Sleep Training 6 Month Old

The book Babywise worked for me when I read it and implemented it. Within 3 days my son slept thru the night. Biggest thing for me was to put the kiddo to bed drowsy/sleepy, not already asleep and not wide awake. He maybe cried for 5-10 minutes. If he cried longer than that, I went in and soothed him, gave him a hug, put him back down, told him goodnight, kisses, etc. Seriously within 3 days he figured it out. He learned that you're not gone for good. That it's sleepy time. Just remember all kids are different (true with your first two) so try this method for a week and see how it goes. Oh and I always put lavendar lotion on him so he could "smell" the routine and associate that smell/scent with bedtime. No I never woke him if by accident he fell asleep before he was put in his crib. But I tried my hardest to not let him fall asleep in my arms - but rather put him in his crib drowsy. Good luck!

1) I never woke my baby up if he fell asleep nursing.
2) May babies always went to sleep well - they may have fussed for 5-10 minutes, but fell asleep - they just would not STAY asleep - getting up ever couple of hours.
3) There are lots of methods where you go in and check on them after 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. but when you are so tired and sleep deprived, how can you keep track of the time (I never could)?

If you want to do it - I think the ONLY way is to put the baby down - drowsy but awake- and let him/her cry. I let mine cry about 15-20 minutes max and never let them get extremely hysterical. If they got hysterical, I went to get them.

After about 2-3 nights of crying, they normally started going to sleep with a minimal amount of fussing.

I think its just what you can tolerate as a mom.

Also - work out some sort of schedule with your husband. I went to bed early - about 9:00, after I put the baby down, and he stayed up until @ 12:00. When the baby woke up at @ 11:20, he would feed him, and put him back down, and then when the baby got up again @ 2:00, I got up. That gave me 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep - which is like gold with a newborn.

Good news - by the time he is 3 he will probably be a pretty good little sleeper!

Try the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. My daughter would only nurse to sleep until we started using that book. It's a slow process, but honestly, I feel that they go at their own pace no matter what you do. One of my problems with cio (I have several) is that when you have a teething baby or sickness, etc, you're kinda screwed. Either you respond and end up starting all over again after you're through it, or you're both miserable from the screaming. No matter what method you choose, they'll sleep through the night when they're ready. Personally, I found that book, routine, and a white noise machine to be most helpful. Good luck, hope your rest comes soon!

My 2nd son is 3 months. I always wake him during the day when he falls asleep after eating. Since he's just eaten he has a lot of energy to play and do tummy time. He's really alert for an hour or so. Then he gets fussy and I rock him until he's drowsy and I put him in his crib. At night I let him fall asleep while nursing and then I put him in the crib. He usually wakes up a little and then falls back asleep.

Im sure you are super busy and probably don't have time to read!..... but the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weisbluth is REALLY good. It has a couple options for the cry it out vs. milder forms of that, but mostly focuses on healthy sleep habits in general (sleep time windows, biological sleep times, etc.)

With my son, I stuck to my routine (so when he was young that was a bottle at night right before bed) - and I put him down right after whether he was asleep or not. I would have never woken him up just to put him back down. But the important part was on the nights he was still awake, I would put him down nonetheless. if your anti-CIO, I would at least delay going in to him when he cries at night - give him a few minutes he may just settle back into sleep. In my opinion, babies HAVE to cry in order to learn to sleep on their own and continuously, I think CIO just gets a bad rap from people who think it literally means just let them cry on their own for hours on end. You could always try going to him every 5 minutes or something and patting his back as he cries until he sleeps. To show him you are there and he's not alone, but that he will not fall asleep in your arms and he must sleep. But I could never do this with my son, because this partial attention really just made it worse and was sort of a tease for him. Good luck to you!

I can understand this is a stressful time for you and Im sure your lack of sleep does not help. Here is my advice. It's all about consistency. Pick a appropriate time for you to put her down, lets say 8:30. Her last bottle, put some GERBER mixed grain cereal (about 3 tablespoons) shake it real well and make sure she drinks it all. What this does is it keeps your baby fuller longer (while still getting proper nutrition while sleeping) so she won't wake up during the night. Secondly, the First Years, 3-1 vibration crib soother worked wonders for both my babies, its just a little device you put under the crib and it vibrate and babies love it !!!! And yes it is crazy to wake your child up if they are asleep, let them sleep for sure. I hope this helps. Also, some babies respond to soothing music, you might want to consider that.