We sleep trained at 6 months. His main sleep problem was his pacifier would fall out and roll away. We received a Wubanub as a shower gift and a friend suggested we try that. I figured that it wouldn't help but it worked. He was old enough at 6 months to find that and pick it up and put it back in himself. I would suggest trying that if you haven't already.
My mom refinished our hardwood floors when we were young. She is not super handy but they turned out well. Like someone else said, make sure you have the right tools for the job.
Your kid, your rules. If they can't follow them then I wouldn't let them watch him alone. You know your kid better than anyone else, how he reacts, what happens when he stays up late or doesn't get naps so it is easy for anyone else to say, "oh I will just keep him up late" because they don't have to deal with a screaming baby the next day.
We received most of our stuff as shower gifts. Most people in my group of friends and family are the same. It is not assumed that someone will just give you all of their stuff. And I guess, no one has the guts to say that they want all of your baby stuff when they don't know if you are done having kids or not. If I want you to have it I will offer.
Ferber - We did 3, 5, 10, 15 minute checks the first night. Took about 45 minutes to fall asleep. Second Night - checks at 10 minutes, about 20 minutes to fall asleep. Third night he fell right to sleep.
I think that we really just lucked out and sleep trained at the right time. We changed several things about his routine and it must have just clicked. He was about 6 months, 1 week.
Naps - he suddenly didn't want to nap on me anymore so I put him in his crib and he just went to sleep.
Things that worked for us - Wubanub - this was suggested by a friend, I laughed it off, but we got one at a shower and it worked. My kid's main problem was the pacifier staying in his mouth. Once he could reach it and it didn't roll away he was set. We also started really getting serious about solids, we started setting a much earlier bedtime (8:30).
In a matter of a few days he went from up 6-8 times a night to sleeping 12 hours straight almost every night. It was amazing and I still go to bed every night thinking that this might be the night that he stops sleeping so well.
We gave him a sippy cup of water to play with/explore around 7 months. It took him a few tries to get anything out of it, but he can now. Not his favorite, but he will drink from it if he wants to.
DS (4 months) will now only sleep in our bed with one of us in it or in our arms. I know some of this is the 4 month wakeful that we have to get through, but H travels a lot and I refuse to go to bed at 7:30 when the baby is tired and I can't hold him all night because I still have to prep for the next day. H and I are considering sleep training over 4th of July weekend. I just ordered the Ferber book to fully understand the program, but if you did CIO:
1. How old was your child? 2. How long did they actually cry (like minutes, hours, all night, etc.)? 3. If it worked, how long did it take (days, weeks, months)? Or did it never work? 4. Any advice?
Thank you!
1. 6 months, 1 week
2. Not sure exactly, I would guess around 45 min on night one, maybe 10 night 2.
3. 2 days
4. Go somewhere where you can't here them cry. Have a heart of stone. Things got SO much better for us when we did it. I don't know that it would have worked for us sooner. We did several new things at the same time and I think it just worked out that it was the right combo at the right time.
I would say if they can be civil to each other or at the very least avoid each other just have one party. It is not like they are going to have 2 school plays, 2 band concerts, or 2 dance recitals just so they can each go to a separate one.
Something like this happened with my nephew. They started giving him showers. Maybe that would work for you guys. A detachable showerhead would probably be helpful with that.
My kid doesn't feed himself, but he will turn away from the spoon when he is full. Something that our ped said that he can have as much real food as he wants, it is not like is going to overdose on bananas and peas. All within reason I am sure, but it is not like you are feeding him candy.
I feel like we haven't done one of these in awhile and I'm seeing lots of new names - yay! Let's get to know each other.
1. How long have you been on the boards? 2. How many kids do you have and what ages? 3. Work, SAHP, combo of the two? 4. Where do you live? 5. Tell us something interesting about yourself. 6. Any other random tidbits you'd like to share.
1. Since 2010 or so, not posting that whole time. Started on TK.
We started at 5.5 months but really got much more regular at 6.5 months. He didn't show much interest until 7 months. He is still doing all purees and has probably had 15 different foods - all fruits and veggies so far.
Our doctor told us to start with orange veggies, then green veggies, then fruit. (I guess because orange veggies are semi-sweet, green veggies then when they can actually swallow and can get the hang of it and then fruit because it is usually the sweetest. We have also read that you don't necessarily have to do fruits last.) He seems to take the veggies the best for whatever reason. We introduce a new food about every 3 days, but sometimes it is more like 4 or 5 depending on what we have in the house.
My almost 7.5 month old recently has come to think that it is hilarious to screech at us - when he is happy, bored, mad, excited, etc. Did you find for your child that this was a stage? When did they stop? Anything to do to encourage a new habit?