Our 5 month old LO sleeps well at night in terms of staying asleep and STTN except when sick or very occasionally. Doesn't wake to feed except when sick. However, getting her to go to sleep at night is still a frequent struggle that often takes an hour or more with lots of crying.
If you used sleep training for falling asleep, what method did you use and how did it go? We already have a good bedtime routine.
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When we sleep trained, it was also just for bedtime only. We did the Ferber method, but modified it so that the checks were later, so rather than checking at 3,5, 7 min or whatever he says, we started at 7, 10, 12 (or something like that, I can't believe I don't remember!)
It went very well. I thought LO was gonna go all nigh, and I thought we'd eventually have to do extinction, but he did great. The first night was 40 min from the time we started to the time he fell asleep, then it got shorter and shorter. By night 3 he wasn't crying. Good luck! -
This was exactly where we were. We sleep trained using CIO, no checks, to fall asleep at 3.5 months. We tackled naps and night time the same day and it took 1 day of her crying for 15-20 mins each time before falling asleep.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. Only thing was, just so you know, we have gone through regressions (like most babies do) where she doesn't wake at night, but we do have to retrain for falling asleep and she'll cry a little. So what I mean is, it's not a sleep train once then forget about it, it's done forever, kind of thing.
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We hired a sleep doula (sleepdoula.com) and used her technique. It's a bit arduous because you have to sleep in the baby's room for the first 3 nights but it worked great. You put the baby into bed awake (after the bedtime routine) and you sit out of sight (my husband sat in our recliner chair with it turned so our son couldn't see him). On the first night you shush and say calming phrases in a low voice ("it's ok, it's time for sleep" etc). As long as the baby is crying you're talking/shhhing. On the second night you do the same but without talking, just shushing, and you shush at the same volume as the baby and only while the baby is making noise. On the third night you just shush intermittently, every few minutes. You do the same things when/if the baby wakes up at night. By night 4 apparently you should just leave the room but we always felt too guilty so my husband stayed in for about another week shushing occasionally until he fell asleep. In my plan I did a dreamfeed at 10pm and another optional one (if he woke up) at 4am, but at 5 months my son was still eating at night.
It was heartbreaking listening to him cry but it saved our sanity in the long run and I'd definitely do it again.
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We used Ferber - by the book, literally - just for falling asleep at bedtime around 4 months. It took 2-3 nights - by the third night, DS never cried enough for us to do the first check. (I think the first two nights, he cried for maybe 20-25 minutes, but not "hard" crying continuously for that long, if that makes sense.) He doesn't really escalate while crying, and never has, so that made it way easier. We have been able to put him down awake (or the mythical "drowsy but awake") for all bedtimes and naps ever since. It was life-changing!
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What's so hard is tha she was doing pretty well until about 5 months and then it started getting a lot harder! We have had a lot of changes in our household though including moving and a cold so I'm hoping it is temporary but need a plan in case it isn't.
Thanks for the thoughts so far - would love more!
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