At Addison's 4-month check-up, her doctor said she should be sleeping 10-hrs a night and there's no need for her to be waking up through the night to nurse. He said if I want to nurse her through the night, it's up to me and it's fine - but just that at her age she should be able to sleep through the night. The doctor suggested "sleep training" for a few nights to get Addison to learn how to fall asleep and stay asleep on her own.
So, of course I googled it and here's the method I found!
First, wait until your baby is physically and emotionally ready to sleep through the night, usually between 4 and 6 months of age. Ferber doesn't designate a precise age at which to begin his technique, since it can vary so much depending on the child. If you're not sure whether your baby's ready, you can always give it a try. If you encounter too much resistance, wait a few weeks and try again.
Step 1
Put your baby in his crib when she's sleepy but still awake.
Step 2
Say goodnight to your child and leave the room. If she cries when you leave, let her cry for a predetermined amount of time.
Step 3
Go back into the room for no more than a minute or two to pat and reassure your baby. Leave the light off and keep your voice quiet and soothing. Don't pick her up. Leave again while she's still awake, even if she's crying.
Step 4
Stay out of the room for a little bit longer than the first time and follow the same routine, staying out of the room for gradually longer intervals, each time returning for only a minute or two to pat and reassure her, and leaving while she's still awake.
Step 5
Follow this routine until your child falls asleep when you're out of the room.
Step 6
If your child wakes up again later, follow the same routine, beginning with the minimum waiting time for that night and gradually increasing the intervals between visits until you reach the maximum for that night.
Step 7
Increase the amount of time between visits to the nursery each night. In most cases, according to Ferber, your baby will be going to sleep on her own by the third or fourth night — a week at the most. If your child is very resistant after several nights of trying, wait a few weeks and then try again.
How long should I leave my child alone?
In his book, Ferber suggests these intervals:
First night: Leave for three minutes the first time, five minutes the second time, and ten minutes for the third and all subsequent waiting periods.
Second night: Leave for five minutes, then ten minutes, then 12 minutes.
Make the intervals longer on each subsequent night.Keep in mind that there's nothing magical about these waiting periods. You can choose any length of time you feel comfortable with.
We started this on Friday night, leaving her to cry for 1-minute, 5-minute and 7-minute intervals. After the 7-minute cry-out, I brought her in bed with us, as I normally do in the middle of the night. So not much progress, but I did not nurse her so that was a huge step forward!
Saturday night, the second night, at first seemed to be more of a success! We did 5-minute, 10-minute and 15-minute cry out time. After the 5-minute cry, I put the paci back in her mouth, put my hand on her chest and she fell asleep immediately!
But then after the 10-minute cry it was very difficult to get her to settle down and once I did it only last several minutes and then began the 15-minute cry. Once we tried soothing her after the 15-minute cry, she would not settle down so I took her out of the pack n play and into bed with us. That didn't work so we tried swaddling and other soothing. Then Tim took her into the nursery and rocked her in the chair until she finally calmed down. Then he brought her into bed and she started winding up again, so I nursed her and that did the trick.
I don't *mind nursing her in the middle of the night, most of the time I can actually fall back asleep while she nurses - but like the doctor said, I don't want to HAVE to nurse her through the night. Especially if I ever go back to work, waking up for 2am feedings are going to take a toll on me. My other motivation is to be able to move Addison into her nursery at night. The pack n play has been set-up bedside for four months now and I am getting quite annoyed by it!
This will take awhile, but as long as we are making progress towards something, that's good. Baby steps!!!
So, of course I googled it and here's the method I found!
First, wait until your baby is physically and emotionally ready to sleep through the night, usually between 4 and 6 months of age. Ferber doesn't designate a precise age at which to begin his technique, since it can vary so much depending on the child. If you're not sure whether your baby's ready, you can always give it a try. If you encounter too much resistance, wait a few weeks and try again.
Step 1
Put your baby in his crib when she's sleepy but still awake.
Step 2
Say goodnight to your child and leave the room. If she cries when you leave, let her cry for a predetermined amount of time.
Step 3
Go back into the room for no more than a minute or two to pat and reassure your baby. Leave the light off and keep your voice quiet and soothing. Don't pick her up. Leave again while she's still awake, even if she's crying.
Step 4
Stay out of the room for a little bit longer than the first time and follow the same routine, staying out of the room for gradually longer intervals, each time returning for only a minute or two to pat and reassure her, and leaving while she's still awake.
Step 5
Follow this routine until your child falls asleep when you're out of the room.
Step 6
If your child wakes up again later, follow the same routine, beginning with the minimum waiting time for that night and gradually increasing the intervals between visits until you reach the maximum for that night.
Step 7
Increase the amount of time between visits to the nursery each night. In most cases, according to Ferber, your baby will be going to sleep on her own by the third or fourth night — a week at the most. If your child is very resistant after several nights of trying, wait a few weeks and then try again.
How long should I leave my child alone?
In his book, Ferber suggests these intervals:
First night: Leave for three minutes the first time, five minutes the second time, and ten minutes for the third and all subsequent waiting periods.
Second night: Leave for five minutes, then ten minutes, then 12 minutes.
Make the intervals longer on each subsequent night.Keep in mind that there's nothing magical about these waiting periods. You can choose any length of time you feel comfortable with.
We started this on Friday night, leaving her to cry for 1-minute, 5-minute and 7-minute intervals. After the 7-minute cry-out, I brought her in bed with us, as I normally do in the middle of the night. So not much progress, but I did not nurse her so that was a huge step forward!
Saturday night, the second night, at first seemed to be more of a success! We did 5-minute, 10-minute and 15-minute cry out time. After the 5-minute cry, I put the paci back in her mouth, put my hand on her chest and she fell asleep immediately!
But then after the 10-minute cry it was very difficult to get her to settle down and once I did it only last several minutes and then began the 15-minute cry. Once we tried soothing her after the 15-minute cry, she would not settle down so I took her out of the pack n play and into bed with us. That didn't work so we tried swaddling and other soothing. Then Tim took her into the nursery and rocked her in the chair until she finally calmed down. Then he brought her into bed and she started winding up again, so I nursed her and that did the trick.
I don't *mind nursing her in the middle of the night, most of the time I can actually fall back asleep while she nurses - but like the doctor said, I don't want to HAVE to nurse her through the night. Especially if I ever go back to work, waking up for 2am feedings are going to take a toll on me. My other motivation is to be able to move Addison into her nursery at night. The pack n play has been set-up bedside for four months now and I am getting quite annoyed by it!
This will take awhile, but as long as we are making progress towards something, that's good. Baby steps!!!
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7 comments:
good luck! I tried that with ethan but listening to him cry just broke my heart. Plus, sometimes he would cry because he had a wet diaper or something and i'd feel so guilty just leaving him there! Also, when he got older (and Zach just went through this too!) he'd get his legs and arms caught in the crib slats (even with the bumper pad attatched) and then it is a matter of them hurting themselves. My kids are both generally great sleepers without sleep training. It's funny how different pediatricians opinions are...ours always told me to nurse on demand, even at 4 months old! Eventually, the baby will learn it would rather sleep than eat! I have heard that sleep training works if you stick with it though!
Yea, it was rough the past couple nights. But she really does only wake up to nurse. I rarely have to change her diaper over night. It's happened where she wakes up crying and I DO change her diaper but she keeps crying - so now I don't even do it anymore. As soon as I let her nurse - she's fine. And I know she's not really even hungry, because she'll eat for like 10min and fall asleep. But if I put her back in the pack n play she wakes up and cries right away! She just wants to cuddle.
And yea, the pediatrician said there's nothing wrong with me nursing through the night - just that around 4mos of age, babies should be able to sleep through the night..and if I want to sleep through the night give sleep training a try. He left it up to me!! So yea, it's not like he's a mean doctor or something!
But since it didn't really work, I'm gonna give up this week and try again this weekend.
Oh and getting caught in the crib slats?!?! That's scary!!!! I thought cribs got recalled for that type of issue!!!
Have you tried putting her to bed earlier? Jules goes down for the night between 7 and 7:30 after a good feeding.
Last night, however, I wanted to make sure he slept through so I woke him up at 9:30 to "top him off" and he slept with no problems. I actually had to wake him up this morning to feed him before I left for work. (I felt bad, but he was so cute waking up and he went back to sleep.)
Surprisingly, going to bed earlier gives him the opportunity to sleep longer and better. The things you learn. Good luck!
Hmm...We usually start her bedtime routine of feeding, getting her in PJ's, reading her a story in the rocking chair and swaddling around 8-8:30 since she likes to flip out around 9pm. Maybe I'll try moving it up a little bit?
And I totally know what you mean about feeling bad waking them up, but how CUTE they are! Addison wiggles around like a worm and scrunches up her face whenever we've had to pick her up/take her out of the car seat when she's sleeping and it's SO adorable!
Getting caught in the crib slats was how Brian broke his ankle before he was a year old. At least that is what we think happened. He used to get his leg through the slats and then turn over. We did have bumpers but he could get under or over them. Some kids just never like to sleep the night--Cynthia woke up several times until she was much older (like 2 or 3 but by then we didn't have to deal with it since she could get up and use the bathroom or get back to sleep)
If the crib slats are big enough to fit the arms and legs through, they can get hurt. I think they used to be much wider back in the day, when kids could actually put their heads through or something!!
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