I have read/heard multiple times that for any kind of sleep training you need a "strong" routine. What exactly makes the routine strong? I have no idea if our routine is strong or weak. Is it just consistency?
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Subscribing. Sleep is a gem far beyond my reach right now : )
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Yep, I think people mainly mean consistency. It's so easy to give up on something after one night, but it's best to give your LO a little time to catch on and figure out that "X is what happens before bed." We've been doing the same thing for months and months, and even though it's short and sweet, it's what he expects.
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@Mrs. Yoyo: That's what I was hoping it meant! I wanted to make sure that there weren't certain aspects of the routine that were necessary for it to be successful!
Even though... It would be nice to find out that I was leaving out one crucial thing that would just automatically make things click. Sigh.
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@Running Elley: Ha, yeah, if only there was a magic bullet for every kiddo. FWIW, here was/is ours:
When LO still nursed, our routine was simply to go into the spare room, keep the lights out, change diaper, put on lotion, put on PJs and sleep sack, nurse, and then transfer to crib (where I had already put white noise on). Now that he's a big ol' toddler, it's bath (some nights), overnight diaper, and into my dark room where we sit on the bed, I trade him his paci for whatever toy he's clutching, put on lotion, PJs, and sleep sack, and then transfer back into crib, with white noise already going. It's actually pretty painless -- but I attribute a lot of that to proper timing, too -- I know exactly how long he should be up.
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I vote consistency too! We literally do like clock work and déjà vu every night and he sleeps amazingly! (Other than regression periods)
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@Running Elley: share your routine...maybe we could help?
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@Mrs. Yoyo: How can you tell how long he should be up?
@TurtleDoves: I think our nighttime routine is pretty good! It's bath, diaper, swaddle, bottle in the rocking chair and to bed. He usually falls asleep in the middle of the bottle though. He won't go down drowsy but awake. I honestly think that's what we'll have to overcome to make his sleep better. Our main sleep issue is that he doesn't soothe himself back to sleep from wakeups. Which I'm pretty sure means sleep training is necessary. -
I'd say consistency as well. We do bath, read and I sing the same song before putting her in bed. But I do get neurotic about it sometimes. Like, I always force her to read this one book that I've read to her from early on. I feel like, that's the book that triggers her sleepy cues. I've gone without it several times and she slept fine though.
I used to nurse her to sleep too and for all her wakeups. She eventually just started sleeping longer and stopped having night wakings. But she was a much easier baby than her brother was. We went through major sleep training with him. -
@Running Elley: we have the same routine and have been working on drowsy but awake (right ow were at very drowsy haha). He's never nurses to sleep before but he does get pretty sleepy so that hrs hard to burp with how relaxed he is. We've been having good luck putting his sleep sack on after eating and just laying on his back on the carpet wakes him up a bit. God knows I'm no expert but I will say he's slowly getting better at self soothing this way. Twice In The past two day he's woken in his crib with open eyes and fussy noises but settled himself whereas before he would've needed intervention. No clue if well keep making progress but I'm happy with the changes to night sleep so far!
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@Running Elley: how old your son your son now? M fell asleep eating before bed until about 4 months.
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