Sleep Training

[masked_rose86]

Our pediatrician wants us to do a form of CIO this month....the girls are 4 months. They do cry/fuss A LOT and it would be great to get them self soothing more. They are also used to both swaddling and nursing to sleep, which until now worked, and I was fine with. They are waking up 3-4 times in a 10 hour period though (ends up every 2 hours from 1-5 usually). Which I dealt with while they were really little, now it is really frustrating since I KNOW they can STTN (they did for 5ish weeks!). This sleep regression has been going on for 3 weeks.....

Is this too early to do sleep training? I am going to have to wait at least a week or two until DH's schedule allows him to be home 3 nights in a row (I'd prefer more in a row, but that would mean waiting until July). I just can't imagine the girls need to be eating 4 times a night still.....but if it is the best thing for them I'd continue. But boy am I looking forward to not fighting sleep or naps with them daily!

[alison]

Gosh, I think it depends on the child. Mine was ready for CIO around 5 months.

[L.Jane]

Stupid question, but have they started teething and are uncomfortable?

[ladymoreta]

I'll post more later, but what have you tried so far? CIO can be a great technique for some kids, but I'm not convinced its the best method to start with if you're not really comfortable with it. What are your thoughts on how CIO will go based on their personalities?

[MrsK]

I tried to respond to this earlier and I'm tied up now. LadyM is the resident expert! But, fwiw, we discussed sleep training with a sleep psychiatrist and he said to wait until 6mo. Prior to that, he said that you cannot spoil them with rocking/nursing to sleep.

[Michele]

No experience with sleep training....unless you mean that my kids have trained me to sleep with them and wake every few hours with them.

[spotty_dog]

No experience with sleep training....unless you mean that my kids have trained me to sleep with them and wake every few hours with them.

LOL. Yeah, I never sleep trained my munchkins. But then, I never raised twins. Do what you've got to -- but breastfed infants do generally need to eat during the night until they are about 1.

[SuzySunshine]

Yep, totally kid dependent. My oldest did CIO early and slept FABULOUSLY and never cried more then 15ish minutes. My youngest...not so much! He would cry all night if we had let him and didn't sleep through the night until he was 13 months old.

I say if your doc says to try it, try it. You'll be able to tell by their cry if they're going to fall asleep or not IMO.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

My 4 month old still wakes that often. The doctor suggested on Monday that we do CIO (her suggestion was unprompted, we hadn't mentioned her sleep habits at all). I think it's kid dependent.

My child isn't a twin and is a howler monkey. When I don't respond quickly enough, she only gets louder. I don't think CIO would work at least at this point. If she was a twin, I might try it though since I get that it's way more difficult with two.

We started off with her in a pack and play and then gave up and have been Cosleeping ever since. It's more peaceful than trying to get her back to sleep every time. So if anyone is sleep regressing, it's mama and her ability to tolerate constant waking.

[Pollyanna]

I think four months is a bit early for CIO imo. But do what works best for your babies, your family and your sanity

[alison]

Have you tried a binky? Maybe that's a stupid question, but for me, I swear I lived in the crunchier part of the US, where moms are this close to carrying around their babies in their mouths. . I never knew a binky was an option! It really helped for providing my dd with a sleep cue. We only introduced it around 4-5 mos.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

Have you tried a binky? Maybe that's a stupid question, but for me, I swear I lived in the crunchier part of the US, where moms are this close to carrying around their babies in their mouths. . I never knew a binky was an option! It really helped for providing my dd with a sleep cue. We only introduced it around 4-5 mos.

REALLY? I thought I couldn't because we didn't do it earlier - she wouldn't take one but I wonder if I could slip it to her when she's done nursing and is just comfort sucking herself to sleep. Sorry to hijack, I'm just really excited!

[SoonerTexan]

Tulips, we do just that. We are total binky fiends in these parts. Unless N is sleeping, she has one on a clip attached to her clothes and I always throw a couple in her cosleeper. We have an entire bowl of pacifiers and like 6-7 clips. N is a pretty calm baby and good sleeper anyway but the Binky REALLY helps. I don't care if weaning her from it later is a pain. It is totally worth it. And I would say I'm pretty dang crunchy.

[SoonerTexan]

Proof. Vgirl sent me this today

[Michele]

Definitely try a pacifier if you haven't. I still will try to slip a paci in Phe's mouth when I'm tired of nursing her at night (she's 20 months old - and we cosleep and she nurses 2-4 times a night sometimes staying attached for 75-80% of the night).

Once breastfeeding is pretty well established (6-12 weeks: often sooner), you should be able to introduce a paci without problems. It may take a bit for the baby to get the hang of sucking it. But most do. I had to hold it in Phe's mouth at first bc she would thrust her tongue and push it out. And sometimes she would get frustrated bc it was "dry". But overall she nursed and paci'd just fine.