The Ride It Out Method

[BlueMoon33]

Baby is nearly 7 months old. Breastfeed and on solids. At 2-3 months was sleeping lovely, getting regular 6 hour stretches and even some longer. Then at 4 months all changed and lucky to get a 3 hour stretch on a good night.

I don’t want to sleep train, my plan is to just ride it out and I’m still happy with that decision for now.

What I want to know is, for those who used the ride it out method, at what age did things start getting better with sleep??

4 months old is when babies tend to go through a sleep regression & their sleep patterns change from newborn sleep to baby sleep. For it to still be going on months later is a bit rough. Have you maybe fallen into some bad habits? Is there a sleep consultant you can talk to to get some advice?

Things got better for me at 5.5 months

Just starting to see some light at 11 months!

DS was so bad in the early days I literally thought lack of sleep would end me 😂Things were better for us slightly earlier at 6 months however it wasn’t consistent. We varied from being up only once for a quick feed to being up for hours in the night, or being up every few hours. The turning point was randomly one night at 11 months. He’s 18 months now and has been a literal dream since. Personally sleep training isn’t for me, and I know now looking back it was my own unrealistic Expectations that made the situation worse- he was just behaving like a normal baby.

There's a good Facebook group called 'Cry it out yourself' where lots of people would be able to share their experience of nature taking its course

22 months for DS and 3 years 3 months for DD, maybe not what you want to hear!

However, they are the most fabulous sleepers ever now at 7 & 5, no issues at bedtime and the last time I got up with anybody in the night was when DD was poorly in May, it comes good in the end!

Mine were similar, didn’t sleep through but slept 6-8 hours in one go before 4 month regression. Got better with some form of mild training and 18 months for dd1 and 2.5years for dd2. Definitely habits you get into while ‘riding it out’! Dd2 had several bad sleep regressions, the worst at 9 months had her waking every few minutes for the first few hours of the night for several weeks.

We've had our ups and downs, but at 3.4 years DD has started sleeping through and to a reasonable time (6.15ish). Every milestone and life change has reflected in her sleep, she's just a sensitive sleeper I suppose.
I did try a few things gently but they didn't really work

Around 9 months the two hour parties at around midnight ended...then at 12 months we started to get reliable longer stretches of 4/5 hours. 17 months now and has slept through on a handful of occasions and reliably does a 6 or so hour stint somewhere in the night. Good luck!

Thanks for all the replies!

So basically at any stage in could get better but just depends on the baby!!

I’m quite alright with the nights as long as we don’t get up before 6am! This morning got a lie in till 7.45, lovely!

I’ve still got a fair few more months of riding it out left in me... I hope!

Hi op, check out the 'Beyond sleep training project's group on Facebook. It made a massive difference to me just realising that there were lots of other people who aren't comfortable with sleep training and that things will get better eventually on their own!

Oh and at 7 months we were at hourly wake ups after midnight. Now at nearly 12 months we get 3/4/5 hour stretches so definitely an improvement. I plan to gently night wean when she hits 1 and expect that will help too.

I’m not on Facebook but I managed to get a good look at that Beyond Sleep Training Project and I enjoyed it.

Everyone in my family sleep trained their children so that’s the regular advice I’m getting, but I just know it’s not going to suit my baby and it’s not going to suit me.
And he has slept before so I know he can do it again when he’s ready!

@tentativesteps133 my DD was similar, now she's settled into every 2 hours which is a big improvement although to most people with 12mo DC is sounds terrible! how do you plan on night weaning?

We’re at 9 months and have really turned a corner. She does 7pm/5am some nights, others we’re up every few hours, but that’s such a great improvement from every hour for 8 months, genuinely thought I was going to die at one point!
We didn’t really change anything, consistent comfort and feeds. She is now in her own room which I think has helped sleep quality.

I'm in the exact same position as you with my DS. At 4 months it all went haywire.. he's 7 months and still on 2 hourly wake ups, 3 hourly if we're lucky.

I'm not comfortable with sleep training because as previous posters have said - it's just babies being babies! We've had lots of advice from family as well telling us to sleep train but I feel like we expect too much from babies.

I rode it out with my DD, and around 10 months she decided she wanted to sleep at night! She's 2 now and sleeps really well. Hoping for the same with my DS.

It's comforting to know it's not just my baby who doesn't want to sleep at night!

Wow, I used a lot of exclamation marks.

I tried sleep training with ds1 and didn't get on with it at all so just rode it out in the end. He slept through at 14 months.

With Ds2 I just thought 'fuck it' and spent the best part of his 1st year doing the full attachment parenting, co sleeping, all-night-buffet-style breastfeeding, etc. He slept through from around 10 months old, and has been a very good sleeper ever since. It was nice being able to get a full nights sleep every night and not having the stress of trying to train him.

Wow, there really feels some hope that things might be doing good in a few months time.

Actually had a good night last night, he only woke twice in the night.

A lot of his waking always has a reason, temperature, wind, teeth, poorly with cold, and also he’s learning to crawl at the moment. It’s a lot for him to deal with on his own.

@Trinpy - Hah I often say what a nice life for my baby getting to carried into bed and then fed an all you can eat buffet without having to even open your eyes!

@petalsinthegarden I’m so grateful for other mums on the internet, it’s good not to be alone!

@BlueMoon33 yes definitely. Personally, I feel like the mums I know in real life are lying to me about their children sleeping through from 8 weeks!! How and why?!

@littlestrawby I've already started kind of. At the moment I feed her before bed and then any wakings before 12 she gets cuddled by DH or me rather than feeding. When she wakes after midnight she comes into bed with us and I'll sometimes try cuddling if I wake up enough, but if she cries or I'm half asleep I just feed her. I'm hoping in time to stretch that initial no-feed-in-cot period out as it has reduced her pre-midnight wakings. I should add that it's only recently that she will be cuddled to sleep, a few weeks/months ago she would only settle with boob so I wasn't comfortable implementing the plan then.

For what it's worth (not a lot) my gut feeling and anecdotal evidence from mums I speak to is that sleeping is developmental. I see people online saying sleep training works but every mum I know who does it in real life has to repeat every few weeks because of illness, teething, regressions, leaps, travel etc. I've found it so much easier to just accept the situation and relax.

There's also an interesting train of thought re infant sleep and training from the Possums clinic in Brisbane and the doctor there has done a great podcast which I'll hopefully be able to link -

www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL3dvcmtpbmdwYXJlbnRyZXNvdXJjZS5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw&episode=MmVhYzBiOWJjYWE3ZjkwYWYyZDAyZjZiY2E1NzAzYTE

Whoops, wrong episode above, try this one

www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL3dvcmtpbmdwYXJlbnRyZXNvdXJjZS5saWJzeW4uY29tL3Jzcw&episode=MDZkY2NkNDhmMDI3OWU0NTczOGJkZDgyMjE0YTcyMTQ