Hellobee Boards

@MsBAM: I know, I know it really seems like your baby is doing pretty great with this, though, from your log. hang in there, you guys will make it out the other side stronger and happier and better-rested!

He's doing well, just keep consistent and try to give it a month. Things will improve. I know it's hard to hear your baby cry but you are helping him learn to self soothe, children are resilient!

I still nurse immediately before naps and bedtime. DD is 9 months old and has been sleep trained for months. She is awake when being put in her crib. The only time she cries now is when she doesn't want to go to bed.

@MsBAM: I don't think I ever did. I just say she is tired, we nurse for 5-10 minutes, and I put her down. She got naps on her own after sleep training.

@MsBAM: I didn't technically nap train. I just put him down drowsy but awake from the beginning, so I never had to train to fall asleep on his own.
I did help him connect cycles. When I heard him waking I went in to replace his paci as covertly as possible (i.e. I crouched so he couldn't really see me, didn't talk to him, didn't shush, nothing...just put the paci back in and left). By 3 months or so he was mostly connecting cycles on his own and by 4.5 months for sure I didn't have to do that anymore to help him. He just took 3-4 naps about 1.5-2 hours for the first 3 and maybe a 30-40 min catnap in the evening.

It sounds like your concern is falling asleep on his own AND connecting sleep cycles.
The good news is you know he can do it since he's now doing it at bedtime. I would just say no visitors for a few days and see if you can mimic exactly what you're doing at bedtime for naps. Nap routine should be almost identical to bedtime routine (for us it was the exact same minus bath and books - so go into dark room, turn on sound machine, change and swaddle/sleep sack, bottle, burp, down in crib drowsy but awake). You want the sleep cues you give him to be consistent across the board. Its OK if feeding also ends up lining up with naps, but try to separate them a bit...so if he falls asleep while nursing, I would nurse, but then burp and maybe that's when you change diaper and do swaddle/sleep sack, for example. Then rock/pat a little and put him down and do what you've been doing for night time training.

FWIW, I would do the above for nap training only after you've had solid nighttime success for maybe 2 weeks? I think you've had improvement, but only one night of going down with zero crying, right? I would wait a couple of weeks, if it were me, because then you know its sticking and you can hope that naps sort of follow suit on their own (because of the whole sleep begets sleep thing). And I would also insist on no visitors during that time so that you can focus on it and not be stressed that they are hearing him cry. Then you can invite them over once you can just throw him in bed without any fussing and have a really pleasant visit. I remember having visitors and saying I had to go put him down for a nap - I'd walk back out less than 5 mins later and everyone was baffled that I didn't have to sit and rock to sleep or hold for the nap or go in over and over. And I could enjoy their company, have a glass of wine, watch a movie, whatever. ITS WORTH IT.

Also, I want to stress that it doesn't matter if you have visitors - YOU dictate when the baby goes to sleep. When its time for a baby to sleep it is pretty important to get them down in that sweet spot window, otherwise drowsy but awake is nearly impossible. If you are letting him stay awake and "play" with visitors or just not getting around to putting him down in time, that could be a big reason why you have to feed him to get him to sleep - he might need that extra comfort because he's overtired and wired. My ped gave me the best advice, she said to stop whatever I was doing when its nap time (first watched for sleepy cues and then eventually I was able to figure out how much time awake he could handle so I watched the clock like a hawk). She said I don't care if you're visiting with your grandma or watching the best episode of your favorite TV show and its the last 5 minutes of the finale. You stop what you're doing and get him to bed, period. Yes, my mother in law has cried because I swooped him away for a nap before. Guess what? Tough sh*t She's not the one who will have to deal with the aftermath of a tired baby later, I am. And she's since gushed about what an amazing sleeper he is and she realizes its because I created good habits from the beginning.
You can also preemptively tell visitors that nap time will be at approximately X o'clock so they can visit but expect that you'll have to put the baby down at that time. Have no apologies - its your baby and your house. If you don't set the boundaries early no one will respect boundaries later.

Probably several weeks. I sleep trained successfully right at 3 months and she got it within a few days of that. However, at that point, I went back to work and she was with her father. He was also watching our 2 year old and wasn't able to coddle her naps.

@Ina85: Lol, I’ve also been called sleep nazi by many friends and family members. But guess what? My kid goes to sleep without a fuss and sttn and theirs don’t/didn’t. So mock me if you’d like but I’m the one with the last laugh when we’re all at a beach house and your spending 1-2 hours on bedtime and I’m sitting having my glass of wine and relaxing
It’s funny that so many people think Sleep isn’t important/it’s optional when it’s actually a necessity - it’s VITAL - for babies and kids. It’s when they grow physically and mentally. It helps them learn during the day. It makes them happy and it makes us happy because they are happy AND we get some precious “me” time. I’ll honestly never understand how it’s not a priority for everyone.
But I digress...

@Sweetiepie: I hear you lady, everyone says I'm a sleep nazi, don't care, lo gets her sleep and that's what matters to me! I bet they're all so jealous and regretting it when you enjoy that wine So many people I know (friends, family, extended family) are so blase about their children's sleep, it makes me crazy! I just want to shake them like "what are you doing?! You're the one screwing up their sleep!" But I as well digress!