I know things could change at any moment, but I wanted to celebrate at least momentary success and post about it in case anyone else is reading/thinking about the book!
It took 3 weeks of what felt like back breaking picking up/putting down and patience but LO just fell asleep 100% on his own from wide awake! I. am. thrilled. It was worth the work... and now I need to start working on naps 
cantaloupe / 6630 posts
Awesome job! I think this is the method we'll try if we need to. So pleased for you!
pomegranate / 3225 posts
woooh hooo! Wish I could get on the same track. I didn't find the book that helpful, it seemed like a lot of try this, try that to me, but I'm so glad it helped you!
kiwi / 549 posts
So glad the PU/PD method worked for you guys. We did that too, to teach X to sleep in his crib. Hope you're able to get it to work with naps!
persimmon / 1035 posts
nice!!!
i have heard of the book, but don;t really know what the theory is. can anyone summarize? although i did hear on HB that it's good to put your baby in his crib awake but drowsy so i;ve been doing that. is there more to it as well? (i am working on an earlier bedtime and better afternoon naps so i'm curious).
honeydew / 7687 posts
@travelgirl1 @red_seattle thanks!
@blackbird honestly the book seems 99% too long; it was most valuable to me mostly just in that it was saying what I wanted to do would and could work, I just had to be patient and look at the long-term gains.
I agree with @kml636 that it is a little all over the place!
honeydew / 7687 posts
@PurpleUnicorn: I can at least summarize what I took away from it - basically that moving in very slow increments from what you were doing to put baby to sleep to how you'd like baby to go to sleep, will work. She gives two methods for soothing basically - shh/patting (leaving them in the crib, shushing and patting) or pick up/put down (picking them up to soothe, putting them down once they're settled). The idea is that if you put them down and they get upset or cry, you soothe them over and over again until they settle themselves. She does make the distinction of fussing/mantra crying vs. crying crying for soothing.
So for us, we were rocking all the way asleep, letting him sleep a few minutes on us, then transferring and mentally begging that he stay asleep. Of course, he'd pop wide awake frequently and scream hysterically because he'd been woken, and we'd have to restart. It sucked.
We started with really, really drowsy. Eyes completely shut, motionless, but still with some muscle tone. He knew he was going into his crib. At first, if he moved any of his limbs at all he would scream and we'd restart. Then he could handle that, and we worked on if his eyes popped open that he could settle himself... and then more and more awake. The tears and screaming stopped after about week 1- something clicked and he definitely "got" that we were working together for him to sleep instead of fighting me.
Hope that helps, not sure if it makes any sense!
persimmon / 1035 posts
@scg00387: it does make perfect sense and i'm glad to hear it because i feel this is similar to what we've been doing all along! we've been pretty lucky since the beginning that he could sleep in his bassinet but we always put him in once he was in a deep sleep (and then he wouldn't wake up that way). so one day i just put him in awake but drowsy and within about 8 minutes, he was sound asleep. i was so amazed! And i've been doing it ever since. And on nights where he has more trouble settling down, i'll soothe him by leaning over and holding his hands and shushing! And it works. I don't usually have to even pick him up, unless he becomes wide awake, then i try again. So that sounds pretty similar i think? So glad it's worked for you! i totally understand your joy!
honeydew / 7687 posts
@PurpleUnicorn: definitely sounds similar, I wish it had been that easy for us Sounds like you have a great sleeper, which is awesome.
persimmon / 1035 posts
@scg00387: it is awesome. i just need to work on earlier bedtimes and this week we;ve been transitioning him to the pnp as he is almost too big for his bassinet, so he's been waking up more in the night. that's why your post caught my attention. I hope your LO continues to sleep on his own!
pomegranate / 3595 posts
@scg00387: thanks so much for sharing this! how old is your lo? i have now borrowed the book a few times from the library but have been stalling on making changes, but this may help push me in the right direction. So glad to hear everyone is sleeping better in your house!
honeydew / 7687 posts
@MamaCate: he is just 4 months this week, i started actively working on it three weeks Ago and it took a full week before I saw any difference. I totally understand though, its so hard to stand up and start trying when you know its going to take longer, at least at first. For me it was necessary logistically because I'm so short and he's so heavy I was starting to have problems getting him in without hitting his feet on the rail! Hope it works well for you
bananas / 9357 posts
Yay! That's so awesome! Glad you stuck with it and were able to be patient with it. I have the book but there is so much text, I haven't read all of it! Sounds like what we've been doing tho. We've slowly been working on putting him down not completely asleep and letting him fall asleep on his own. We've definitely seen improvement over the last few weeks.
grapefruit / 4903 posts
That's awesome! My LO is a week younger than yours and I definitely think she's getting easier to put to sleep. Keeping her that way on the other hand? She's still waking to eat (what feels like) a bajillion times a night...
wonderful grape / 20453 posts
@scg, kind of like 90% of the books out there? ha. I swear, most of them could just give me a checklist/bullets on the first page and I"d be set! I don't need to read all the details!
squash / 13764 posts
@scg00387: that's great! ARe you doing it for naps or night time? It sounds similar to what we're doing for naps, which has worked well (sometimes, anyway), but I wonder if it would be worth it for me to read the book and see if there's anything i missed...
honeydew / 7687 posts
@rattles: aw bummer! We were at one wake and it slowly inched earlier and earlier and turned into two wakes, so we introduced a dream feed at 10 which has gotten us back to one. Hope your LO sleeps smoother soon!
@hilsy85: I've been doing the same thing for night & naps but night has definitely had much quicker, more marked improvement. Naps have been better, but I can definitely see when I've lost "the window" of sleepiness of trying to get him in the crib and then it sometimes unravels from there. Sometimes I struggle with how long to keep at it/when to give in or give up on a nap... I feel like the nap solution book doesn't really address that! But, I am hoping the improvement will continue, albeit at a slower pace than nights.
I should add that I also think, for my LO, introducing an aden + anais lovey blanket has been a big help too. Our pediatrician ok'd it and I can breathe through it when it's all folded up - he likes to suck on it and rub it on his face (he doesn't/won't take a pacifier).
honeydew / 7687 posts
@blackbird: seriously! what drives me NUTS about sleep/baby books is how much time they spend talking about how important sleep is.. if I'm reading your book, my baby is a crappy sleeper, which means I have little free time to spare, and yet you're going to try and impress upon me that sleep is good in that little free time?? Really?? Preaching to the choir!
persimmon / 1035 posts
@scg00387: i was thinking about this thread at 3am last night.....as I got up to put the paci in my LO's mouth because he woke up. And I realized that I didn't know if this something the book teaches you to do? Everything I said above works in conjunction with putting him to sleep with a pacifier! so maybe we need to do more work than i thought?
honeydew / 7687 posts
@PurpleUnicorn: its up to you and if you mind paci replacing I guess! Honestly I don't remember if it talks about them. My LO won't take one so I would've skipped right over those parts.
cantaloupe / 6146 posts
@scg00387: YAYAYAYAYAYY!
PS hilarious about "how important sleep is"
honeydew / 7687 posts
@pastemoo: has your LO's sleep gotten any better? I know I remember a thread that sounded pretty awful though I had no helpful advice to share 
coconut / 8299 posts
@scg00387: PU/PD worked great for us too (on my son). It took a week of patience but it paid off at the end! He went through several sleep regressions so we had to re-do this method every time, but it was less labor-intensive than the very first time.
honeydew / 7687 posts
@banana: yes! we were at my folks for a week and he went down much sleepier than normal because we shared a room with him, etc. but we're back on track after a little hiccup our first night home!
hostess / watermelon / 14932 posts
this is what we've been doing too, though I didn't realize it was a method! when she wakes up screaming I go to her and burp or soothe her, and after awhile if I knew she didn't have gasp anymore I'd soothe her in the crib. it's tiring for sure, but easier on my nerves than CIO would be!
| Today | Monthly Record | |
|---|---|---|
| Topics | 0 | 0 |
| Posts | 1 | 0 |
Ask for Help
Make a Suggestion
Frequently Asked Questions
Bee Levels
Acronyms
Most Viewed Posts
Hellobee Gold
Hellobee Recipes
Hellobee Features
Hellobee Contests
Baby-led Weaning
Bento Boxes
Breastfeeding
Newborn Essentials
Parties
Postpartum Care Essentials
Sensory Play Activities
Sleep Training
Starting Solids Gear
Transitioning to Toddler Bed
All Series
Who We Are
About the Bloggers
About the Hostesses
Contributing Bloggers
Apply to Blog
Apply to Hostess
Submit a Guest Blog
Hellobee Buttons
How We Make Money
Community Policies
- Google Plus
- Stumbleupon
- Twitter
- Facebook
- Pinterest
- Favorite0
27 comments