Advice on sleep training

rayray246 · 2022-04-24T17:30:18+00:00

Interested in hearing about your experiences and advice on sleep training. My 6 month old has always been a poor sleeper, wakes up a lot through the night and now intends to wake up for the day around 4.50am! I want to sleep train him but wondered if he's too young? Love to hear your stories [smile]

thingymaboob · 24/04/2022 18:59

Look at Jo Frost controlled timed crying. We did it with first. Took 3 nights. Most crying they did was 20 mins and not really crying just grizzly fussing. Good luck! I'm planning on doing this again when my DD turns 6months.

AnneLovesGilbert · 24/04/2022 19:01

Look into normal infant sleep behaviour. Frequent night waking is completely normal at 6 months, can be exhausting but not a “problem”. And it doesn’t last forever.

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 24/04/2022 19:06

Not too young, as long as DC is growing well and is able to take lots of milk during the day. We sleep trained our eldest two using Ferber at 7 months, and our youngest at 5 months. No issues whatsoever. I always psyched myself up for a giant battle of wills or hours of traumatizing crying, but honestly sleep training ended up being a total non-event each time. I know it isn’t always so easy and we were very lucky, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot. My mat leaves were far more relaxed and enjoyable on a full night’s sleep than those of my (few) friends who didn’t sleep train. My kids were noticeably less fussy after a few days of proper sleep, as well, than they were when they were waking up every 2-3 hours (which I guess seems totally obvious, but was a pleasant surprise to me). Sleep is important for parents and for babies!

thingymaboob · 24/04/2022 19:22

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 24/04/2022 19:06

Not too young, as long as DC is growing well and is able to take lots of milk during the day. We sleep trained our eldest two using Ferber at 7 months, and our youngest at 5 months. No issues whatsoever. I always psyched myself up for a giant battle of wills or hours of traumatizing crying, but honestly sleep training ended up being a total non-event each time. I know it isn’t always so easy and we were very lucky, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot. My mat leaves were far more relaxed and enjoyable on a full night’s sleep than those of my (few) friends who didn’t sleep train. My kids were noticeably less fussy after a few days of proper sleep, as well, than they were when they were waking up every 2-3 hours (which I guess seems totally obvious, but was a pleasant surprise to me). Sleep is important for parents and for babies!

Totally agree

Original poster

rayray246 · 24/04/2022 19:23

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 24/04/2022 19:06

Not too young, as long as DC is growing well and is able to take lots of milk during the day. We sleep trained our eldest two using Ferber at 7 months, and our youngest at 5 months. No issues whatsoever. I always psyched myself up for a giant battle of wills or hours of traumatizing crying, but honestly sleep training ended up being a total non-event each time. I know it isn’t always so easy and we were very lucky, but I’d say it’s definitely worth a shot. My mat leaves were far more relaxed and enjoyable on a full night’s sleep than those of my (few) friends who didn’t sleep train. My kids were noticeably less fussy after a few days of proper sleep, as well, than they were when they were waking up every 2-3 hours (which I guess seems totally obvious, but was a pleasant surprise to me). Sleep is important for parents and for babies!

Did you stop all nights all together when doing the sleep training?

OP posts:

Geranium1984 · 25/04/2022 20:37

4 month regression nearly killed me. Two hours was a good stretch for us.
But things started getting better around 6mo when I habit stacked to get him self settling. Introduced a comforter quite early on then went from feeding to sleep to shush patting in my arms, then shush pat in the cot. Then left him with the comforter in the cot after getting him 90% to sleep shush patting and it really only took 2 or 3 times in and out of the room before he fell asleep on his own. I let him cry for 2 mins then went in settled him then out for another 2 mins. I think he was happy with the comforter.

I'd say 6 months is the perfect age, the older they get the more alert they are, stubborn and set into their way of settling. I know friends who have 18mo and they still have to rock them to sleep.

I follow parent and baby coach of insta, excellent reels and a podcast which helped me.

SnackSizeRaisin · 26/04/2022 09:08

I did it at 6 months with one of mine. We had a lot of crying at first (1-2 hours) so just did the bedtime sleep initially then the full night 2 weeks later.

Each time took 3 nights with the first being the worst. Since then there has been huge improvement although it took a month or 2 to get to reliable full nights of sleep. My baby was a particularly terrible sleeper and I was at my wit's end - he was never going to be one of those grizzle for 5 minute types.

My 2 tips would be firstly once you have decided what approach to take, be completely consistent with every night wake (don't give up at 4 am and put them in your bed) and secondly, night wean at the same time.

Get your ducks in a row first so ensure everyone is in good health, baby isn't teething, get a good bedtime routine, ensure baby isn't cold, hungry etc, do it at a time when you aren't going on holiday soon.

I suggest Andrea Grace gentle sleep book (it's v cheap second hand) I read a lot of books and that was the most pragmatic and helpful.

notalwaysalondoner · 01/05/2022 22:45

I personally seem to have had a different experience to most in that I sleep trained but it didn’t work long term so not sure if I’d do it again. We did at six months with support of a sleep consultant and went from 3-5 minutes checking in to 5-8 minutes after 3 nights to 10-14 minutes after 3 nights. It worked after about 7-8 days but he already had good sleep habits in terms of self settling at bedtime and nap time so it was the night wakings that were the issue. However we then went on holiday and he was jet lagged and that screwed it all up and I think his habits weren’t established enough yet. I also screwed it up by going back to feeding him twice a night while on holiday. It’s two months later and we’re still stuck in a rut of 2-3 night wakings a night and I feed him to sleep every time…

I think the fact he wasn’t night weaned was a big issue as I was never totally confident he wasn’t hungry. So I’d echo the advice above - be totally 100% consistent, probably only do it if you’re happy to night wean him or have a feed at a fixed time like a dream feed so you’re not second guessing if he’s hungry, and also add to only do it if you’re able to have at least a month preferably two where you can make sure you can cement those habits eg not going on holiday with a time difference or sharing a house with other people where you might feel uncomfortable letting him self settle loudly.

UpToMyElbowsInDiapers · 01/05/2022 23:52

Our GP said it was ok to night wean once the baby reached 11lbs. That said, at 5-6 months I didn’t want to go cold turkey on night feeds (personal preference, plenty of friends did). So I basically said: “wakes before 2am, Ferber; wakes after 2am, one feed. Any subsequent wakes, Ferber.” The kids caught on after the second night and were ok with one feed until around 8-9 months when we encouraged them to sleep through.