I'm curious, how did you help your child (ren) learn how to sleep? Did you have a favorite book? approach?
With my first, I didn't really. She nursed, and nursed, and nursed, and nursed. I read all the books, but I was a nervous first time mom. With my second, I decided to try putting him down wide awake from the day he was born. I read the Baby Whisperer and decided I liked what she had to say. I did the same with my current baby. My 2nd and 3rd kids are terrific sleepers. No CIO and no constant nursing.
What approach did you take?
With #1 I had no clue, so he wasn't sleeping through the night until 12 months, when I finally asked his Ped when he'd finally sleep. He gave me abstracts of the most popular baby sleep methods, and I did CIO right away. 3 nights of hell and he's been a pretty great sleeper ever since.
Baby #2 & 3 I did the Ferber method (not CIO) at 4 mos, and they are both phenomenal sleepers.
Baby #4 I plan to do Ferber as well.
I didn't use a specific approach, we just stuck with the same routine from about 2 or 3 months on. Nurse, rock for a bit, then down in his bed. Around 18 mos we cut the nursing out and added a book first instead. He's always just fallen asleep on his own, so we've been lucky! If he did wake up in the night as a baby, he never cried more than a minute or 2 and then went back to sleep so we really didn't need to pick a way, we just let him learn naturally.
I night-weaned and used the CIO approach with my first. My second one night-weaned at the same time we were moving, and because of logistics, he and his brother slept together in a bed. When we got to our new house, they shared a room with single beds shaped in an "L". I had the same night time routine as always - baths, quiet play in their bedroom, reading, and turning out the lights. I never had trouble at all with this.
The only problem I had was when I was pregnant with my second and laid down with my first child during my first trimester. I was SO tired and I'd conk out with the book. My son got used to me doing that and when I stopped, he started screaming about it, and then waking in the middle of the night trying to come into bed with us. This was totally new. I could NOT go back to sleep in the middle of the night after being woken during my second pregnancy. I was working full time and beyond tired. I would NOT allow him in our bed and I became Darth Vadar to get him back in his room. He slept in his floor a little, but once he knew I meant business, he went back to his bed (it was a lot more comfortable than the floor.) We never had sleeptime issues after that, ever again.
I logged on to mamapedia just now to figure this out! I nursed my first to 20 months, and he woke up every 90 minutes until weaned. We coslept. Now I am in a twin bed (long story) trying to figure out how to get my 3.5 month old to sleep. I keep accidentally cosleeping with him in a twin, and my two year old climbs in, too. Aaahhh!!
With my second I tried to do what you did. I put her down awake from day one. She was doing great until she started deciding she wanted me and would projectile vomit everywhere over and over again. The Dr. said she had a super sensitive gag reflex and some kids are born with this and outgrow it around age 2 or 3. Totally sucks. Now I have an almost 4 year old who I need to train to fall asleep on her own. Oh well...her brother eventually did it and he goes to sleep just fine now at age 9. She will too one day.
I used the baby whisperer routine and had her sleeping through the night by the time I went back to work at 12 weeks. I give her book to all my friends/family who are expecting, just because I loved it so much.
My firstborn was extremely colicky. So, at points, he just had to cry in his crib. I had to take a bath and use the bathroom occasionally. :)
He's a solid sleeper now and loves to sleep.
My second is/was a terrible sleeper. We did more a Ferber approach, as you can't really let a baby cry much when you are trying to get a toddler to sleep in the next room. She's almost three now, and I find she needs a lot less sleep than my first. She gets up all the time and comes in our room throughout the night. She's always late to sleep and early to rise.
Nursed them to sleep, usually put them down sleeping, until they were weaned, around 18 months.
After that, snuggling and stories were usually sufficient to wind them down. I ALWAYS left a little clip on reading light and a stack of books on the nightstand. They learned to "read" to fall asleep early on.
I put both my kids down when slightly awake and if they fell asleep with us holding them we put them down. Both of my kdis are pretty good. Of course we have the growth spurt wake ups. I never had to do CIO or anything else.. However the down side, my kids will usually not sleep with me holding them. They like their own space. :) they are 2 &5 now.
