falls asleep. At first she would cry for up to 45mins. That went down to 5-10mins but she’s been ill recently so was back in our bed and now it’s back up to 20mins plus. She still wakes as frequently in the night (every 2-3 hours) and sometimes is so upset I can’t get her to go back in the cot so take her into bed.

It’s been 6 weeks now and whilst there was some improvement it’s been 2 steps forward 1 step back and now has regressed again. It absolutely breaks my heart that every bedtime involves crying and after all this time do I just need to admit defeat? DH says it’s because we’ve been inconsistent, but I’m the one who is doing every single night waking and every feed and have done for the past 7 months. She’s almost grown out of the co sleeper cot too so I’m worried about what will happen when we move her to a bigger cot too.

Any advice welcome. At my wits end and feel like I’m being cruel to my gorgeous child.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Nutbutter · 23/11/2018 19:16

Just bumping as I’m trying and failing to put her down in the cot yet again

OP posts:
Luckystar1 · 23/11/2018 19:21

Hello Nut! That sounds really tough on you. I know how hard it is, it’s very difficult. Have you read Gentle Sleep Training? The book? There are a lot of tips there to follow. Particularly in relation to establishing a really solid bed time routine.

I went to a talk given by the author and it was super and I implemented all of the advice and it was very helpful. It’s not a quick fix mind you.

Have you stopped breastfeeding? How dies your daughter get her milk now?

atomicfission · 23/11/2018 23:32

I second Gentle Sleep by Sarah Ockwell Smith. I couldn't leave our baby crying (for more than a few minutes), so we did quite a lot of co-sleeping and now our toddler is perfectly happy going to bed by self. Hope things get better for you soon Thanks

NeurotrashWarrior · 24/11/2018 21:03

SO is great. Only thing I'd add is that 7 mo is often classic separation anxiety time.

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