Anyone tried Little Ones Sleep Method?

[MyFartWillGoOn]

Hi all

I'm wondering if anyone has signed up for this content and found it useful/not found it useful!

My DS is just under 4 months and is generally doing ok. Sleeping in his crib most of the night then co sleeping for the reminder as won't go back down in his crib once awake. Is generally content during the day but only ever cat naps for 20 mins at a time.

I'm a FTM and have just been going with the flow and responding to what my son seems to need but I'd now like to start moving towards a rhythm. I use the word rhythm rather than routine as I think he's perhaps too young for a strict regime?

I'd read about this method and there seems to be lots of good feedback.

I'm not looking for a magic fix, I'm not planning on using cry it out methods or anything and I know there may be parts that work and parts that don't. But I am looking for a bit of guidance and a source to use to give me ideas to promote better daytime naps and perhaps start moving towards being in his crib all night.

Any views welcome!
TIA

I followed it for a couple of weeks (but also did CIO after we hired a sleep consultant!)

My NCT Pal used it too and has had good results with it - but it takes a while to get those naps in place!

My son now does a long 1.5 hour lunchtime nap and I honestly thought I would never be able to say that!

Thanks so much for your reply @Piglet89 .

I sort of feel he's a little too young for cry it out. I'm sort of ok leaving him to have little sniffles but not sure I could cope with the full on wails!

When did you start doing this and do you feel the littles one contributed at all or was it CIO that seemed to work?

Great you've got a good daytime napper now though!!

Yep he’s too young. I did it with my son at 20 weeks. Someone’ll be along to lambast me soon, no doubt, but he now sleeps fairly well so...

It was CIO to extinction that actually worked. LO is fairly incremental but I don’t think, for example, that gradual retreat worked for my son because whenever we entered the room he revved up worse than ever!!!!

Did you end up signing up to this sleep programme? I’m in a similar position, 16 week old DS has been hit hard by the 4 month sleep regression. He was napping ok and up 2/3 times a night but is now only having short naps and up multiple times a night. I can’t carry on like this so was also looking at this programme

I got Little Ones after a hard month with 6 month old.
Before that I just treated sleep regression as a phase and usually only bad for a week or so, as it wasn't too bad for us looking back.
But DD only wanted to sleep in our arms and we were both breaking down.
The programs are tight schedules, which is perfect when your staying home! But after a bit I relaxed mine and she still sleeps 7-7 and 2 hour nap at 11 months.
It helped me know when to feed her when weaning and how to judge milk, meals and snacks. When to shorten or drop naps. I'm more relaxed now because I know if it gets messed up by holiday (I wish!) or nursery I've got everything I need to fix it and it's worked before.
After a bit you realise what works for you though so Don't stress about following really closely forever!
Also you can ask questions to your specific problems in the "village" which is great. Definitely worth the money and much cheaper than a consultant. You can have your money back in a month if it doesn't work.
I did the quick method and although hard for a few days I couldn't believe the difference, I stood outside the bedroom door in disbelief, my hands free for drinking wine at last!!!!

I did try the Gentle methods btw before CIO (quick method) but it didn't work for us. But understand you want to try thoughs first, I understand the gentle ones work better with younger babies than mine was at the time.
If you want to ask anything or a sample schedule I can help

A sample schedule would be great please! I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing or should be doing right now. I’m worrying about doing the wrong things.

So this is the 6-8 month, I don't have access to younger. Yours wouldn't have food yet.
Looking back I think I would have brought it before 6 months had I known how good it would be. It looks like a strict schedule and I honestly thought: I'll try it for a week but there is no way this is working.
There's a lot of troubleshooting advice for early wake ups, cat napping, feeding at night, how the room should be.
I like a schedule and DD is my first and I had no clue who to do when. Before 6 months (and little ones) I was doing Eat, Play, Sleep. But it stopped working when food started and wake time was increased.

Oh I like the look of it. DS is my first and like you feel like I could do with a bit of guidance right now. Whilst we’re stuck at home I have nothing else to do implement a schedule like this! we have a rough one in place which is awake time of 2 hours but bedtime is a different time each night etc.

Hi @forevercurious from the Dec 19 group

I have recently bought and read the Precious Little Sleep book (kindle edition £7) and it's given me a great start with getting my 15 week old into a bit of a bedtime and nap routine. The author describes the FIO (fuss it out) method rather than CIO and it only took 2 days for it to work with my little girl. She now self settles really easily without any fussing/crying at every nap and bedtime. The first day was hard though, leaving her to fuss/cry, but within 10 mins she fell asleep and has been ace since.
Unfortunately she still only cap naps for 30-45 mins, but only has one wake up for milk 7pm-7am. I highly recommend it as a starting point if you are unsure about buying the Little Ones program.

TBH if I don't see improvements in my little girls naps over the next 2 weeks I'll probably buy the Little Ones programme cause she's so upset in the late afternoon due to crap naps.

Hi @Teamthree, was interested to see your note about the book. Could you say a bit more about your experience please? My baby is 16 weeks tomorrow and I’ve fallen into feeding him to sleep most of the time, which is hurting my back and my patience! Very tempted by the book, on your advice.

@Goostacean sure 😊

It seems to me that the book is very similar to the Little Ones program just without the obvious personalisation and support. The author explains babies sleep and sleep associations eg rocked to sleep, and methods to promote better sleep associations to allow for self settling. It's very thorough, goes into detail about each issue such as feeding to sleep, being held, rocked etc and gives you a plan on how to fix it. I found that it answered a lot of questions that I had. It covers babies from newborn up to toddler so I'm pleased that I'll have it to refer back to if I need when my little girl is older. I really liked the writing style too, humorous but not condescending.

For us the problem was rocking and cuddling to sleep, and screaming every time she was put down in her crib. But the book explains that it doesn't really matter what your issue is, they all kind of have the same root cause and solution. The biggest recommendation I can give is that my LO is currently fast asleep in her crib after putting her down infamously "awake but drowsy" with no protest

Yeah, I’ve got two issues currently, and had the same with my firstborn although it mattered less as I had more time on my hands.

Firstly, feeding to sleep - even with a big feed upon waking, baby always feeds to sleep and even needs to be swaddled to prevent waking when I put him down... And secondly cat naps. Naps are usually 40-45mins long, and in the afternoons he’ll go for 3-4hs but needs resettling hourly.

Other than that we’re okay...

Hello, @piglet89 how old was your little one when you did CIO? And how many days did it take to make progress? Did you start in daytime and do it for all naps or start with bedtime sleep?
Mine is 25 weeks tomorrow. Never been a great sleeper. Wakes every 1-2 hours through the night 😖

@Teamthree hello :)

So in desperation I signed up to the little one sleep programme last week. Since starting it DS now happily self settles before every nap and bedtime - was fed to sleep before and has 3 good naps a day. He was doing this before the 4 month sleep regression and is now back to it and sleeping for longer over his lunch time nap. He’s more settled in the evening but is still up lots in the night and is fed back to sleep then. I’m hoping now his day time sleep is sorted it will transfer over to nighttime.