Any more gentle sleep training that worked for you?

amother

Pumpkin

Mon, May 13 2024, 1:17 am

My baby woke up in middle of the night to feed ff. I made sure she’s fed enough before, and when she woke up to eat I would take her out, hold her on the rocking chair and soothed her. She barely cried, but she was in my hands until the next feeding for about a week. After that she stopped waking up to eat, but now she wakes up from her eczema. EVERY HOUR

amother

DarkViolet

Mon, May 13 2024, 2:29 am

I'm the worst. My formula fed babies didn't "sleep train" until they were old enough to open the fridge by themselves, and my breast fed ones only once I was pregnant again and the milk dried up 🙄🙄🙄

I heard what sounded like good advice: if the baby is breastfed, feed them a yummy meal right before bed, it will take longer to digest than breastmilk, so they'll sleep longer. I myself have not tried this yet, because right before baby goes to bed is right before I go to bed, and I'm tired and don't have the energy to feed the baby, clean up, clean baby up, so much easier to lay down and nurse.

amother

Hawthorn ↓

Mon, May 13 2024, 6:33 am

I like the book “precious little sleep”

We just sleep trained baby from sleeping only in my arms or need to falling asleep in my bed- first in the crib with my hand on him, then sitting right next to the crib, then across the room, then out of the room (that only works sometimes still)

In terms of bottles overnight, we always offer a bottle of water first in case he’s just thirsty/ needs to suck (only do this if your kid is old enough for water), and then if he’s not consoled by that we give a bottle of watered down formula.

amother

↑ Hawthorn

Mon, May 13 2024, 6:36 am

amother Pumpkin wrote:

I had a waking from eczema kid. My sympathies. We didn’t manage to sleep train her till 2.5. Ask your dr if you can give Zyrtec before bed. Also, the dermatologist gave us eucrisa which is a new non-steroid that I put on her skin at the first sign of redness that keeps it from getting itchy.

amother

↑ OP

Mon, May 13 2024, 8:51 am

Thank you all for responding!!
I'm trying to feed him less and less every night. If I hold him, rock him or anything else but feed he's screeeeeetching, and it's the middle of the night, and I'm exhausted, so he's usually feeding within a minute or two :/
Would appreciate links to a specific program that you have heard of or followed. Thank you!

amother

↑ Oatmeal

Mon, May 13 2024, 9:14 am

tichellady wrote:

A Professional mentor can’t make colic or feeding issues or failure to thrive go away. I’m happy your baby slept well but don’t assume that other people’s babies sleeping issues are a result of their parent’s poor habits. My baby cried for hours while I would try to hold and feed her and I wasn’t even trying to sleep train her, just to soothe her. You are very lucky to have had a healthy, easy, calm baby

If you read upthread, you'll see that I wrote that this method did not work for my colicky allergy baby & he didn't sleep through the night till 4 years old.
When someone asks for sleep training methods and advice, we can assume that it's for a healthy baby that doesn't have much issues. Because you can't really sleep train a colicky baby or a baby that has failure to thrive or other issues.

amother

Holly

Mon, May 13 2024, 9:52 am

For me coosleeping was the solution at that age. He was still waking up, but it was a matter of minutes to get him back to sleep.

sunshine23 ↓

Mon, May 13 2024, 10:24 am

12 hours by 12 weeks is very very gentle very little to no crying. Max 5 min at a time. Worked beautifully with all my kids. It really taught them how to sleep

amother

cornflower

Mon, May 13 2024, 10:45 am

sunshine23 wrote:

12 hours by 12 weeks is very very gentle very little to no crying. Max 5 min at a time. Worked beautifully with all my kids. It really taught them how to sleep

I’m trying this now for my 9 week old. But I can’t seem to figure out how it’ll work by babysitter
Also, im going from eating every 2.5 hours so it’s taking time for this step. Didn’t even get to next steps yet.
But, I feel like I’m starving my baby! The baby isn’t really eating more per feeding just eating every 3.5 hours now(baby is clearly hungry 15-25 min before but I try to distract)

↑ sunshine23

Mon, May 13 2024, 10:48 am

If your baby is not eating enough per feed it will not work.
Offer bottle after nursing, make sure they get at least 6 oz per feeding. If not, they are not ready. Slowly up it by the feedings he is hungrier such as morning feed. He needs to drink the whole thing or it won't work. feel free to pm me. This site is really not a safe place to talk about this method.

amother

Broom ↓

Mon, May 13 2024, 11:02 am

amother Oatmeal wrote:

That's not true.
I start from when I bring my babies home from the hospital. No crying involved.
You start by creating a good sleep environment for the baby, and as the baby gets older, you adjust the training accordingly.
Most of my babies slept 8-10 hours by 6 weeks bh.

Can you elaborate on good sleep environment and what you do when they come home? TIA

momlife

Mon, May 13 2024, 11:04 am

Taking Cara babies
(She’s a nurse and her husband is a pediatrician.)
Her newborn class is no crying
If you’re starting with a 5 month or older, it’s a different program and it does involve crying.
I’ve done both (2 different kids)

amother

↑ Broom

Mon, May 13 2024, 11:04 am

amother Oatmeal wrote:

I am counting my blessings bh.
My colicky allergy baby, didn't sleep through the night till 4 years old.

What happened that the 4 year old started sleeping? Like did you do anything differently or just randomly stared to sleep through? Having trouble with my almost 3 year old.

MummyT

Mon, May 13 2024, 4:08 pm

amother OP wrote:

I have a 10 month old who is still waking up a few times a night and needs feeding to calm down! Don't want to leave him to cry (I saw it won't work for him) so I'm looking for recommendations of a more gentle approach with little crying as possible Sad

Please help an exhausted mama! Thank you !

Honestly OP, your post could have been written by me! Im having the same issues - he seems capable of crying from 12-6am if I would leave him (which obv I wouldnt do...) but if crying doesnt work and Im too exhausted to get up and feed - purely for comfort or sucking I would assume as he is not hungry - it only lasts about 3 mins when I do give in...then the way forward seems impossible on this amount of sleep. Im sorry I am no help but just wanted you to know that Im in your boat;)

amother

Sapphire

Mon, May 13 2024, 4:30 pm

amother OP wrote:

It sounds like he is hungry. What is he eating during the day and how much? Nursing or formula? Babies will not stop eating at night until they are getting all the calories they need during their awake hours.

amother

Copper

Mon, May 13 2024, 4:31 pm

I love the book The No Cry Sleep Solution. Got my 12mo old to sleep mostly through the night when he was waking every hour. With no crying!

amother

Magenta

Today at 7:05 pm

amother Oatmeal wrote:

You said that there's no such a thing as sleep training without crying. I'm just saying that there is such a thing.
(And the mentor I used really wasn't expensive. I used her for my 1sr & then followed the same steps & read the book she gave my with my other kids.)

Who was the mentor and which book did she recommend?

amother

Amber

Today at 7:50 pm

Gentle sleep guide by Kim west
I recommend to everyone. Using it now with my 6 month old with great results, teaching now how to fall asleep alone without me rocking or putting paci in every second
From 3 months baby was sleeping through the night, only woke up once early morning. By four months didn’t wake up at all at night
That said, each baby is different. The book has an amazing gentle approach