Hellobee Boards

I say you do what works for you. I nursed my kids when they woke up in the middle of the night because it was the quickest way to get us both back to bed. I WOH full time and just wanted to sleep. The trick was to catch them before they fully woke up, like you said. They both eventually dropped all night wake-ups around a year. Now they're both rockstar sleepers, go to bed alone and awake and sleep through until 6:30. I'm not against cry it out, but we did CIO for weeks with my oldest and he still continued to wake.

I'm sure people totally disagreed with this method, but it worked for us. This way I nursed them and stayed up for 20 minutes a night instead of hours.

I'm confused. Are your co-workers getting up with your kid or you? Why do the GAF?

Both my kids slept through the night at 10 weeks, but I have no judgement or thoughts regarding how other kids sleep. You do what is right for your kid, period. Do I feel bad that you are probably super tired? Yes. Do I think how lucky I am that my two STTN early? Yes. But I don't think I did something super right - both kids are high sleep needs.

Lastly - I've found that when being asked by people about anything with my kids I usually just say "all is well." More often than not they are just making small talk. Especially if you feel self conscious about something, why subject yourself to potential judgement?

It all sounds normal and you're not doing anything wrong! I'm sorry if people are making you feel bad about your parenting! I've never sleep trained either kids and I pretty much do all the "bad" things haha. We also co-sleep with both, but I've grown to be confident in my position and will not apologize for anything. This is what has and is working for my family!

I dont think you are doing anything wrong. It sound like your LO has been going through a phase mixed with being sick and teething. Itll get better. Biggest thing is just being consistant whatever you decide to do but you probably know that. Keep up the good work momma. My son is 2 and is going through a phase where he wants to play till 9 PM and wakes up at 6am. He is so grumpy and tired during the day. Some kids and babies just fight sleep lol.

@periwinklebee: doesn’t sound too unusual to me. Some kids are better sleepers than other. Some parents are willing to or want to force the issue more than others.

FWIW we did CIO with my older one very young (4 months) because she just would not fall asleep. She learned to fall asleep on her own but when we tried overnight, it was just a huge fail and I gave up. I nursed her back to sleep in the middle of the night until she started sleeping through the night on her own at 9 months. After that for the times she did wake up overnight, DH would go soothe her because of I went she would want to nurse and I didn’t want to restart that once she had broken the habit in her own. She is still a sucky sleeper, fights falling asleep, occasionally wakes up overnight or too early in the morning, at 5 years old.

My younger daughter I had no energy to fight her in sleep, didn’t start putting to to sleep drowsy but awake until she was at least 6 months old or more, nurses in the middle of the night until she dropped it at one year. She is my rock start sleeper now and never wakes up overnight, basically since she dropped that feed at a year.

Kids are just different. But for your sake I hope she comes through this phase soon and you all get some sleep!!

Seems normal for a kid who is sick, had croup, had HFM and has teeth coming in. Of course you could be a stickler who insists on cry it out - but I wouldn't' do cry it out if my child was sick. Night weaning is a personal choice. If you think he's hungry and/or you find it easier to nurse him back to sleep then go for it. At some point you'll probably want to/need to end that but you have to decide!

You're not doing anything wrong! Do what feels right for you and your baby.

I totally feel for you, though. We have good friends who have a toddler and a 6month old. Our LO is 13months. Their 6 month old starting STTN before ours. From what they've told us, she seems to sleep better in general. Their kids seem to nap longer, eat more, go to bed later, etc. We've gone on 2 weekend trips with them in the last few months and my kid threw up on both occasions ...wasn't sick, just threw up when he we put him down for bed. It was soooo embarrassing and made me feel like I was doing something wrong. I'm cleaning up puke while their kids are sound asleep . It's hard not to compare, but every kid is different. I have to remember that our kids and ourselves excel in some areas and have trouble in others.

@periwinklebee: I agree with many others! Just wanted to add that I nursed to sleep, held him when crying and tried to avoid “methods.” I think instinct is best! At 2 y.o., he is a champ sleeper. That was very hard to imagine for about the first 12-14 months.

DS just has never fit any standard schedule that I’ve read about (um, except the ones about development that matter!). I did my best to not stress and just let him be a baby who wanted love and food a lot. HB mamma support helped a lot with that!

Around 12 months we night-weaned unless sick. It worked without much fuss. DH helped.

Around 14 months I stopped nursing to sleep and we changed the routine to nursing-teeth brushing-ZippadeeZip-snuggles with Dad.

At around 22 months I stopped nursing altogether and the before-bed one was the last to go. Easy peasy. We exchanged nursing for books.

You have totally got this! Just smile and nod with the other moms.

I didn't read all of the responses, but I just wanted to comment…that you are not "screwing anything up" or "doing anything wrong". Nothing wrong about the way you help/don't help/whatever your kid sleep! If your comfortable with your current sleeping situation, then keep doing it. And I am fully on the "do what it takes to survive" train when it comes to baby sleep, so you go girl!