https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Fri, 10 Apr 2026 23:18:05 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2832793 Mon, 09 Jul 2018 10:33:41 +0000 periwinklebee 2832793@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JJ2626: Thank you! It's great to hear things are going so well!</p> <p>I feel like things are going well for us (though as a first time mom I'm always questioning myself!) LO goes down well now sleepy but awake - often he doesn't cry at all, when he does cry, it's fairly minimal. The most difficult part of it I think was convincing my husband we should train him to go down awake :silly: I haven't night weaned him, he always wakes up for a feed around 10:30 when I go to bed (and co sleeps from that point onward) and often has a quick feed in the middle of the night, which I'm usually pretty asleep for. My supply is not great during the day and I supplement with formula but I know from when I've pumped instead that it's pretty good at night - and LO never comes away acting hungry - so our arrangement works for us for now. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2832557 Fri, 06 Jul 2018 19:04:31 +0000 JJ2626 2832557@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I know this post is now a few weeks old so hopefully you've figured it out! But since looking through this post was helpful to me, wanted to share our sleep training experience. </p> <p>My LO is 4.5 months now, was sleeping well with usually only one wake up to eat starting just before 3 months until she was just over 4 months. During this time, we also struggled with getting her to eat enough during the day but that gradually got better by 4 months. </p> <p>At our 4 month well visit, the ped said we could sleep train her if we wanted to and eliminate the night feed, even though she wasn't always getting 24 ounces a day (she is FF) during the day and was only 12 pounds, because babies adjust to the elimination of the MOTN feed by eating more during the day within a few days. He said babies generally do not wake from hunger, they just eat because they are awake (kind of like adults)! Our LO also has mild reflux-she's generally a happy spitter and the doc reiterated that spit up always looks like more than it is and does not mean you need to feed her more because of the spit up.</p> <p>We weren't planning to sleep train right then because one wake up was ok with us, but following week she went through the 4 month regression and started waking 4 times! She was wearing the Merlin sleep suit when we trained her. Here is what we did based on a close friend who is a sleep coach's advice:</p> <p>-CIO because she says (and made sense to us) Ferber and checks make it all take longer which isn't great for baby or parent. In general, checks are for parents not baby.<br /> -Night 1-cried 35 mins at 10pm, 20 mins at 2am, and 10 mins at 4 and 5.<br /> -Night 2: Cried 30 mins off and on at 4am, but not really distressing cries, more like whining<br /> -Night 3: Wake up 3am and cried for 10 mins<br /> After this, she didn't really wke up for more than a minute once or twice a night and didn't cry-just whimpered a bit and went back to sleep. </p> <p>We had a blissful week of STTN, and then she learned to roll and is obsessed with it. She keeps waking herself by rolling and then cries because she can't get comfortable. We were told to just ride this out. The first night she was up for an hour, but the past couple of nights only a few minutes a few times. She doesn't want us to help her so we just leave her. </p> <p>All that said, I am a big proponent of sleep training. It really wasn't traumatizing or sad ( I know we got lucky that she didn't cry for hours), and we felt like we were teaching her a big part of being a functional person and making all of our lives better. She goes to bed by 7 and is usually up at 6/6:30 but has been having some early wake ups, which is apparently normal when they start STTN. We don't get her up until 5:30 even if she wakes before then. </p> <p>Sorry for the novel but hopefully this helps! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828841 Sun, 17 Jun 2018 21:29:43 +0000 periwinklebee 2828841@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: Thank you! Will review the chart! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828806 Sun, 17 Jun 2018 15:21:49 +0000 SweetiePie 2828806@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: good points.<br /> And for max awake time, I think our babies are similarly aged - mine was 4 months yesterday - he still can’t do more than like 1h-1h15min awake. Which I think is less than the charts say, but all babies are diffrent! We always take him back to his room at the one hour mark and change, sleep sack/swaddle, lights out. He’s asleep within 15 mins MOST of the time (I’d say 80% or more).<br /> So if the max wake time they can do is even 90 mins, you should put them in at the 1h15min mark so you avoid ovettirdness. It gives them a chance to settle and fall asleep pefore that adrenaline rush kicks in. It’s amaxing what a diff a few mins can make in their little bodies!<br /> I say this becuase that might be wayyyy less awake time than your baby is doing so it could be worth trying. It might take a few times before he doesn’t protest but I swear it’s like night and day, putting them down at the ideal time vs overtired. We were doing 90 mins up until maybe 3-4 weeks ago because that seemed reasonable for his age but naps were kind of a crap shoot. Shortening wake time plus blacking out his room with garbage bags made a drastic improvement. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828804 Sun, 17 Jun 2018 13:38:59 +0000 looch 2828804@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My view is that while YMMV, you will learn some principals of baby sleep by reading Feber and Weissbluth. Some methods may work, others not, but it gives you tools to put in your toolbox to try. Some of them, like an earlier bedtime leading to a later morning wakeup and key over tiredness signs are things that aren't super obvious until someone points them out to you.</p> <p>The other thing that was super helpful was the max awake time chart. It's been posted a number of times, but the idea is that if you abide by the age and the max number of wake hours between naps, you'll maximize your chances of getting your child to sleep. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828790 Sun, 17 Jun 2018 05:54:55 +0000 periwinklebee 2828790@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@SweetiePie: Thank you! Checking this out! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828767 Sat, 16 Jun 2018 14:21:34 +0000 SweetiePie 2828767@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: For a blackout shade hack, we taped black heavy duty garbage bags between our window and the shades.<br /> And for the glass door, there are paper blackout shades that stick to the door/window. You can get them most places, Walmart amazon etc. I think they’re called Redi-shades. We had a Shore House one summer and our sons room was connected to our room through a glass door. We used the paper shades and it worked perfectly. They’re like $5-10. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828757 Sat, 16 Jun 2018 12:27:03 +0000 periwinklebee 2828757@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: Our LO was a bit like this at first, I think sucking his hands kept him awake as well, but now it slowly seems to be a bit more soothing, so hopefully this is something that will help both of us with time.... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828756 Sat, 16 Jun 2018 12:25:59 +0000 periwinklebee 2828756@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@ShootingStar: @annem1990: Thank you! This is encouraging to hear. </p> <p>The past two nights we've let him fall asleep on his own in the crib, with regular checks. It's taken about a half hour of crying each time, but the crying was at least less hysterical on the second night. Unless sleep gets even worse, I think I'll hold off on trying explicitly to eliminate nighttime feedings until his reflux is better and he starts getting at least some calories from solids. </p> <p>The checks really help him to calm down and back off being completely hysterical - though both times he's fallen asleep about 2 seconds into a check (still in his crib). Hopefully it's good enough of a start, even though we're technically in the room. As soon as I can, I'm going to read the precious little sleep book to get another perspective beyond Ferber. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828748 Sat, 16 Jun 2018 11:26:11 +0000 annem1990 2828748@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Ferber REALLY worked for us. I know it doesn't work for everyone though. LO is now 9mo and is super flexible, falls asleep on his own and loves his crib. We sleep-trained around 5 months. By "sleep-trained," I mean simply learning to fall asleep on his own. That was life-changing. It was a hellish 1-2 weeks while he learned, but after that has been a breeze. </p> <p>Forced night-weaning did not (and still doesn't) work for LO. After he was able to fall asleep on his own, we attempted to let him CIO in MOTN wakings. It was a disaster. He would cry for 1-2 hours. It was torture. If he wakes up in the MOTN crying, 99% of the time, he needs to eat. Then goes right back to sleep. He STTN 75% of the time, but occasionally will still have a bottle around 4am. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828699 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 20:55:04 +0000 ShootingStar 2828699@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh so anyways, my advice - if you’re sure he’s eating well during the day so CIO to fall asleep and see how it goes. And give him time to settle if he does wake up. He might surprise you. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828698 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 20:53:27 +0000 ShootingStar 2828698@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>When DS was a baby his sleep was awful. I think the first 7ish months of his life he woke up every two hours overnight. He was also sick ALL the time, including two bouts of pneumonia and norovirus. </p> <p>Suddenly at 7m he was healthy and one night he woke up 20 minutes after we put him down and we just let him cry it out. </p> <p>Over the next few days I let him CIO to fall asleep but fed him when he woke up. He started sleeping longer stretches so I’d use his wake up times as the new benchmark. So if he slept until 1am one night, that would be the goal for the next night. If he woke up any time before 1 the next night I’d let him cry for a few minutes to see if he’d settle. I think the recommendations are 10-15 based on age, but usually at the 7 minute mark he’d go back to sleep. </p> <p>We went on this way and a couple weeks later he was sleeping like a champ. And with just a few rare exceptions, he has ever since and he’s almost 5. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828595 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 08:20:56 +0000 MaryM 2828595@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: Our little guy seems to love sucking his hands TOO much. When he breaks one out of the swaddle, all bets are off when it comes to sleep! </p> <p>I think it will be fine eventually...it will just take longer for him to fall asleep, but for now at least he seems to still get really calm and relaxed once the swaddle is on. He didn't even fight me pinning his arms completely down last night! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828591 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 08:18:11 +0000 periwinklebee 2828591@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Littlebit7: He usually takes a short-ish morning nap and then a longer (2 hour or so) afternoon nap at daycare, and will typically take a cat nap on the way to and home from daycare, which is around a 30 min walk. I try to watch super close for tired signs, but he seems to have a very rapid transition from happy but extremely awake to tired and grumpy. I think part of the problem too may be that he prefers to sleep on his side, but now when he tries to roll onto his side he ends up rolling all the way over to his stomach and gets frustrated trying to roll back onto his side - i.e. before his side was as far as he got when he tried to roll but now he rolls all the way over and is not a fan. Hopefully this will be a short-lived phase.... </p> <p>I feel like another problem may be that even with blackout shades, our room is not completely dark (i.e. the doors to our room have glass panes and there are windows with shutters in addition to the main ones with black out curtains, plus there are cracks at the side of the blackout curtains). And it gets light around 4am. I need to work out some sort of hack for that... </p> <p>@MaryM: I was nervous when we had to drop the swaddle around 4 months, but surprisingly enough that seemed to have no effect. I think once your LO is ready, that might be fine. Being able to suck his fingers basically cancelled out not being restrained, I think... My LO always hated the rock n play, so no tips on that transition but I know lots of other bees have done it... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828582 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 07:53:59 +0000 MaryM 2828582@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: Ugh. </p> <p>So I found a trick online to keep him from breaking out of his swaddles (which totally worked! <a href="https://styleberryblog.com/the-secret-swaddle-my-sleep-solution)" rel="nofollow">https://styleberryblog.com/the-secret-swaddle-my-sleep-solution)</a> </p> <p>But between 11 and 3 a.m., he was STILL up four times last night. ugh. </p> <p>I was so hopeful since he made it from 7 to 11! But then he was up at 12:30, 2, and 3. </p> <p>We aren't quite ready to move him to his room yet. First we want him to get used to the bassinet in our room (he was in a rock and play). He sleeps in a crib at daycare and has been sleeping in the bassinet in his room for naps on the weekends. But maybe he's struggling with being flat for a whole night? Either that, or he just REALLY needs to learn to fall back to sleep on his own. A couple times I was able to pat him back to sleep (SO MUCH easier with his arms stuck by his sides!) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828567 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:56:21 +0000 Littlebit7 2828567@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: what is your schedule like? As in, what is the time between waking from his last nap and bedtime? Have I posted the rough schedule I use? (Granted I think I recall that your kiddo is in daycare so it might be a bit harder to control but maybe on the weekend you can test it). It might be reallly hard to get an overtired baby to learn to settle himself if you’ve missed that ideal window to put him to sleep. For us it’s early, like 6-630 pm or sometimes earlier depending on when the last nap was </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828562 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:44:07 +0000 periwinklebee 2828562@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@PawPrints: Bought it, thank you!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828547 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 19:20:46 +0000 PawPrints 2828547@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Read the book Precious Little Sleep. It uses the Ferber method essentially but with a lot of easy to follow direction and explanation to maximize your chance of success. And it recommends just doing Ferber for initial falling asleep, separating that entirely from the process of night-weaning (eliminating MOTN feeds) - there's a chapter on that which is a totally different and less harsh process than CIO. </p> <p>To answer your question, sleep training is absolutely amazing. It's horrible while you're going through it but the results are a dream come true. You get your evenings back. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828544 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 18:57:20 +0000 periwinklebee 2828544@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MaryM: I commiserate. Decided to try CIO with checks to get him to fall asleep in his crib tonight. It took 30 minutes of hysterical crying and was really hard on mama (DH is working late). ugh. :sad: And I'm afraid that this won't work, because I screw it up/won't be able to commit, or just because it won't. But the non-stop wakings are exhausting and I want him to have good sleep habits. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828506 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:18:50 +0000 MaryM 2828506@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Commenting to follow. </p> <p>DS is four months next week. I'm assuming we're dealing with the standard regression? </p> <p>He was going down fine with minimal help and only waking twice. </p> <p>Now he's taking longer to settle (is either wide awake or overtired...rarely in between... even though "bedtime" hasn't changed) and is sometimes waking four times at night. Last night his middle two wake ups were only an hour apart. </p> <p>I really don't think he's hungry (he's eating more/great during the day!), but a bottle seems to be the only thing that soothes him. After an ounce/ounce and a half, he's back asleep. </p> <p>I could deal with four wakings if it was *just* four wakings, but there's usually a couple bouts of fussing first and trying to figure out if he'll get through it (usually no), if a pacifier or patting will prolong the full wake up (sometimes by 20 minutes or so) or if he's on the verge of full on losing it. </p> <p>DH helps with the actual feedings, but because DS sleeps by me, I deal with all the soothing that happens before we give in and feed him. So tired! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828503 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:09:23 +0000 periwinklebee 2828503@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Grace: @jape14: @MrsSCB: Thanks! This post is making me think that I should just deal with bedtime first, and worry about subsequent wakings later, though I know Ferber says to do it all at once. It is way easier for me to work on good habits at bedtime anyways, because with the middle of the night wakings I am so tired that I usually end up falling asleep side lying nursing before the baby is done eating :silly: The thought of staying awake for all the night wakings when there are still a bunch of them sounds like pure torture. My husband does bedtime and usually just walks around the house singing until the baby is a sleep, maybe we can start by rattling the crib and singing - which is what they do at daycare - and then moving to just singing...On weekends I do sleepy but awake fine for naps, but in the evening he seems to have a very fast phase transition from very awake to overtired, and gets hysterical when we put him down. </p> <p>I stopped aquaphor because I was worried he might be sensitive to lanolin, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference that versus vanicream versus cerave. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828462 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:32:43 +0000 MrsSCB 2828462@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We sleep trained much older (19 or 20 months) but it was life-changing for us. I wish we'd done it sooner. I was confident, though, that it was all about sleep issues because we had employed too many sleep crutches. I nursed to sleep until 18ish months when he weaned himself from the bedtime feeding. We didn't really know what to do, so we started rubbing his back so he'd go to sleep. When that stopped working it was just time to rip off the bandaid. And it worked within three days. He also started sleeping much later in the morning, when previously he'd be waking by 5:30 or 6 every day, sometimes earlier. I think I'd want to be totally sure that it wasn't some other issue, though, and it sounds like you aren't super confident? :bummed: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828453 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:02:53 +0000 jape14 2828453@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I posted on your other thread about the 4mo regression (which also has a link to a super long post I wrote previously about sleep training) here: <a href="http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823984" rel="nofollow">http://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-the-four-month-sleep-regression#post-2823984</a>.</p> <p>But re: reflux and sleeping, I've had two kids with different presentations of reflux. DS had silent reflux and his main symptom was refusing feedings/being miserable during eating. Prilosec helped immensely and we sleep trained him right at 4mo. He quickly dropped to one MOTN feeding which he kept until ~8 mo. DD was an epic, epic puker - I had to change my clothes (including underwear!) multiple times a day, fed on a towel, etc - and she was a good sleeper from the start. She ended up medicated for reflux bc she started refusing feedings, not bc of her spit up. Even at the height of her spit up, she stayed on her curve (70th-80th percentile for weight). We didn't have to do as much sleep training with her bc we put her down drowsy but awake basically from the start. She also kept one MOTN feeding until about 7/8 months.</p> <p>My feeling re: sleep training/Ferber is that it's for removing sleep associations and teaching babies to fall asleep independently. For both of my kids, once they were able to fall asleep independently and link sleep cycles, they quickly dropped to one MOTN feeding which ended up shifting later and later in the night until it was very close to the morning feeding (or skipped entirely). Once that happened we did some very light Ferbering with checks by my husband. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828438 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 10:43:54 +0000 Grace 2828438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You know, I would deal with bedtime first. Don’t worry about the MOTN wakings for now. That way you can ignore the reflux/hunger issue. As for the eczema, do you think he’s uncomfortable? Is he scratching, does he seem to sleep less during a flareup? Does Aquaphor sooth it at all? I was more bothered by the eczema than my son was, so I’d look closely to see if there are any signs of discomfort. Anyways, you never said what the bedtime routine is. If you are nursing or rocking to sleep and it’s not really working anymore (because it’s taking forever), then it’s probably time for a change. If you can get him to fall asleep by himself at bedtime, for some kids, it fixes the other schnenegans without having to do much else. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828404 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 09:02:59 +0000 LBee 2828404@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: Sensicare is used in our local NICU and hospitals use it for wound care. Our doctor said she rarely has to recommend it because vanicream almost always works, but vanicream gave our girl hives. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828400 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:52:08 +0000 periwinklebee 2828400@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LBee: Thank you, super helpful! We've been doing the whole rotation of potential creams/lotions/etc and also haven't found anything that has worked great - going to check out sensicare and gentle natural baby. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828377 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:23:01 +0000 LBee 2828377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@periwinklebee: Ugh eczema sucks so much. She had eczema that would break open and bleed :crying: . </p> <p>Once she started solids we fairly quickly realized she had allergies (shortly thereafter confirmed by allergy testing). I still eat her allergens, but I think they played a role. Eliminating milk helped her a lot with the eczema, which I did when she was 3 months old. </p> <p>Her routine:<br /> Mustella Stelatopia Body Wash, wash her body with cradle cap brush<br /> Sensicare on her body when she is still wet (we have tried cetaphil, vanicream, and cerave - all didn't work)<br /> Gentle Natural Baby Eczema Cream on her face (I've NEVER seen this one recommended on the boards, but a doctor had recommended it to my husband for severe eczema years ago and we had some on hand - I tried it and haven't looked back!)</p> <p>We have a prescription cream, but her eczema is on her face and they really say to not put it on her face unless it's super bad. Her eczema is (of course) primarily on her face and arms. </p> <p>Damn she's high maintenance :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828365 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:04:19 +0000 periwinklebee 2828365@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@LBee: This is good to hear - I didn't realize that about spitting up, maybe it is better than it looks and he's jumped up +20 percentile points in weight in two months, so maybe I just need to put this worry aside. </p> <p>Out of curiosity, what worked with eczema? We were traveling on the west coast and it got so much better temporarily (we brought along our own sheets and body products), which makes me think it is somehow allergy related. The dermatologist said it would be better by age 4 and that there wasn't much more he could think of doing besides benadryl, which was a bit discouraging... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828362 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:01:39 +0000 Mama Bird 2828362@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It can be helpful but it really depends on the child. DS started sleeping all night pretty quickly, so when he woke up a lot I knew it was for a reason. </p> <p>DD, on the other hand... I tried the same approach but after a while gave up trying to figure out reasons. It seemed like it didn't matter if something was bothering her, she'd wake up several times at night even if she was fine. She wasn't even that hungry. Mostly, it looked like she just missed me and wanted to play. And I felt for her, but I can't hold down a job on four hours of broken sleep... eventually I got DH involved and he did some gentle sleep training. Frankly, DD was pretty sleep deprived at that point and the training helped her too. She still wants to hang out with me at night, but it's only a very long bedtime, not random wakings. Much better.</p> <p>Eczema and reflux could totally be contributing to poor sleep, and there are all kinds of little phases of bad sleep that can come and go without sleep training. If you can wait, hopefully it will be easier to tell if he's actually a good sleeper or not once he grows out of the things bothering him. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/fixing-poor-sleep-is-sleep-training-as-helpful-as-ferber-etc-make-it-out-to-be#post-2828360 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:00:30 +0000 LBee 2828360@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>For us, we weren't sleep training to eliminate feedings (although that occurred), we were sleep training because our son couldn't fall asleep on his own. This resulted in his inability to link sleep cycles without our help. He would wake up not in the exact state where he had fallen asleep and would be flat out livid. I remember reading somewhere someone describing it as it being the equivalent of you falling asleep in your bed and waking up on the front lawn naked. </p> <p>The bad sleep habits was evident as when he woke up and I would feed him he wasn't eating a lot, he would eat a little then just fall asleep nursing. </p> <p>We sleep trained and have no regrets. We actually were considerably better with sleep habits with our daughter and never had to sleep train her (thus far). </p> <p>Also, my son didn't have reflux but he spit up tons. Like we would feed him with a towel covering us. Our doctor really drilled in that spit up looks bigger than it is and that if he was gaining enough we didn't need to worry about "lost calories." She actually had us spill an ounce of milk on the counter and see how much it looked like. If you are concerned, though, I would tank him up more in the evening. </p> <p>Also, my daughter had horrible eczema so solidarity! We finally found a combination that worked (as well as found out she has allergies), but it was so annoying. </p>