Sleep training

We had the same issues of taking ages to settle, rocking to sleep until we sleep trained. Now he's learnt to self sooth and I lay him down awake. He had a dummy and a comforter so when the dummy falls out he still has his comforter to help him x

@Rebecca which method did you use to sleep train? Do you have to do it during the night as well? Just wondering if he’s going to scream in the night as we live in a terrace.

Everyone’s different but sleep training in a lot of instances can just teach them that noone is going to come if they cry so they’ll find a way of self soothing. Many parents think great I’ve cracked it when in actual fact they’re crying to sleep. Each to their own but would avoid and continue to be responsive and showing them you’re a safe place for comfort. It builds an independant baby not a clingy baby in the long run. It’s natural for babies to wake up lots in the night for feed as tummies small. However the staying up thing - there’s a sweet spot where they’re half drowsy from waking up. If you can work out when that window is, they should sleep again quickly. Otherwise tire them out and try in 30 mins. 5 months is a huge cognitive leap so like us as adults, when we develop our brains go into overdrive which makes sleep harder. Do you have lullabies or white noise or a specific way of calming which they like?

Not sure how you’re feeding but breastfeeding works as their comfort, feed, calmer, warmth and I just feed to sleep/keep feeding until she’s tired enough. Can do it on a bottle to a degree. We’ve started purées early as she’s been ready to and found her sleep got even better than it already was. It’ll pay dividends when they’re 18-24 months and are able to emotionally regulate. I only have the one child but have a wide circle of mums and family who sleep trained and their babies character changed and now they struggle emotionally and are anxious. Should say some babies respond well to hard parenting regarding sleep but many don’t.

My eldest was an awful sleeper. Woke 10 times a night until he was about 7 months old. A few things changed- we switched to formula and we sleep trained. Can't say what worked, could just the age. But we went from 10 wake ups to 1 or none by 10 months. His temperament didn't change when we sleep trained and actually he went from crying every time he woke to waking up happy and smiling. He even sings himself to sleep sometimes. Happy to message about sleep training. My current nearly 5mo isnt the best sleeper either so I've already started working during the day at self settling, we've gone from rocking to sleep with lots of crying to him rolling onto his side in his cot and going to sleep in 5-10 minutes with no crying at all. So for me and for him sleep is a much more positive experience. I should also add that at no point did we do cry it out or even the cry for short periods of time.

I agree and we were worried sleep training was just letting him cry to sleep which I don’t want to do. We do a combination of bottle and breast and it doesn’t matter which I do. A typical night now is that he goes down at 7, wakes at 1ish (even if we do a dream feed) so we feed and then he will drift off in our arms and stay asleep for maybe 10 minutes in the crib and then wakes up crying so we soothe however we can, picking up if he can’t be settled any other way. This repeats for maybe an hour or so. Eventually he sleeps and then it repeats again at 3 and then again at 5. He can’t be having a good night sleep either and the current method feels traumatic for him too. I’ll also say we’ve tried co sleeping and he does the same thing.

I used 'cry it out' and it took 4 nights and the longest he cried for was 17 mins. I absolutely understand it isn't for everyone, we were super nervous doing it but it worked for us ☺️ I also did it when he woke for his night feeds too. X

@Rebecca thank you!

@Sophie oh yes please I’d love to hear more about how you did this! The naps also involve a lot of rocking and crying!

I've messaged you.

I 'trained' my baby at 4 months with the drowsy but awake method for bedtime routine. We did this cos we went through the sleep regression and he was waking every hour. Still not managed it for daytime naps though. The approach I used... Dress for bed, feed and a few books to read. If he rubs his eyes or just stares or uninterested I go into the room and put the white noise machine on and drop him into his cot. I use the phrase "it's bed time" a couple of times so they can start to associate this with the sleep pattern. Then I shush him and sit on the edge of the bed where he can't see me. If he's a bit upset I sing a nursery rhyme and rub his belly up and down (I get up close to him and reassure him I'm there. I think they go calmer when they hear you're voice). Mine does not have a dummy btw. He likes sleeping on his side and he might go from his back to his side a few times. I found this worked on the first or second night. It is worth it xx

@Haylee thanks so much. Did you just persist through any crying?