Hellobee Boards

I don't have any advice as to which method you should use, because we're trying to figure that out ourselves. (We doing our own version of the Baby Whisperer's pu/pd and shh/pat, I think) I just wanted to throw out there that consistency is key. At this age (my LO is 6 mos too) they're aware enough to know that whatever is going on is not like it used to be. However, their memory is still so short that they have a hard time processing it in just a few days. Whichever method you choose, stick with it for a week or two at least. A wise friend once told me that the first 3 days of any transition is the worst. So far, she has been right.

And if it makes you feel any better, my LO doesn't do very well with me in the room either. 90% of the time it just gets her more worked up. I only go in if things are getting crazy. So, I end up letting her cry a bit. Sometimes she does fight it for over an hour. When it takes that long, though, I'm usually in there several times to calm her down.

I second trying the swaddle weaning separately too. When we started sleep training, falling asleep without being jiggled or rocked and without a paci was a pretty big change for LO. If she was freshly weaned from a swaddle, I can imagine it would have been a little much for her. We attempted weaning but eventually found going cold turkey from the swaddle worked best for us. It took a little while helping her go down without hitting herself, but eventually she figured it out.

For sleep training, we started with night time and did gradual extinction. I figured I'd start it then because I had a better chance of her being rested for naps the next day (assuming she had a better night's sleep after CIO - which she did). We then did CIO for all naps the next day and the longest she cried (first nap) was 18 mins. The night before was ~40mins.

Ya. Usually I would rock her until really drowsy, then place her in her crib and kind of hold her arms in place and wiggle her until she was asleep. It just helped keep her arms/hands from disturbing her in the beginning. Eventually it got to a point where I didn't have to pin her arms, but she always tore her paci out and couldn't replace it which was a pain.

LO is 6 months on sat. and we started sleep training last week. We weaned her from her swaddle probably about a month ago? I would have done them closer together, but it took me a while to get to a point where I was ok/desperate enough to try CIO.

I definitely agree with C.Sassy that you have to see whatever method you choose out for a week or more. Fortunately for us, night #1 went well so it gave me the confidence to be consistent and keep going. Her sleep has GREATLY improved, but still some nights/naps are better than others, so it's still a work in progress. Also, someone else had mentioned it to me from HB and it's been especially true for naps, the more tired they are, the longer they'll cry.

The only time I really noticed her startling was as I was laying her down if I didn't support her just so. She rarely startles mid-sleep at this point. So whether it's truly the moro reflex, or just her awareness taking over I'm not sure, but it didn't seem to be an issue for us. It was mostly just her pawing at her face that we had trouble with.