Sleeping Through the Night!

Hi! I would recommend the "No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley.

I made the same mistake with my first child, as well. With my new baby (who's 8 months now) I put him to bed drowsey and allow him to fall asleep on his own. I don't let him scream/cry, but I do let him fuss. He usually only fusses for a couple minutes and then passes out cold.

I like both the Weissbluth and the Ferber books on sleep. We used the Ferber method with our 14 month old son, with some modifications (he stopped taking a bottle at 7 months and I work all day - so I didn't have the heart not to nurse him at least once/night until he turned one). Now that he's "night weaned" he sleeps from 7:15-6:45 without a peep. You *do* need to be prepared to listen to a little crying while your child figures out how to settle themselves. But if you're consistent they learn *really* fast - like in 2-3 days - how to do it. We started working on good sleep with our son when he turned about 5 months old.

Hi K.-

My story is almost exactly like Karen's below and but my daughter was waking up sometimes several times a night. She's almost 16 mos old and I was at rock bottom from exhaustion. I had read several sleep training books and we followed them loosely all along. I picked up Ferber's again and we very, very loosely followed it. Meaning we just decided we would rub her back in her crib to help get her to sleep and if she woke during the night we would follow his schedule as to when to go into her (with a few times cheating and going in before it was time if we felt that her cry was more needy). We also decided to remove me from the mix and only have my husband go in.

Good news is we had her sleeping thru the night in 3 days with almost zero crying. It was totally painless. We realized I was the big problem. She wanted to see me and therefore when my husband went in, she didn't seem as happy and found it not worth waking for. One night she cried for 25 minutes during the night and that was really it. Each night she wakes up and cries at some point for less than 1 minute and we don't go in. She's back to sleep on her own in no time. So maybe try a few different things and see if it helps or works. If we knew this sooner, I could have been sleeping good months ago possibly.

Good luck!
D.

Sounds exactly like me. I have a 12 month old and am due with my 2nd child in October and my 12 month old just began sleeping through the night about 2 weeks ago. Only difference is that i would succumb to giving him a bottle so he would go back to sleep. I was getting frustrated because i knew i didn't want to deal with this when the new one came because i would have other issues so i wanted to break it. No kidding, he just eventually stopped it himself. Be patient. I think too, so you don't have the smae prob with the next one is that you should start early and make sure that when you do put down your new one for bed that you always put them down awake so they can soothe themself to sleep. I did and it seems to be a big help. I now hear my son sometimes wake up but he puts himself back to sleep and doesn't cry for me or a bottle. THat's my suggestion--be patient with your 1st one and for the new baby--begin early by making sure you don't have them fall asleep in your arms before bed--always put them down awake! Good luck and Congrats!

A book I found some helpful advice in was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. Like any parenting book I didn't agree with /everything/ in it, but it is definitely worth a read!

K.

Hi there! I can't be much help because my son is 9 months and if he sleeps from 8:00pm to 6:30am without getting up crying it's like we should throw a party! I was so by the book from day one but found that no matter what babies just don't go by the book!!!! My mom finally gave me the best advice, as simple as it is: "They're only little for a little while - do what you can and enjoy this time." I tell myself that over and over when Logan is having a rough night or just can't get settled down without a little of mamma or daddy's cuddling! (we typically lay him down awake and let him go to sleep, but like I said, babies are not 'by the book' - they do whatever feels natural!!!). Good luck - and sweet dreams!!!!!!!!!

K.,
We have tried several sleep techniques with our 2 boys.

When my oldest was a baby (he's almost 4 now), we read "The No Cry Sleep Solution" and did a little cry it out/ferber. I too was guilty of letting him fall asleep in my arms and then putting him in bed.

I know it sounds a bit like a condradiction, but we used both No cry Sleep Solution as well as crying it out.

We are doing MUCH better with my 2nd son (11 months old). We put him down sleepy and he was able to put himself to sleep fairly early. It was such a dream to do it differently this time.
B.

Hi K.! I can relate! My son, who is now 4, did not sleep through the night until he was 2 1/2!!! We rocked him to sleep too...for a long time. The way I think about it, we only get a limited number of years where we can rock them...so when he needed it, I rocked him. I don't get to do that now. :( I think he eventually fell into it on his own. My daughter (who is now 3 months) does sleep through the night...most nights. She will wake up once probably 2 times a week. MUCH better than my son was! We rock her to sleep too! Your new son is a different person! Hopefully he will sleep through the night for you.

I think you pretty much answered your own question with how to prevent it with the next child...not rocking him to sleep. :) The rocking has become a crutch to your child's sleep it sounds like. He doesn't know how to fall asleep without the rocking, so when he wakes up in the night (as all children do I hear), he cannot fall asleep again without the rocking (whereas other children would fall back to sleep on their own without anyone else ever knowing they woke). Though the rocking is so comforting and precious, it has become a burden. I too also recommend the Healthy sleep habits, Happy child book. It's been a while since I read it (like 3 years), but I remember it having a lot of great input. To train him again to fall asleep on his own, I would try to gradually lessen what you do for him in the middle of the night, whether it's shortening the time you hold him, to maybe rubbing his back instead of holding him, to standing next to his crib and just being there, to standing by the door, to standing just out of sight...whatever it takes to progress. There may be some tears, but whatever you can do to progress him to learn to fall asleep without the crutch of needing someone to hold him will help for restful sleep for him as well as you. With preventing it for the next too, a schedule/routine really helps to know when they are tired. My kids didn't LOOK tired when I laid them down, though I knew when they were tired and they would go right to sleep for their full nap or through the night, whatever it might be. Oftentimes when you wait til they show signs of being tired, that's when they are getting OVERtired and it actually gets HARDER for them to fall asleep. Gotta ideally catch them when they are tired, but not too tired, which is why the schedule/routine helps SOO much. Routines helps so much with healthy restful sleep. Helps them to take full meals helping them to take full naps (1.5-3 hours depending on age) instead of the cat naps that don't allow them that REM sleep. And go ahead and cuddle and rock your babies, but just do so while they are awake, so they don't DEPEND on it for sleep. Best wishes to you and enjoy your precious little ones!!