I feel so overwhelmed with information. How did you decide? What method did you use? Where did you get the info on how to proceed once you decided? I am fairly uncomfortable with cry it out.... But may be willing to try?
We never truly needed it before now... But I'm seriously desperate and feel like I need to try something to improve the sleep situation. (Nap and night time) he's 11 months in two days and his sleep has now sucked for about two or three months. Every other sleep issue we've encountered has usually gone back to normal within two weeks to a month.
Post by turtlegirl on Oct 13, 2015 17:55:59 GMT -5
We did extinction CIO. We decided on a bedtime and naptimes and just let them figure it out. Up to an hour of crying for bedtime, 30 mins for naps. Basically followed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child schedule for their age.
It just seemed like the fastest and easiest way for everyone. After just a few days the boys slept great. Even pretty darn good when sick or teething.
We will probably use it for DD sometime shortly after 4 months to get rid of the swaddle, paci and any other sleep crutches.
It's probably not the most popular method on the board, but it has worked great for our two kids so far.
I read parts of the Ferber book when I reached my breaking point like it sounds like you have. I was not really comfortable with cry it out either until I read the book and realized what exactly was happening and why. It was the best decision I ever made. It is so hard but when you are ready to get everyone sleeping better you will be so glad you did. I would definitely get his book and don't read it cover to cover but skip around to the parts that apply to your situation. Good luck, sleep issues suck!
I obsessively read the Troubelsome tots blog, read all the common sleep books AND hired a sleep consultant. What ended up working was full extinction CIO.
I toughed it out with DS's horrible horrible sleep until 18 months. The SLS was an abject FAILURE, so we did classic Ferber (with checks). I bought & read the book ahead of time. It worked extremely well. Night 1 was 55 mins of crying, which is ironic considering we had previously decided to give up at 60 minutes. Night 2 was 35 mins (and he STTN). Night 3 was 10 minutes, and he whimper-fussed for another week or two after that. But he put himself to sleep and STTN.
Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 13, 2015 20:11:11 GMT -5
We did Ferber because I liked the idea of progressive checks. It worked great but DD was 5.5 months so I don't have experience with an older baby.
The key thing I would say is that you and your partner need to be on the same page with whatever you do. If you're uncomfortable with CIO, there are other options out there you can try first. And be consistent with whatever you try! Sticking to the plan is important. Good luck!
The Sleep Lady Shuffle is where we have found the most success but I find it to be a giant pain. It normally takes us 1-2 weeks to complete the shuffle and I want to stab myself the entire time. But it does seem to work.
Exactly this. The SLS is effective but it does take awhile. We also had to redo it a few times (after getting molars and moving to a new house) but each time we redid it, it took less time.
I read both the sleep lady book and Ferber. I adopted the sleep lady "schedule" for the day time which helped naps. I then tried the shuffle for bedtime but once I got to the doorway it fell apart.
So then I did Ferber, pretty much by the book and it worked. It was hard, but it worked.
So, you kind of have to try things out and see how your lo responds and go from there. And it's OK to stop and wait longer or try something else. I would just say to try a method for a week or so before giving up.
We did extinction CIO. We decided on a bedtime and naptimes and just let them figure it out. Up to an hour of crying for bedtime, 30 mins for naps. Basically followed Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child schedule for their age.
We did this, but no time limit. DS didn't have trouble falling asleep for naps or bedtime (go figure) but he had a bad habit of waking up MOTN and wanted to be fed to fall back asleep. The first night he cried for 1 hour, 15 minutes. He was in his PNP in our bedroom. It was awful for me and DH, but we stuck to it. Next night, he cried MOTN for 45 minutes. Third night, he cried MOTN for 5 minutes. Fourth night he didn't cry, and from then on he either stopped waking or was putting himself back to sleep without making noise. Our lives were so much better when we all started getting better sleep.