Baby
Getting Baby to Sleep through the Night
Bath, boob, bed. Every night. She sleeps from 9 PM to 6 AM.
I think it is important to not judge what methods parents use. Every baby is unique. Every family has their own unique needs. I tried the Sears method and recently switched to the Ferber (CIO) method. I have to say that it worked in less than two nights with only 20 minutes of crying. He is a much happier baby throughout the day. My baby was not getting the sleep he needed. I am a fan of both methods and I believe that it was the right thing for us to do at this time. He is now three months old.
My son was about eight months old before he slept through the night. The older he got, the more he woke up instead of sleeping better. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. For two nights in a row I listened to him cry for about 30 minutes when he woke up. The second night was the harder of the two. But the third night and every night after that he has slept through the night. Now he is two and I have a three-month-old daughter who is doing good so far. It was so hard to listen to my baby cry; I felt like the worst mom ever, and my husband had to remind me why we were doing it but it helped to get him to sleep through the night. At eight months there is really no reason for a healthy baby to be waking up besides habit anyway.
I know that every baby is different, but these are just some ideas that hopefully will help.
My husband and I got our daughter into a routine, which allowed for some flexibility and allowed for sleeping in different environments. We keep all the lights on during the day. We don't whisper when she is napping. Then for her last feeding, we turn all the lights off (and the television). We have an air purifier in her room that runs during the night to help muffle other sounds (which we bring with us on overnight trips). She has been sleeping through the night since she was six weeks old. We have kept this lights on/lights off routine since she was born.
We had some problems getting her to this stage when she was a week old. She only wanted to sleep in our arms, and we had to take turns holding her through the night. After a few days, when she was feeling more secure, we let her sleep on our lap with a Boppy around her, but we weren't touching or holding her at all. Then we transitioned her to her Pack-N-Play at the foot of our bed. At five weeks, we switched her to her crib in her room.
My beautiful daughter is six months old next week, and although she slept through the night around three months, she now wakes up once or twice a night. I've tried getting her on a nap schedule, but she is not cooperating. She sleeps when she's ready to, and her naps are rarely more than 30 or 45 minutes. If she's down a full hour, I think it's a GOOD NAP. I'm exhuasted. We've tried to let her cry it out but I can't bear it, and it isn't working anyway. Bottom line is, a new baby is the boss. We play by her rules. There will be plenty of time for a schedule down the road.
Something to share?
Related Links
- Article: Back to Sleep: The Best Bedtime Position for Baby
- Advice: 9-week-old Baby Will Not Sleep in Crib
- Slideshow: Decode Baby's Cries!
- Quiz: What's Your Attachment Parenting IQ?
- Poll: Select the sleep method that worked for your baby:
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