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We sleep trained at 5.5 months. She's a pro at going back to sleep now. I can count the number of times I've rocked/walked/soothed her to sleep since on one hand. She sleeps with a wubbanub and can easily find it and stick it in her own mouth because of the big body, which was a game changer for us!

I'll share our experience. I read all of the sleep books and so I knew the importance of a baby learning to fall asleep independently, but my baby is very low weight, so I didn't want him to ever get really worked up.

At the 4 month sleep regression, we started walking him (in a stroller) to sleep. It worked for us and it worked for him. I worried about it, but it made everyone happier. After a couple of months, we needed to do this less and less, so slowly he went to sleep without walking. At this point we would do bath, read+bottle, then sing+bottle, then pretty much put him down asleep.

Eventually, we started putting him down more awake. By about 12 months, he was always awake. We still do the exact same routine, but once he start to "snuggle in" which is his sleepy sign, I put him down and most nights he doesn't cry.

So in a nutshell, we just very slowly put him down more and more awake. We always do whatever we need to calm him. I think mostly we are blessed with a good sleeper, but I do think our process has contributed to bedtime (usually) being pretty easy. Think of it as a months long process. When baby is calm, put him down more awake, when he's upset, rock as long as necessary...

@Chillybear: We did CIO, no checks, they just pissed her off, and R finally learned how to put herself to sleep.

Ugh, we're struggling with this now at 4.5 months. I've been working on "drowsy but awake" for all of her naps (at the advice of her pedi) hoping it would carry over to nighttime sleep (as she wakes...a LOT throughout the night). Some days she's a champ at drowsy but awake for naps, and other days, like today, she fights it like mad.

Pretty sure I have a bad sleeper and I don't think I did enough to help in the early days--I enabled the bad habits I think! We're going on vacation soon, and when we get back, pretty sure we're looking at sleep training.

@Madison43: Hahahah, I just made a post about sleep training and crib transitioning...I had a few days from HELL when I was trying to put her down in the crib...I'd have her out cold, then when I'd go to set her in the crib, as SOON as she touched the crib mattress, she'd jump SO hard and be WIDE awake again. After trying it over and over and over, and both of us in tears, I gave up for the week. Hmm.

When DS found his thumb, he taught himself. We started giving him a "lovey" A+A security blanket at five months as well when he stopped using his thumb. And we've never had a "hiccup" as far as his ability to self-soothe/fall asleep.

We nursed before bed at nighttime til we weaned at 12+ months and sometimes he'd be asleep or sometimes he'd be drowsy/awake when we put him down.

As she got older she did this more and more without a problem.

Our son, who is 14 weeks, used to be able to fall asleep at bedtime on his own sometimes. We'd nurse and then put him in the crib slightly awake. Then the last few weeks he always passed out completely while nursing, so he was going down already asleep. Now in the last week he wakes up and freaks out the moment he touches the crib. Lots of crying. So we are hoping to help him learn again how to put himself to sleep more independently too! He's a bit young for CIO, so we're not sure what to do either. If we figure anything out, I'll post about it!