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Sleep training???

Hi Ladies,
My HV has ask a nursery nurse women to come to see me about sleep training for my little man who wont sleep. He is 19 weeks on Sunday and has never slept longer than 6 hours (did 8 hours twice but never again), he wakes at 1am and then every hour after and we have to keep going back to put dummy in.
Anyone else had this (the sleep training) and can tell me what it involves?

Thanks
Sxx

Replies

  • oh no not had it but please let me know how it goes and what it involves. my lo wakes every hour 2

    good luck xx
  • ooo I would love that, will have to ask my HV about it.... Tyler is 12 weeks and doesn't sleep although we need to get his issues sorted out first.
    Let us know how it goes.
    sarah
  • lol...and here was me trying to convince myself that not sleeping more than 3 hours at a time was normal at 19 weeks!

    Would love to know how it goes. Good Luck xx
  • Hi, yes I did this with my little one when he was 5 months old. Basically 'sleep training' is a nice way of saying letting him cry. But there is a method to it whereby you get him settled for bed and when he is sleepy but not asleep you put him down (without any props such as dummy) and even if he cries you leave the room and turn the light out. You then wait for 5 minutes and if he is still crying you go back in and don't pick him up but comfort him in the cot with a pat / rub / soothing words etc for a couple of minutes then leave the room again - even if he is still crying or starts to cry again as you leave. Then you wait 10 minutes, then do the same, then 15 minutes, then every 15 minutes on the first night. The second night you start with 10 minutes, then 15 etc etc. To be honest it sounds worse than it is. I found that I only had to go in twice, never three times and by the third day he had totally got it and went to sleep easily on his own, stayed asleep all night (12 hours!) and napped better too. Every now and then we have a hiccup such as teething / a cold / holiday but we do sleep training again when all's well and it takes only one episode of training before he remembers it all.
    Sorry if i've gone into too much detail - it might not even be the same thing that she is going to say but this is what my hv told me.
    I'd say it's not for everyone but I had tried other methods, such as pick up / put down (really made it lots worse for us, just totally riled him up) and holding him til he fell asleep but this just resulted in him needing me to hold him every time he woke up and then I had to wait longer and longer (up to half an hour) after he'd fallen asleep before I could put him back in the cot. It's difficult to hear your baby cry - no two ways about it - but the most important thing is that if you decide to do it, stick to it 100% otherwise you're just being cruel for no reason. Also remember that it's in your baby's interest to be able to get all the sleep they really need. If you can't do it though, don't beat yourself up, as I say it's not for everyone!
    Good luck, hope you get some much needed rest soon. xxx
  • Aww thanks Moomin, sounds fab, i'd love to get rid of the dummy. He goes to sleep straight away at night with the dummy, i think its when it falls out it wakes him up and he doesnt know how to settle himself. She did say he might be a little young for it but as he wakes every hour she said its worth givin it a go. I'm pretty sire we've tried everything else!!
    Looking forward to Tuesday now!
    Sxx
  • My LO doesn't sleep longer than 6hrs at a time and he is 17 months. I think all babies are individuals and some just wake more than others. It sounds young to start sleep training, which in my experience can make a little difference but won't change your babies natural pattern. Hope it works well for you and you achieve what you want to from it though xx
  • Beth generally only sleeps about 4 hours at a time and she's almost 6 months!
    It's v depressing but at the moment she still needs the night feeds as she's got silent reflux and not eating enough during the day. If she was eating fine I'd def do sleep training. Like Moomin says, it's basically leaving to cry (and either checking regularly, doing shhh/pat etc). But from what I've read and heard 3 nights should crack it. It sounds like you just need to get rid of that dummy and he'll be fine as he's not waking for food.

  • I'd say your baby sounds pretty 'normal' for 19 weeks old-my lo was still feeding every 3 hours at that age. At 11 months he now wakes once or twice during the night and has a feed. I hope it works for you but dont despare if it doesnt-we tried controlled crying when lo was 9 months old, it didn't work-i figure he'll sleep through when he's good and ready xx
  • just popped over for a nose from toddler
    I'd agree that your baby is perfectly normal at the age of 19weeks and can't believe an hv would offer sleep training that early!!

    I am in fact quite jealous as my ds didn't sleep for more than 4 hours at a time until after 9months!!! and hv's in my area won't offer any help with sleeping until over 11months

    we finally go lo to sleep through with controlled crying at 9months but I don't think i'd like to use this method on such a young babe.

    most babies don't sleep through at a young age xx
  • I am shocked your HV is doing sleep training so young as they dont normally recomend it until 6 months. It might be that the nursery nurse is going to teach you other, gentler methods though (like PUPD for example - google it if you want some info).

    To be honest she is probably just going to tell you to ditch the dummy, as this always seems to be their answer to everything.

    good luck with it, and let us know how you get on.
    Nx

    by the way - I did a version of sleep training with Abby from a VERY young age (about 5 days) and it worked REALLY well, so it can be done earlier - but they dont tend to recomend it, and it is tricky to get it right. xxx
  • Dont think i made myself very clear, he doesnt very often do 6 hours!!! Once he has slept 6 hours he is then up for the day. So 1am he wants to play. We are having to go in every hour at the most sometimes 20 mins to settle him. He is deffo NOT hungry as he;s on 3 solid meals a day plus around 26oz milk. I think u r right baby B its the dummy thats causing the problem and we need to get rid of it.
    Sx
  • I used a simple trick I learned to help me get my baby to sleep. Read more here; 
    https://hanithemummy.com/10-things-you-can-do-to-sleep-train-newborn-and-get-a-good-nights-sleep-forever/


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