Hellobee Boards

When we started our bedtime routine I would give him his last feeding, read a very short book (his favorite is Llama Llama Nighty Night - seriously, it takes less than a minute to read) and then put him in the crib and turn on his soother. So if you're going to try to stop nursing to sleep anyways, maybe it would make sense to do a book after nursing, and just make it a short one?

Oh boy, good luck! We are going to need to start CIO soon too, I just keep chickening out! Are you going to do naps too?

We just added a book in after nursing. DH is the one that reads to her, and he loves it because he gets to be a part of the routine. So I do lotion, pjs, white noise, SleepSack, nurse, then DH comes in and reads her a book then puts her to bed. It works well for us! Good luck!!

ETA: it's been this way since she was 4 months old.

So, this kind of goes against the whole CIO business, but when we did it (at 6 months), I kept our usual bedtime routine:

Shut all curtains
Bath
Diaper
Lotion
PJs
Turn on noise machine
Turn off light
Nurse

I kept nursing as the last thing. According to Ferber's book, it's OK to do (though I know a lot of people don't keep it). The first week or two she'd wake on transfer and that'd start the crying, but we're at the point now (night 34 to be exact! where I'll nurse her, stand up and put her in her crib and she'll just roll over and go to sleep in the crib.

Good luck!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: I totally understand. I dread naps and bedtime too! Good luck tonight!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: No advice on someone else putting LO down--my husband travels for work so I do all the bedtimes! If LO takes a bottle, I wouldn't think it'd be any different! One huge thing, STICK WITH IT. We had a few little regressions that were ROUGH. It's totally normal and as much as it blowssss, stay consistent. Good luck!

Hi. We are sleep training twins. I just broke in my 19 weeker tonight as well, partly out of inspiration that you decided to go for it! We also saved the eating for last, but I was giving him a pumped bottle so I'd know he was full and just held him upright. That seemed to keep him awake. Would nursing with the light on have a similar effect?

I just started CIO last night, and before I was doing the same as you - nursing as the last step. So I just decided to feed before bath. I don't want to have the nurse/suck to sleep association, which I've heard can still happen if you do it at the end, even if you put them down drowsy.

@abbydabbydoodlebug: how's it going? We decided tonight was our night too... Part inspiration from you, part from DH's friend who told us they did it at this age and it made life so much better. He cried 14 minutes and he's out. Naps tomorrow are going to be way worse!

Eta: just saw your other thread!

@abbydabbydoodlebug: that's so frustrating. DS is doing that too... He woke up twice last night just because of that! Tonight, we just went and flipped him and left. Did you do Ferber checks or just leave her? Sorry it was crappy, I hope tonight's the worst of it for you!