https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 27 May 2026 05:04:37 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1531176 Sat, 29 Mar 2014 08:50:43 +0000 kml636 1531176@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KayTea: yay that's awesome! It is so hard to know what to do when they are little. I think I did the feeding anytime after 2 am thing... before that I would wait 10 mins and try to settle her wo feeding which didn't really work too well, haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1531133 Sat, 29 Mar 2014 07:56:57 +0000 KayTea 1531133@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Update: Last night only woke twice and I did nothing different! Oh I so hope it was a growth spurt/regression. Thanks everyone for the advice! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1530440 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 16:31:37 +0000 Kemma 1530440@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KayTea: do you think he'd take longer naps if he only took three a day? He could be in an overtired / undertired funk, basically he's tired enough to sleep for a short while but not tired enough to take a longer nap. If you could get the day sleep consolidated by stretching out his awake time it might help you with the night sleep.</p> <p>And I agree with @Elderberrygin: he might still need to be really tanked up right before bed, perhaps give it a try for a few days and see if it helps? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1530319 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 15:51:40 +0000 kiddosc 1530319@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KayTea: We broke from the EASY routine at bedtime. He always nursed right before I laid him down for the night. He was capable of sleeping longer stretches at night, so I didn't feel too badly about making him wait. I don't remember how long it took him to start waking up, a week or so maybe? DH would do the Ferber checks before 1am and I would do them for any wake-ups after 1. That helped minimize the "I need a boob now!" It was kind of trial and error to get to the 1am time. I started not wanting to feed him before 3, but it was just too long, he wouldn't settle at all and I'd have to nurse him. So we moved the time back and found out that we could make 1 work. Once he got settled into the routine, he actually pushed that feeding back himself to more like 4. </p> <p>The person doing checks camped out on the couch with the monitor so the other parent could get a little sleep. It was a rough week. At the end of it, he learned to put himself to sleep at night really well, and reduced his night wakings but never eliminated them all together, but I could handle 2 a night. </p> <p>I've also heard of people having success with dream feeds, nursing the baby before you go to bed for the night while he's still asleep. That never worked for us, but it's worth a try too. Basically, it's all trial and error when it comes to baby sleep. :silly: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529997 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 14:09:12 +0000 KayTea 1529997@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@kiddosc: How long did it take for your LO to stop waking before 1am? I am considering setting a time for first feed at 1030 or 11pm but I'm just nervous it will mean ALOT of crying before then. </p> <p>@elderberrygin: thanks for the encouragement! I definitely don't want to cut out night feedings completely. I'm ecstatic if I can get him to two feedings at this age. Like you say it might just be the regression so I may ride it out a bit longer before I commit to anything. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529959 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:56:58 +0000 Elderberrygin 1529959@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@KayTea: Sounds like you're doing everything right at bedtime then! I can't imagine its object permanence. Amazing job getting him to put himself to sleep from wide awake at that age, btw. You should give yourself props for that achievement - we didn't get there until around 6 months.</p> <p>If its not object permanence it sounds like you're options are 1) waking from habit because he likes having some middle of the night mama time, 2) genuine hunger 3) sleep regression craziness. The last feeding at 5pm is pretty early for four months old in terms of making it all the way overnight Could you try an extra evening feed or a dream feed to tank him up over night? And then work on some strategies for cutting down the night wakings? Just some suggestions to play around with. :happy: </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529914 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:43:54 +0000 KayTea 1529914@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thanks everyone, this is really helpful.</p> <p>@Elderberrygin: Our routine consists of bath, massage, pjs, book, white noise, song with rocking, put down awake. He usually fusses 2-3 mins and then sucks his thumb to sleep. </p> <p>I am doing the EASY routine so if his bedtime is at 6:30pm his last feeding would have been 5pm (his awake time is about 1.5 hrs). He also takes five naps per day (never sleeps longer than 45 minutes) so I'm feeding him every two hours during the day.</p> <p>His first 'night waking' is usually 45 minutes after falling asleep (one sleep cycle). Ive read this suggests an object permanence problem but I'm not sure what 'object' it could be?!? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529897 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:38:42 +0000 kiddosc 1529897@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We would do Ferber checks if he woke up before a certain time. I wouldn't feed him until after 1am, so if he woke up before then, we would just do the checks and if he woke up after that, I would nurse him back to sleep. We were never able to drop night feedings completely through sleep training. He still woke up 1-2 times per night to eat until just before he turned 1. But I WOH, so I kind of liked that time, since he would just nurse and then easily go back to sleep. I don't think that at 4 months most BF babies are able to go all night without a feeding. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529859 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:25:43 +0000 Elderberrygin 1529859@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you're right in the middle of the sleep regression and its been, say, less than two weeks, I'd probably just give it a little time to see if things settle down and then look at some more sleep training. I've personally had zero success reducing night wakings right in the middle of a regression and have just had to ride it out and then get things back on track.</p> <p>That being said, waking up every one to two hours sounds like it could be an object permanence problem. What does your bedtime routine look like? Is your LO going down drowsy but awake? Does he have a paci? </p> <p>If you're nursing right before bed, even if you're then putting down drowsy but awake, he may still have a nurse to sleep association. You could try nursing before bathtime, or nursing and then doing a story or a song and then put him down to sleep and see if that helps with the night waking.</p> <p>Good luck! Four months is a rough time in infant sleep. I hope you pass through it quickly. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529795 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 13:03:00 +0000 Smurfette 1529795@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We sleep trained around 4 months after I broke down in tears. I just couldn't handle wakeup anymore. After a 2-3 hour stretch the beginning of the night (after nursing for an hour) she was up every 20 mins to 60 mins. I couldn't put her down till she was dead dead asleep or we would have to start again. DH was getting ready to head back out on the road so it was going to be me solo dealing with the wakeups. Which I mostly did anyway, but knowing he was there was so helpful.<br /> We let her CIO and set a 2 am feeding time and that was it. If she woke up at 130, I wouldn't nurse her. She finally was able to put herself to self sleep at night. Granted she still fussed and cried some but she even started STTN. Then teething hit and the one wake up turned into 3-4 a night. She could still put herself to sleep but she grew that Mom or Dad would put her back asleep. So at 6 months we had to resleep train. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529765 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 12:57:05 +0000 SleepyMonkey 1529765@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>well i didn't go through exactly the same scenario, but we did CIO for falling asleep on her own and also for night wakings. we did it separately though, we did night wakings first at around 6 months and used the extinction method. we knew she could STTN because she had done it before on her own. we did CIO for falling asleep for her own around maybe...9 months (she used to nurse to sleep and we transferred while asleep, then that stopped working). so i would suggest CIO for night wakings or waiting 10 mins before going in to soothe. not sure if that is helpful at all, and if its not, at least this is a bump for the post! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/sleep-training-and-night-wakings-help-please#post-1529542 Fri, 28 Mar 2014 11:54:23 +0000 KayTea 1529542@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Hi! First time poster but long time reader. This website has really helped me with supportive advice about sleep training.</p> <p>We decided to sleep train our little guy at four months. It wasn't and easy decision. Unfortunately we didn't have one of these magical babies that is sleep trained in 3 nights but now after two weeks we've finally had three days straight of no or minimal tears at bedtime and nap time. Yay!</p> <p>Originally I hadn't planned on doing anything differently for night time wakings. Our lo usually woke up 1-3 times per night and I planned to keep those up and work on night weaning when he was a bit older and we introduced solids.</p> <p>However we have hit the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. He is now waking up every 1-2 hours all night long. If I feed him he will generally fall back asleep at the breast and then may or may not wake back up when I put him down and fuss a little before falling asleep.</p> <p>I'm pretty certain he doesn't need that many feedings and that he is using me as a soother and I'm not sure if this is a confusing message when I am trying to sleep train. </p> <p>For those that have sleep trained around this time how did you deal with frequent night wakings? </p> <p>I am thinking of either </p> <p>1) waiting it out a few weeks if it just a phase<br /> 2) full out cio for wakings occurring less than three hours from last waking<br /> 3) giving 10 minutes each time he wakes and if he doesn't soothe feeding</p> <p>Any one with experience would be appreciated! </p>