https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Tue, 21 Apr 2026 00:36:52 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-717609 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:52:25 +0000 mrsjyw 717609@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I didn't read a single baby book nor did I read all that much about it on hb before...</p> <p>We seriously went with the flow and lucked out that DS is naturally a good sleeper.</p> <p>The first 6 weeks were the typical nb 2/3 hour stretches, then he started sleeping 6-8 hours, month 2 we were on a loose eat play sleep cycle and his nighttimes became gradually earlier. By wk 12 he was STTN 11+ hours and had a short 2 day 4 month regression and now sleeps 7-6am (21 wks now)</p> <p>The first month we did all of the "wrong" things, like pp said, it's all about survival. We rocked him to sleep for nighttime, we coslept, he slept on the newborn lounger, etc.</p> <p>At six weeks, I swaddled, started putting him down awake/drowsy, +moved him to pnp in our room. and went through a month or so of 1-2x wakeups. Still following the EPS cycle during the day... and eventually he was pretty on point with habits. At 11 weeks, I randomly cold turkey swaddle weaned (he was never a swaddle fan) and by 12 weeks he'd night weaned himself and after a few times of wakeups with pacis-- he's been STTN and self soothes if he does happen to stir in the middle of the night.</p> <p>We still have our random nights though. LIke this past saturday- he woke up at 1am crying loudly (think he was too hot). and then woke up at 540am for his first nursing session (usually at 630/7) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-717188 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:19:41 +0000 heffalump 717188@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I decided very quickly that whatever got LO to sleep, I would do it. I was soooooo tired and her naps were so important to me because they were my rest too. So if she wanted to be on me, sleep in her swing, stroller, car seat, etc. I didn't care. As long as she was sleeping. </p> <p>Her first 8 months were rough for naps. She had to be moving, which often meant I was the one moving her and pushing her in the stroller. But then all of a sudden one day DH put her in her crib (we tried it every once in awhile) and she fell asleep. No cries, no whining. From that day on she napped fine in her crib. We lucked out and never had to worry about night sleep.... she's just always been a naturally good sleeper at night. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716946 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:30:07 +0000 hummusgirl 716946@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'd try to do things by the book but if it doesn't work out, don't worry that you're ruining them for life if you just do what you have to to survive. I put LO in the crib for most naps, but if he fell asleep after eating I would sometimes hold him. They're only little for such a short time, I cherished those precious opportunities! </p> <p>ETA: I sound like an old wise mom but really my LO is only 6 months! But those first weeks/months feel so long ago. My LO's sleep is pretty good now and all of my holding/bouncing/carrying doesn't seem to have negatively impacted his ability to now fall asleep alone in his crib for every nap and nighttime! </p> <p>Also this totally reminded me of Portlandia:<br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&#038;v=Sw3bG8SrCM4" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&#038;v=Sw3bG8SrCM4</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716717 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:32:18 +0000 googly-eyes 716717@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly... They will grow out of things (and sleep crutches) as time goes on. You can sleep train later but the gist seems to be not to start bad habits from the beginning. I take that to mean, try out drowsy but awake, and if it fails then try again later. Keep trying just maybe give it a few days or a week in between attempts and one day they may grow into it. In the meantime work on other things like a bedtime routine. Having one thing done could help the other aspects of sleep. </p> <p>Months 0-2/3 do whatever you have to. From 2-3/4 I'd start to get more serious about it all.</p> <p>You'll get to know your baby and what works! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716624 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:09:23 +0000 cascademom 716624@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kml636: Our LO falls asleep with a pacifier and sometimes spits it out in the middle of night. He continues to sleep after that. Other nights if it falls out before he's asleep, he cries and gnaws on his lovey to soothe himself to sleep. In our house, pacifiers are for sleep and at worst, crankiness from teething this weekend. We allowed the Spongebob Squarepants movie too because he was miserable, so minor tv experience during teething was okay with us. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716500 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:30:31 +0000 kml636 716500@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Best thing to do is start a night routine - swaddle nurse, put in crib (once she was about 3 weeks old) with white noise. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't have let mine us a pacifier to fall asleep bc now she wakes up crying when she realizes it's fallen out and I'm dreading taking it away (she's almost 5 months). </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716450 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:19:05 +0000 2PeasinaPod 716450@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree that the first 3 months are just doing what you can to get through them! LO had terrible sleep habits for naps, but would sleep through the night from 7 weeks on. I found that a schedule worked really well for him. Once I started that, he started to get so much better!</p> <p>But, we rocked him a lot to sleep...and he's 6 months and still really needs to be rocked for naps. He goes down pretty easily for us at night by just laying him in his crib, but for some reason, naps are just a problem for us. Here's hoping they get better. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716444 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:17:06 +0000 Smurfette 716444@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree with everyone else, you never know how your baby will be. Lots if babies can fall asleep in the car seat, R just cries. Some sleep in the swing, R isn't a fan. We can out her in it asleep and she wakes up. She needs to be bounced/ rocked to sleep. Then we can't put her down till she is out out or she wakes up. And we start the process all over again. I am learning just doing whatever to survive. Hoping we aren't going to have issues later. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716437 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 10:14:06 +0000 photojane 716437@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My best advice is to put down the books &amp; step away! :)</p> <p>Your newborn will do whatever the heck he/she wants. You will throw everything out the window at 3am when you're exhausted and staring down at your wailing baby... you do whatever you have to for both of you to get some sleep. </p> <p>I'd say take some time to learn your baby. Figure out his/her preferences and patterns &amp; go from there. I think most of those sleep method books aren't useful at all until 4-6 months. You'll be able to pick &amp; choose the things from the books that work for y'all once you get to know your baby.</p> <p>We do the EASY sleep method only in that it's her natural pattern. Depending on her mood, sleep patterns, etc. we'll let her sleep if she falls asleep at the bottle. I will say that it is much easier to feed/nurse to sleep than do the EASY method, since with EASY you actually have to put the baby to sleep. If your newborn goes to sleep at the boob, I'd just roll with it! You'd just modify EASY to work for you... Eat, Sleep, Your time, Awake.</p> <p>Also, never think that holding your baby is a bad thing!! Rocking my baby to sleep is my favorite part of the day. I cry almost every night! haha They grow so dang fast. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716374 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:54:31 +0000 autumn865 716374@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I understand your confusion because there are so many different perspectives about what is "best" for your baby's sleep. I don't claim to be any expert in the least but at 8 months I've finally come to a peace with the baffling unpredictable nature of baby sleep. I tried the whole put down drowsy but awake thing but in the end it did not work for us. In the times she would fall asleep nursing I would subtly try to stir her or to pull her off before she fell asleep and all that led to is a crying unhappy baby! So now I try to follow her lead. If she wants to nurse to sleep I let her and if she doesn't I put her down awake. Either way works and she sleeps. When I nurse her to sleep when she does stir awake she puts herself back down again just the same as if I didn't nurse her to sleep. When she wakes at night (which she does I would day 50% of the time) I always put her down awake and she falls sleep on her own. We did do some CIO but it was for the best all around because we all sleep better now. So bottom line of what I am trying to say is do what works best for you and your baby! Sometimes it's just best to block out all the different "how to" advice books and people and do what you think is right and your baby will STTN when they are ready to do so. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716370 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:52:50 +0000 JoJoGirl 716370@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@cascademom: We have one already that DH used to use for himself.. I think we had a white noise machine in the nursery before we had a crib :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716364 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:50:46 +0000 cascademom 716364@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: My DH was the master of bouncing the baby to sleep. It's actually a lot of fun to do. It worked for us because LO went from a colicky mess to a sleeping baby with it. Get a white noise machine too. It does wonders. When I read LO stories for bedtime, the white noise machine always makes me drowsy and want to sleep in there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716356 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:47:13 +0000 JoJoGirl 716356@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oops I should've said - I'm not against CIO or sleep training in general, I'm expecting we'll need them - more wondering IF there's a way to set up habits early on to avoid having to use either. </p> <p>@scg00387: Perfect, thank you!<br /> @cascademom: Thanks!! We watched HBOTB right at the beginning and DH is sort of giddy to try it out.. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716344 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:44:14 +0000 cascademom 716344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We educated ourselves after LO was here on sleep once we got to know our baby. His sleep was average, then got worse with colic at 6 weeks. Happiest Baby on the Block got us through the "4th trimester" time because he learned to adapt to bouncing, swaddling, shushing, and white noise. This lasted probably until about 5 months or so. Then, we struggled to get him to sleep and break the comforting techniques because he got used to it and expected it. </p> <p>We did CIO as a last resort. It was the best thing for us. His sleep drastically improved when we did. Saturday, we had it rough because he's teething and waking earlier than I'd like in the mornings, but overall, his sleep is so much better when we did it at 6 months or so. For us, 4 months was still a little too young to CIO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716342 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:44:00 +0000 immabeetoo 716342@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: To answer your question specifically, I would've introduced the baby swing earlier. He tolerated it but never loved it or napped in it. Who knows, maybe he still wouldn't have if I'd put him in it earlier but I wish I'd tried!</p> <p>We did white noise, black out shades, swaddling, and had him sleeping in his crib from day 1 and I'd do all of that again with LO#2! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716332 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:40:45 +0000 JoJoGirl 716332@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mediagirl: Thanks :) I didn't realize the 'power' or importance of good nap habits before reading HSH, HC so that was a good point to take home. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716328 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:39:29 +0000 JoJoGirl 716328@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@NovBaby1112: Very helpful, thank you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716326 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:39:15 +0000 mediagirl 716326@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think the fact that you are reading is GREAT! Keep that knowledge in a bank in your head for when you run into issues and you will have an arsenal to work with. Every baby is different. I read a lot and just used tips I had from books I had read. </p> <p>The biggest thing that we did that I think was important was to start a bedtime routine at 3 months (or a little earlier). We start bedtime at 6, she's asleep by 7. This has.not.changed since 3 months. It's great for her and us. Even if she gets up every 2-3 hours at night or if she slept through the night, keep the same schedule. Her naps were scheduled, too. They have evolved as she has gotten older but they were always around the same time. Right now she is on 2 naps a day, 9am and 2pm, 2 hours each. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716318 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:37:26 +0000 NovBaby1112 716318@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, it is so hard to tell beforehand because you never know how your baby's temperament will be. You could have an easy baby and sleeper that all you need to do is lay them down and they will conk out on their own, or you could have a baby that needs more help and soothing to fall asleep (which is much, much more common). Yes, I think it is good to establish good sleep habits from the beginning, such as establishing a strong bedtime routine and sometimes trying to put your baby down "drowsy but awake". However, if it doesn't work for them, try again when they are a bit older. BUT, I also believe that the first 3 months you should do anything to survive, whether that means holding LO for all naps, nursing to sleep, etc. The first 3 months are the "4th trimester"- your LO is still figuring out this world, regulating their temp, and needs your closeness and comfort during this time.</p> <p>I held my LO for most naps in the beginning, nursed her to sleep every single night, rocked her to sleep, and starting around 12 weeks we slowly started to work on putting her down more and more awake at night and she responded very well to it. I do not think it would have worked before 12 weeks, she was still so tiny and didn't have the ability to self soothe. We didn't have to CIO to get her to sleep on her own, because we gradually worked up to putting her down fully awake at bedtime and she was at the right age for it. I still nurse and rock her to sleep for all of her naps, but i love it and don't mind it at all. My best advice for you is to not stress about it and sometimes the more "knowledge" out there, the more overwhelming it is. The best knowledge you have is your mommy instinct when your LO arrives. I wouldn't change how I did things at all. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716302 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:33:30 +0000 Cherrybee 716302@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: Thanks for posting this! I'm also completely overwhelmed by all the conflicting things I've read and heard - and all the mums who say "I wish I'd known x,y,z" but when you try to pin them down and get actual advice they say "all babies are different". :-) </p> <p>I have decided to subscribe to the "4th trimester" theory. That is, for the first three months, I'm going to do whatever it takes to get through and blow the consequences!! Worst case scenario, I know that habits can be broken (with lots of hard work) so if I do make mistakes it's not the end of the world... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716292 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:32:07 +0000 oliviaoblivia 716292@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: I think flexibility is really important. Not being tied to one sleep method, because it might not work for your baby. As far as our success, we're not out of the woods yet - I'm looking forward to the 4month regression....not. What I have done is try to let her get used to sleeping in her crib, co-sleeper, swing, sofa, our bed so that down the line she doesn't rely on too many crutches that we'd have to wean her from. We were lucky that she didn't need to be swaddled to sleep well so we won't have to swaddle-wean. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716281 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:26:53 +0000 loveisstrange 716281@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The only things we really did early on was make sure to establish night and day (keeping the house bright and loud during the day and dim and quieter at night) and to set her a "bedtime" early on and start a routine (we started when she was about 4 weeks old) where we would bathe her, swaddle, feed and then rock her to sleep is necessary and put her down with her white noise machine on. </p> <p>C is a stellar sleeper, but she just is that way, I think. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716275 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:24:08 +0000 JoJoGirl 716275@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks all :) and yes, i'm not chained to any one way of doing things as I know every baby is different. I am more referring to posts I've seen floating around on here with what people have said they 'wish they did differently' at the beginning.. so open to any advice :)</p> <p>ETA: Just saw the last few responses while I was typing mine. Makes sense that things change often for everyone so 'what works' will change. Thank you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716274 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:23:59 +0000 immabeetoo 716274@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@JoJoGirl: I read the same books before LO and we put him down drowsy and swaddled for the first month and a half or so and thought we were sooo smart... and then it stopped working. So we rocked completely to sleep and that worked great.. and then it stopped working. And then we did no cry sleep solution for night and it works great now. My point is - it completely depends on your baby and what works at first won't necessarily keep working. I think a lot of sleep is luck, and a lot is developmental. He started showing us signs once he was ready not to be rocked any more just liked he showed us signs when he couldn't do drowsy but awake any more.</p> <p>Don't stress about it too much since you have no idea what your LO will like/be like! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716269 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:23:25 +0000 hilsy85 716269@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Honestly, nothing...the first 3 months are all about survival! Babies don't start to develop "habits" until after that time period, so in the beginning, just do what you need to do. SOme babies are good sleepers right from the beginning and some aren't, so I would just wait to see what your LO is. The only thing I guess I can say is that I am glad we didn't let LO sleep ONLY in our arms all the time. We put him in the bassinet once he fell asleep/to fall asleep. but then again, he was a baby who COULD and WOULD sleep places other than our arms, so who knows if he had been different what it would have been like. </p> <p>NOt to mention, your LO can start out a great sleeper and then change. My LO was an awesome sleeper (sleeping 5hour stretches at 2/3 wks, STTN basically at 6/7 wks...and taking 3 1.5 hour naps a day). Then it all changed at around 15/16 wks and he became a fairly crappy sleeper--aka, more like the majority of babies (short naps, lots of wakeups). Things are always changing. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716243 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:19:00 +0000 Mrsbells 716243@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I agree that you have to play it by ear and see what your baby responds to </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716230 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:15:42 +0000 Weagle 716230@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My only advice is be armed with knowledge, but don't chain yourself to it. Parenting requires flexibility. It's good to have all of those tips in your back pocket, but you'll have to pick and choose according to what works for you and your LO. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716226 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:14:43 +0000 looch 716226@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>My son is 28 months old and he wasn't a stellar sleeper...he still isn't, but that's how he is hardwired.</p> <p>I really think that for the first three months, all bets are off, you kind of have to seee how your baby behaves and go from there. My son was really awake, we never had the sleepy newborn phase, not even in the hospital, so it just goes to show you that you can prepare and read up but you have to be prepared for anything.</p> <p>I should also disclose that I feel strongly that LO naps in his crib. He doesn't sleep as deep or long when we're out and about, which greatly affected his night sleep. My son isn't textbook, but I do find that sleep begets sleep, so if he missed a nap during the day, his night sleep wasn't good. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716216 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:13:53 +0000 JoJoGirl 716216@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@oliviaoblivia: So what did you do to 'set yourself up for success'? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/lo-isnt-here-yet-completely-confused-by-healthy-sleep-habits-advice-help#post-716195 Mon, 15 Apr 2013 09:11:04 +0000 oliviaoblivia 716195@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO is still young (3 mos.) so we are still learning as we go, but so much depends on your baby. DD has been a good sleeper since the beginning and has been STTN (6 hour stretches or more) since one week.<br /> That said I do think its important to set yourself up for success, which you are doing by doing the research before LO is here. I mainly just try to do things the way I'll be comfortable doing them down the road. I don't spend an hour rocking her now, because as a three year old that just won't be possible. </p>