Sleep training- how long did it take for you?

[sleephelpp]

Hello,

We have decided to sleep train 6 month old using controlled crying.

I don't want to hear any negatives about sleep training. I am so sleep deprived and it's having a huge impact on my mental health. We need to do something about it. Baby is currently fed/rocked to sleep and cosleeping. Wakes every 1-2 hours and feeds back to sleep.

If you did sleep training, how long did it take to see an improvement? How long until crying stopped? Just want to give myself realistic expectations.

Hi @sleephelpp . I was searching for information about sleep training and came across your post. Sorry you didn't get any replies. Did you go ahead with sleep training in the end? Did it work? I'm thinking about doing sleep training with my 7mo.

Hi @chickpea1982 i have 6 month old and at about 5.5 months I just felt so exhausted and during the night I almost dropped her so I decided to do sleep training.
i think the effectiveness depends on 2 things- your consistency and what your goals are.

i have no issue with wakeups, but i want them to be after long stretches of sleep and short wakeups eg feed and back to sleep. My daughter was co sleeping and needed to be rocked to sleep and would wake 1hr after being put down then end up in my bed. After that it felt like she was never in a deep sleep- if I moved she woke. It was awful!
I bought just chill mama course and applied the principles but basically main thing was to encourage her to fall asleep independently. So I put her down awake and first night I checked on her and placed hand on chest shushing her every 3 minutes- she was asleep in 26 minutes. And slept for 4 hours (longest stretch!) she spent the whole night in her cot.
next night she took 17 minutes third night about 15 mins but no crying just babble and fell asleep.
we found at about 2 weeks in it felt like it had stopped working but I persevered with the techniques and held the boundary of no go sleeping and we seem to have got past the blip.

so for me it’s been revolutionary but not no wakeups and she isn’t sleeping through the night however that wasn’t my goal. I’m content with 2 wakeups which are short and feed and sleep again. She is only on one solid meal a day so I am content with giving milk.

my daughter is a different baby since we did it. She’s happier and genuinely seems rested.
the way I see it, it can be as harsh or as gentle as you want it to be but you have to be consistent.

@Pinklilly tell me more! Did you leave the room in between? And did you shush her until she stopped crying or just so she knew you were there?

@chickpea1982 we did do sleep training and it was so worth it. We used Calm and Bright Sleep Support (basically controlled crying- follow wake windows. put them down awake, go in at intervals to rub/shush). With this plan you start with the first nap on day 1. It was a tough day but night 1 my son only woke once (compared to every 1-2 hours).

2 weeks later, my son sleeps through the night and naps in his cot for 1-2 hours three times a day.

I'd definitely recommend it but you have to be consistent and it is difficult at first, but my son is a much happier baby now he's sleep trained x

@Setfiretotherain1 hey! So I stayed in the room but out of sight of little one- that wasn’t intended it’s just the chair isn’t in sight of the cot. But I think it’s for the best as my daughter gets more stimulated and irritated if she sees me but I’m not picking her up.
In terms of shushing I did try different ways, initially I just put my hand on chest and said shush 3/4 times and then walked away l.
when we went through the “blip” I started to shush until she was calm but I soon found that she was now relying on me saying shush for ages so I reverted back to 3/4 times and step away.

tbh now I rarely have to do it for naps or beginning of night sleep. She just falls asleep after a babble or sometimes a little cry but not even a minute.
in the night however if she wakes and I don’t think she needs a feed I then do the shush few times and move back into my bed. She is still in our room but I guess she maybe realises I’m there with the shush and that’s enough?

I have tried on occasion to deviate from the “plan” like if it’s 3am and I’ve already tried shushing for 15/20 mins but honestly all it seems to do is create a precedent for the night- eg if I rock her or pick her up. So I am quite consistent now with the shush approach.