Which sleep training or CIO method did you use?

[Deleted]

Ugh, I need to get serious about this. 

Edit: Any reading materials that helped you?

Edit Edit: Please do not respond of your child ended up a serial killer. 

[Brie]

Ferber.

[scribellesam]

Straight Ferber didn't work for us, so I combined CIO intervals (of about 5 min) with the Sleep Lady shuffle (basically, you sit by the crib until baby falls asleep). DS would never fall asleep on his own for the longest time, even after an hour plus of CIO intervals, so this is what worked for us. It took about 3 months until he was able to fall asleep on his own.

I wanted to do full Sleep Lady shuffle but I got too frustrated just sitting there which is why I added in CIO intervals.

[rex]

Ferber. Buy the book!

I'm a wimp so I couldn't follow his time increments for check ins. I did 1, 3, 5 min the first day, 3, 5, 7, 10 the next, then aligned with Ferber the 3rd day with 5, 10, 12.

I didn't actually need the checks after day 1 but I set timers anyway.

we also have a standing agreement that if she wakes up after falling asleep we start at 5 min. we've also only needed that once when she woke up 15 min after sleeping and was smiling at my h (and then looking at me and fake crying! how does a 4m old know to do that?!) when he picked her up. she was punking h so I put a stop to that real quick.

[dcn]

Ferber. I read his book, and also referred to troublesometots.com.

[Deleted]

Ferber with a modified interval schedule.

[Deleted]

I read Ferber and The Sleep Easy Solution. I tried and failed a few times. I finally just let her CIO 20m before check ins- worked in 2-3 nights. I do recommend reading the books though

[turtlegirl]

Thought Ferber was a good read, but check ins just made my kids more hysterical. So we've done straight CIO with both boys. They are healthy and happy and good sleepers.

[redheadk]

Attempted No Cry Sleep Solution. There was a lot of crying and not any sleeping.

Read weissbluth and Ferber, decided to use Ferber. It worked like a charm (one week shy of 6 months).

[elcjet]

I read first:
Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth
Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight Workbook by Kim West

I loved reading about the science of sleep from Ferber and I picked up a ton regarding sleep associations.  Highly recommend it, even to those not sleep training because it still has some great information on sleep in it.


Weissbluth initially scared the crap out of me.  Believes in total extinction, and I wasn't ready for it.


So I tried the Sleep Lady Shuffle, but didn't implement it well enough and ended up going to a sleep consultant.  She picked out the best points for our family from all the research and helped formulate a plan for us to follow.  It ended up being fairly similar to total extinction, although we did go in and comfort her on the first wake up.  Just no picking up.


Anyway, this is really hard, but also such a gift to give your kid.  I scoffed at sleep training with DS because I was lucky to never have to do it.  With DD, waking every sleep cycle, she was a walking disaster and sleep training really helped her wake each day rested and happier.     

[Deleted]

Thanks, you guys. O still has pneumonia and will be doing the nebulizer for another two weeks or so, so I figure I can research during that time and implement it when she's healthier.

I don't know why but this is stressing me out.

[redheadk]

Feb 17, 2014 17:10:14 GMT -5 elcjet said:

I read first:
Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Ferber
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Weissbluth
Sleep Lady's Good Night Sleep Tight Workbook by Kim West

I loved reading about the science of sleep from Ferber and I picked up a ton regarding sleep associations.  Highly recommend it, even to those not sleep training because it still has some great information on sleep in it.


Weissbluth initially scared the crap out of me.  Believes in total extinction, and I wasn't ready for it.


So I tried the Sleep Lady Shuffle, but didn't implement it well enough and ended up going to a sleep consultant.  She picked out the best points for our family from all the research and helped formulate a plan for us to follow.  It ended up being fairly similar to total extinction, although we did go in and comfort her on the first wake up.  Just no picking up.


Anyway, this is really hard, but also such a gift to give your kid.  I scoffed at sleep training with DS because I was lucky to never have to do it.  With DD, waking every sleep cycle, she was a walking disaster and sleep training really helped her wake each day rested and happier.     

YES. Spot on.

[Deleted]

Eh, the "gift to your child" bullshit just made me feel worse with ds when nothing worked. I used ferber with dd and it did work. Thats a gift to me. I like ferber's book and dislike weisbluth's. Most others I looked at were ferber rip offs.

[schrodinger]

We attempted Ferber a few times and gave up when DD was littler. We tried at 6m, 8m, and 10m and DD would have none of it. The first time we tried the check ins, but gave up after 90 minutes. The second and third times we tried the check ins for a few days, then tried extinction for a few days. Again, we had to give up after an hour+ of crying. Finally, I night weaned at 12m and then we did Ferber (with modified check ins). DD finally started falling asleep on her own and STTN.

I know sleep training works for most people the first time, but for us it was an epic fail.

[curbsideprophet]

We used the Sleep Lady Shuffle (Kim West)

[drink227]

I have the sleep lady shuffle. DD is only 5 weeks so we aren't training yet. But it was highly recommended.

[jr009j]

Feb 17, 2014 18:25:30 GMT -5 @barefootbarista said:

I liked Weissbluth. I know lots of people don't, but he has other solutions than full extinction. One thing that was helpful to ke was to read that two nightwakings for feedings at 9mnths is normal.

I did full extinction.

All of this. Weissbluth really taught me a lot about sleep.

[ssmjlm]

Full extinction for going to sleep at 5.5m and same with night weaning at 9m.

E doesn't do well with any checks. It makes things 10x worse for everyone.

[dcn]

I also read and tried the sleep lady shuffle. It did help before i was ready to try cio. And i still refer to it, as i really like her example schedules and ideas on how to drop feedings, etc.

[countthestars]

Ferber for us!

[kangaroo11]

Sleep Easy Solution

[runner09]

Question to all - what age and did you use a pacifier?

We are having a regression due to sickness. I also found if feed DS 2x per night that he sleeps better (but this has been thru his sickness). I feel like he is never going to STTN . Going to bed is not an issue for us.

[noodleskooze]

We just let him cry. Checks made him more hysterical. :/

[ssmjlm]

Feb 17, 2014 19:23:36 GMT -5 runner09 said:

Question to all - what age and did you use a pacifier?

We are having a regression due to sickness. I also found if feed DS 2x per night that he sleeps better (but this has been thru his sickness). I feel like he is never going to STTN . Going to bed is not an issue for us.

I'm on the app, but we completely night weaned at 9m. No pacifier at night for us, just naps.

We had major sleep regressions after sickness and teething. We were all tired and miserable and I was barely making it through the day at work. I was ok with 1 wake up, but we were having 3, sometimes 4.

[Deleted]

We did Ferber at 18 months. But the book! DS was a horrible night sleeper, I wish we had done it sooner. I earmarked the section I wanted DH to read. We followed Ferber's check-in times. The outcome was pretty much what Ferber said it would be. First night 55 mins of crying w/ checks, next night 25 (and STTN!) next night 5, then just some fussing for another week or two. STTN ever since. I highly recommend Ferber, it worked great for us.

[Deleted]

Feb 17, 2014 19:23:36 GMT -5 runner09 said:

Question to all - what age and did you use a pacifier?

DS got one at 1 day old, and still has it at 23 months old. He only uses to sleep, it never leaves the crib. I have no plans to take it away. We did Ferber, and I would replace a thrown paci during the scheduled check-in times, but not any other times.

[winecheery]

Feb 17, 2014 16:59:17 GMT -5 dcn said:

Ferber. I read his book, and also referred to troublesometots.com.

This is us, but I did not read the book.

We've had total success with nighttime.  And a solid 5 days in a row of going down for the night with zero tears, even.  (That was incentive/encouragement for you!) I've not done it with naps, but I may start soon.  Naps are crap over here.

GL to you!

[buffysummers]

We did CIO at 8 months. DD is very stubborn and check ins just made things worse. It worked well, and she STTN for the first time on day 3!

[winecheery]

Feb 17, 2014 17:16:04 GMT -5 @bettyhomewrecker33 said:

Thanks, you guys. O still has pneumonia and will be doing the nebulizer for another two weeks or so, so I figure I can research during that time and implement it when she's healthier.

I don't know why but this is stressing me out.

Well of course it is!  If you go with any form of CIO, hearing your child cry and not immediately responding feels evil, and wrong!  The first night was def the worst for me.  But honestly, as a pp said, you are giving your LO a great gift, and teaching them one of their first important life skills, IMO.  

Now, when I see her wakeup on the monitor, look around, and rub her face and put herself back to sleep when she would have cried beforehand, I am so, so proud of her.  I know it sounds stupid.  But when she wakes now, it's due to hunger, or a very full diaper or similar discomfort, and we just change her and put her back in (sometimes she cries or fusses for like 10 mins) or I nurse her and just kiss her and put her in the crib.  No tears MOTN after a feeding ever.  She just rolls over and goes back to sleep.  

It's worth it. 

I hope you get some sleep soon!

[crazycakes]

Read TroublesomeTots.com and we did pretty much straight CIO. ETA: DD was about 7 months old.

I did say that if she cried for longer than an hour, I would go in and comfort her. The first night she cried for about 40 minutes then went to sleep. Second night she cried for about 18 minutes. Third night was less than 10 minutes. By the fourth night she just fussed for a few minutes. Now she usually goes down with minor fussing for a minute or two and that is it. Every once in a while she will cry for 5-10 minutes, but that's about it.

We nap trained at the same time, same thing. Although I will only let her cry for 15 minutes before going in to comfort her at nap time. 90% of the time she falls asleep within that time. If not, I rock her and sometimes nurse her a little bit and put her back down.

I have not tackled MOTN wake ups, though. She still bounces from waking up once a night to 5 times a night (rare). I nurse her at every wake up.

GL!