Sleep training success stories

[Goostacean]

Hello. Steeling myself to sleep train our LO at 6mo because his poor sleep is affecting my day with him and my toddler, my marriage and my sanity.

Could you share your success stories please? I know there’s lots of advice online about how to go about it appropriately, but would love to hear how people actually got on. I guess I’m worried about being up all night with him screaming, rather than him adjusting, and then being even more tired.

Another sleep deprived mum here so watching with interest! 10 month DD, always been an awful sleeper. We are just coming out of the hourly wake ups but still wakes 3 to 4 times a night and has started waking at 4.30/5am. problem is, if I leave her in the cot she pulls herself up to standing or sitting and doesn't know how to lie back down!!! She only has 1 feed in the night (breastfed)
I am so fed up of not sleeping I actually have a countdown timer on my phone that tells me how long to her 18th birthday!!!

Toastiemaker 😁

Hopefully problem all sorted!

If not, I also used a method of controlled crying when my Daughter was 6 months old as she started waking up every single hour of the night.

I would put her in her cot and leave for 2 mins, if she cried I would go back in and give her a little cuddle and put her back down. I would then leave her for 4 minutes, ,6,8 then 10 minutes. We never had to do any more than the 8 minutes as she would be fast asleep. We did this every time she woke in the night and after a week she slept brilliantly. Don't get me wrong, there was still the odd rough night, but on the whole she is brill. She is nearly 3 now and still sleeps all night.

Predictably, baby was up at 11.30pm, then 3, then 5.20. The toddler woke up FOUR times, which is unprecedented (well, for a very long time). We’re back to the training plan 😂

Anyone else want to start this weekend?

I'm going to try controlled crying periods this weekend. My husband is working lates during the week, so I'd be on my own with it otherwise. For the first couple of nights I need his support, it's gonna be hard hearing my baby cry for me

I think we’ll try the same... How long will you leave it? DH just tried to settle him but he was having none of it- but I think DH tries to put him down too soon after he’s dropped off. Maybe he was hungry. We need to reset, I guess. Not very pleased about all this... Very best of luck to you, please tell me how you get on! Nice not to feel alone.

@peanut55, I totally understand why you want PU/PD to work. Leaving a baby to cry alone goes against every instinct we have as mothers. But my experience was that 'gentle' methods just enraged baby DS further. If you think about it from a baby's point of view, being comforted until you feel better but then being repeatedly put right back where you don't want to be doesn't necessarily make much sense! Obviously it completely depends on the baby - I had a friend who had success with a no-cry approach - but looking back it was absolutely not right for my DS who actually found it easier to be left alone to come to terms with things! Not saying that is the case for your DC, but don't feel that you just be doing something wrong if PU/PD doesn't work.

@Goostacean I have a friend in the US who recommends 5 mins then 10 mins then 20 but those periods seem pretty long to start with? I've also seen 3 mins, then 5, then 10 etc! How about you?

Oh ladies i need support and help. My lo is 16 month and a pretty good sleeper but now he falls asleep on me and wakes up about 12am every night and ends up in the bed with us.

What do i do!

I had a baby who initially was a good sleeper 7-1, 1-6 etc. But after 4/5 months woke every 45 mins to hour and a half at best at night. I was breast feeding on demand and at my wits end.

Id been against any form of crying or sleep training. But caved and used a sleep consultant ( Insta: justchill mama ).

The first night there was a bit of crying but slept 7-3,3-5 and 5-7

Second night slept 7-5 5-7

By night 6 was sleeping 7-7. And has done since 7 months

He's now 14 months and occasionally will have a blip, post holidays or house move. But the settling methods we learnt still work and within 2-4 days he'll go back to sleep through the nights.

Would highly recommend sleep training

I'm looking at starting sleep training tomorrow based on timed intervals. Always said I wouldn't, but like PP said, then I had a baby...

My daughter is just over 5 months old and we are in a trap of feeding her to settle her for naps she bedtime.
Bedtime is the worst, it can take about two hours. She's exhausted, rubbing her eyes, but can't settle.

She only wakes once in the night now as I do a dreamfeed about 11. So could be a lot worse but it's making me miserable and tired and I am hoping she would be happier too if we could manage this.

@Anna783426 sounds like my daughter is your daughters twin 😂

I've just posted that and then read some other threads about 4 month regression - my DD is 5 months but it's made me doubt myself a bit that I'm jumping into this too early. Oh god motherhood is a b*tch at times!

We did the Ferber method - leave room for 2 mins, back in for 2 mins to calm, out for 4 mins, back in for 2 mins, out for 6 mins etc

It worked fairly quickly, minimal crying

Horrendous night. Awful. Like having a newborn. DH found me crying in the bathroom at 5am...

So, question is, if they go quiet or aren’t crying, do you still go back in? Or are the intervals only for when they’re crying?

If they're quiet you don't go in! The intervals are only if they're crying.

Personally I did 1-2-3-4-5 and then every 5 minutes (no longer) because it was as long as I could stand not to go in to my crying baby. It was on the short side so I can understand doing something like 2-4-6-8-10 instead but personally I'd never leave it longer than 10 minutes. Otherwise it's more like "cry it out" which is just leaving them to cry. At least with CC you're going in to reassure them that you haven't just abandoned them.

Thanks! Very helpful. Maybe I’ll start with 1-2-3-4 and then go up to 2-4-6-8. How long did it take you in total? Also, baby sleeps up a flight of stairs- I wonder whether it’s worth trekking up and down each time or just sitting at the top in the dark...

Only go in if they’re crying! Leave them to settle otherwise

Personally I sit outside their room with the monitor ( on silent) so I can see exactly what’s happening. I found that helpful as it meant I could see if he was getting distressed

It was a couple of years ago and I can't remember in great detail I'm afraid. I just remember the interval timings because of sitting there hating it and watching my timer!

Hey @Goostacean did you try it? How did you get on

I started tonight with my (just over) 5 month old.
I did intervals.... 1-2-4-5-6-7-9
Then she fell asleep before I got to 10. So that took about 45 minutes in total.

BUT then she woke up about half an hour later. I wanted to give up I can honestly tell you. But tried again and did 2-4-5 and she was asleep.

I feel like I've committed now so have to keep going. Will try it with naps tomorrow as from what I've read it has be naps and night-time. Let's see.

By the way I just made the intervals up based on her crying at the time

No, last night was what I can only describe as a total shitshow. I think not helped by the weather- baby sleeps in a loft conversion so it gets very hot, but this is our first year with anyone sleeping up there so we’re having to work it out as we go. Normal night tonight, in a bid to get some rest (am off to bed now) and tomorrow we start.

Congratulations on starting! Let me know how it goes- got everything crossed...

We have the same issue with loft conversion. We moved her into her room which is also in the loft but not the main room (small box). It's slightly cooler. I feel your pain. Let me know how you get on, here to support!

How was it @agteacht? We had another suboptimal night. It’s like having a newborn again, which is not acceptable to me by now. Starting tonight!

It was actually okay!!

So she went down at 8.30 after what I laid out below.

I did a dream feed and nappy change at 11.15pm. She then woke at 4.15pm and I did a feed then (noticeably bigger than normal but she doesn't normally do a 4-5 hour stretch). She was still asleep at 7.10am so DH woke her up.

Then I did her first nap at about 9.10am. It was so tempting just to feed her to sleep because I could see she was going to fall asleep if I did!

But anyway... put her down awake. She spent 20 mins grunting a bit and kept rolling onto her tummy. So I went in to put her back on her back and put her in a sleeping bag instead (was avoiding it because of loft heat! But it's a light one).

Then started the intervals properly.
2 mins - went in
4 mins - she fell asleep!

That was about 50 mins ago and she's still asleep. Giving her up to 90 mins and I'll wake her but it's a miracle she's still asleep.

The next naps and tonight might be a nightmare but this gives me hope we can do it. Give it a go, I don't think you can lose. For me it couldn't get much worse so was worth trying!