no cry "sleep training" - anyone else doing something similar?

[TinyTeachr]

Hoping to find some company for very gentle sleep training - anyone else at this stage?

I have 14mo twins and am aiming to reduce night wakings. Very early stages, just trying to get them comfortable with going to sleep a bit more independently but trying to avoid them crying (for all sorts of reasons, some of them just practical).

If you're also someone that takes a gently-gently (and therefore slowly!) approach it would be lovely to hear from you as I suspect it's going to be a long road....

Trying to similar. I'm about 4 months in and about to give up! I just can't leave her crying!

I have a 15mo & I’m doing my own version of the Ferber method. You put your LO down sleepy but awake & if they start crying I leave him for 2 minutes then go in & give him his dummy, comforter & say shh & rub his back. I then leave the room without picking him up & let him cry for 4 minutes & repeat. I then go back down to 2 then 4 again. I haven’t had to go much over that cause he settles quite well with that.

I did my own version of gradual retreat. No tears involved. I sat in nursing chair and cuddled/told story as usual, then I said that's night night and put my son in cot awake. I sat in nursing chair beside cot. Every few minutes I said lie down that's night night. DS 7 months stood up, messed around etc for about 45 mins the first night. I was prepared to wait 2 hours then give up and couldn't believe how quickly it worked! If he'd cried I'd have picked him up, cuddled, calmed, gave it 10 minutes then tried whole thing again. Next night he lay down after 15 minutes. I sat on until he was definitely asleep then left room. Not great if you're on your own with other kids but worked for us. Good luck!

It can work very fast — we went from 10+ wakeups to one on the first night of the gradual retreat. It’s very difficult with two in the same room, though, if they are sharing. We did one each in separate rooms, which was annoying but worth it for the unbroken night’s sleep.

I don't have twins so no direct advice for that. I put dd down after a story, bottle, calm cuddles etc just when she was getting sleepy. Then sat in the chair at the end of her cot not looking at her but slowly rocking so she could still see me. Then if she started to grumble or pull herself up I'd guide her to gently lie down, do quiet shushes and sit back down.

It takes a long time and lots of standing up, sitting down but over the next few nights it got easier as she knew I was there and would reassure her before she got to the crying stage.