Nap Training a 6 Month Old

My son is almost 11 months old and last month is when he started sleeping on his own. It was the same with me, he always fell asleep at my breast and couldnt sleep without me bing by his side. You have to put them in their cribs while they are awake that way they learn to soothe themselves to sleep. it took about 2 weeks for him to get used to it. At first he would cry for a long time but now he dosnt cry at all.

hes a baby, he is going through teeth and milestones. nothing is going to stay the same. stop putting yourself and your baby through hell to do what others have made you think your baby should be doing. do what works best for you and your baby and dont stress

I think you need to just remain being consistent, but make sure you are sleep training at night as well. If you rock him to sleep at night, but expect him to fall asleep on his own for naps, you will just confuse him--he is too young to know the difference. Just have a simple routine you do before putting him down to bed for anything--naps, bedtime, etc...It should only take about a week. At night when you go in to nurse, make sure you are just nursing and then leaving and putting him back down--and slowly decreasing the amount of time you nurse at night and increasing the amount of time he goes between feeding. At six months he is probably getting started on solids and this will mean he won't need quite as much to eat during the night. We did not breastfeed, but we changed around our schedule so that we would wake my daughter when we went to bed and give her a last bottle around 11pm and then she would sleep through until 5-6am at this age. At first she would still wake for that 2am bottle, but we just went in the first few nights rubbed her back for a minute and then left the room. She would fuss for a bit but then that was it and she has been a great sleeper ever since! We gradually moved that last 11pm bottle down to 7-8p to get her to sleep all the way through 8p-6am. The first few days of sleep training are the worst, but it was best for us and our daughter. Just hang in there, be consistent, and do what works for you. Get a copy of Ferber or Weissbluth's book on sleep training if you don't already have one and follow the method described--makes it easier I think to have a game plan.

Occasionally when your baby gets sick or teeths you may have to give them a little refresher course in sleep training, but it is much shorter and easier than the first time. Best of luck and send me a pm if you have any questions.

It's a little early for sleep training. They need to be over 20lbs or 12 months old.

My son is 7 months old and is now on a pretty consistent nap routine. I started training probably around 4 months. He is just now starting to fall right asleep or only cry for about a minute or two before he falls asleep, but he does have his days when I KNOW he is tired but he will scream forever before he falls asleep. I do not take him out of his crib. Maybe after 20 minutes or so, I will go up and rub his head to let him know I am still here and then after I leave, he falls right asleep. At first I just made sure I put him down 2-3 hours after he woke up. He would only sleep for about 20-30 min but be tired an hour later. I still kept to the 2-3 hour thing and eventually I began to learn his cues and see a pattern falling into place and now he is sleeping for an hour at least at naps and goes around 3 hours between naps. He takes 3 naps a day. One thing I stopped doing, was nursing him right before I put him down for naps or bedtime. I didn't want him to rely on nursing to fall asleep. I just hold him and bounce and sing about 3 or 4 songs, then put him down awake, stoke his head a couple times and then walk out. Like I said, he still cries sometimes even after a few months, but its getting better. BTW, it only took my daughter 4 days to sleep train at night, but my son took MUCH longer and we are still working on it. Sometimes, he still wakes up every two hours! My son is much more sensitive than my daughter so I have to do things much differently with him. Now I am going to try to get him to sleep longer in the mornings instead of waking up at 5:30! Good luck, just be consistent and keep at it.

In my opinion and experience... 30 minutes isn't so bad. I'd keep at it for a week or so and hopefully he'll learn to settle down within that time. We did CIO with my daughter around that age and it sometimes took 45 minutes for her to fall asleep. If I recall correctly, after about a week she'd get quieter much faster, and after a couple of weeks she was going right to sleep without making a sound. Just keep reminding yourself that by using this method, in the end your son will actually cry less because it's just a week of crying and then hopefully it's done. Stick with it... absolute adherence to the plan is key! Good luck!

For both my girls once they were sleep trained they were good. It usually takes about a week or so. They may regress a little when they learn to sit up, crawl, walk or other developmental time periods, but there sleep should return to nornal. I really think the key to a good sleeping baby (and I have 2 amazing sleepers since 5 weeks old) is not nursing or feeding them before bed. I gave my kids a small blanket to cuddle with. I also rock them for a few minutes, but not until they fall asleep.

Good luck! My little guy took about two weeks to sleep train for naps. For the first week or so, he screamed for an hour straight and it was super difficult to listen to. The second week, he'd sleep for about 20 minutes and then wake, cry, and then go back to sleep. I added a small fan for white noise and put in black out shades in his room. Now he sleeps 90 minutes in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon, like clockwork. Once he got the hang of it, he's became a pro napper. So far, we haven't had any need to re-train and he's been doing well for about 3 months. Hang in there! Well worth it. Once he started napping well, he started gaining weight and eating better too. Might have been coincidence, but I think it was the naps. BTW, his night time sleep was never affected by the naps. He's was sleeping through the night before the nap training.

try using the Baby Whisperer's EASY method for a schedule, and the Happiest Baby on the Block 5 s's method. Those two combined will make cio not be a needed thing (at that age)
EASY - when the baby wakes up it Eats. After you feed it, then it has Activity - bouncy seat, tummy time, sitting up and playing with toys, swing, exersaucer, etc. When the baby gets fussy check the B's - boredom, butt or burp. If it's none of those then off to Sleep. Don't wait for the baby to do more than get the tiniest bit fussy, then see what is causing the fusses - if it's just that they needed their diaper change do that, but if it's not the activity is boring, the butt is dirty or they have to burp, then put them down. This may happen after as short as 45 minutes, don't freak, it really means they are tired.
Now, to get them to sleep use the 5 s's. Swaddle the baby, hold the baby on their side and sway as they suck on something (paci, your knuckle or their finger/thumb) and make a shush noise. This will calm your baby. When the baby is calm, but not asleep yet, keeping them swaddled lay them in the bed. I like to pat them instead of sway after a minute or two cause you can still pat after they are put down but you can't sway, so pat the baby and continue patting gradually decreasing it as you put them in the bed. Also continue the shushing as you put them down, again gradually getting quieter.
If you do these two you will find a well rested, easily managed baby in no time.