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Tips from those with good sleepers!

Hi, well angelo's brother or sister is due in 4 weeks time and I am panicking more than a little bit. You see my little angel was a nightmare sleeper and I (& oh) were a wreck for months and months. I really don't think I could go through that again, especially after a difficult pregnancy & having another lo to look after as well.
So really I would be so so grateful if you could share any tips/info/advice you might have that you think contributed to your lo's sleeping well from an early age. ANY advice welcome..please! xx

Replies

  • hi, hope your weel except been heavily pg.lol. finley was my 1st baby and i had a rough pg too. fin has been so good and has slept through from 9 weeks and only wakin for 1 feed a night from 6 weeks. i do think there is an element of luck but we started to introduce a bedtime routine from 6 weeks. like giving a bath at the same time everyday for a week or 2 and then adding the bottle after that and then we started puttin down after that. we also did use some controlled crying too. never leavin for longer than a few mins when tiny and then increasin the time. its really hard but he has slept very well for us. he now sleeps from 7pm till 11pm, has a bottle, then sleeps till 8am!!which im quite impressed by.hope that helps?xxx
  • Hi I dont know if I have any tips as such,Ben is a good sleeper and has been from about 8wks...Once I put him into his own room he sleep so much better!I kept him in a routine and if he cried i would go in and settle him back down,but didnt talk or get him out!!!
    He uses a dummy and I believe this helps him settle himself back to sleep,I would also put him down while he was still awake but sleepy so he learnt to settle him self to sleep.
    Using black out blinds have also helped.
    He sleeps 7pm till about 8.30/9.30am.
    Good luck
  • My little girl has slept thru since 5 weeks. I'm not sure why, but what we do is give last feed (she is still being breast fed) at 7pm after her bath then we put her into her cot into her jet black room with the baby moniter on. She wakes between 8-9am the next morning. it's a routine we've done from very early on and that is what she's used to now! BB x
  • HI hun, I've got two!! Millie my first was not a good sleeper when she was little. We used to spend hours sat downstairs with her in the middle of the night. She was perfectly happy but just wouldn't sleep, she didn't sleep properly untill she was about 7 months when I did so me sleep training, ever since (she is now 2 1/2) she has been really good. When my little lad, Barney, arrived we did things very differently from the begining. From about 3 weeks old he went to bed, in his crib at 7.30 every night after a bath with his sister and a feed. He had his last feed downstairs in a bright room so that he was awake when it finished. We then swaddled him (which he seemed to really like), put him in his crib, started his mobile and left him to fall asleep. He always got left for 10 mins while we sorted out getting Millie to bed but if he was still crying after that I used pick up put down untill he went to sleep. I only had to do that about 4 times though. He's always slept really well, we've never had that feeling of complete exhaustion I remember from the early days with Millie. He did wake to be fed but it was a quick 20 min feed, straight back in his cot and straight back to sleep! I really think the key is to make sure they feel safe and snug and teach them to fall asleep by themselves, that way they only wake you at night if they are genuinely hungry.
    Good luck!
    xx
  • I agree 100% with Bedhead - bath, bottle and bed at the same time from about 6 weeks for us. Always put to bed awake so she learned to self soothe - if she cried, I would just stroke her head and say sshh in a gentle voice. I never (unless she was poorly) picked her up, talked to her or gave a lot of eye contact when the room was dark and she has slept through from being about 6 weeks, ( She had a dream feed just before we went to bed till she was 4.5 months).
    Hope that helps!
    Good luck chicken!!
  • i've had 3 - the first was a NIGHTMARE!!! - the second and third - model sleepers!!

    with my first, even tho we followed Donna&Poppys routine, we would let him stay downstairs with us until we went to bed - then he'd wake, and be unsettled!! we should have put him in bed when ready - we could have had more us time too!!

    eventually, i got a dummy (i have hangups about them and really didnt want one!!), but he only had it in the night when he cried (i knew he wasnt hungry). this made a rod for my own back, as he cried when it fell out, couldnt find it, so i was up and down to him to put it back in!! he eventually slept thru properly from 10months old when he was walking everywhere and i put him in a grobag! BUT he still gets up 6-6:30 (he's 7!!)

    with my second and third, i changed it all totally - when they slept during the day and we were home, they went in the cot. they always went to bed after their last feed etc etc they were allowed to cry themselves to sleep neither had a dummy, although they are both thumb suckers.

    they have either been awake or asleep when going to bed - that never bothered them or me, and now older (4 1/2 & 16months) they climb in bed awake and go off on their own!

    god, that was a ramble on, wasnt it!! bet you fell asleep, didnt you!
  • Thanks so much everyone..I actually feel a bit more confident now! I think as hmvdb and babyfizz said there can be an element of luck involved but my plan of action is now routine & allowing baby to settle themselves from an early age ..ooh I'm tough!
    Bedhead Barney sounds like a dream, can I ask if he had a dummy and also when he had his feed in the night would you make sure you put him down awake again? Thanks.xxx

  • He is a dream :lol: . He's never had a dummy to sleep, he did have one for a few weeks just for an hour before bedtime when we hit the witching hour, only way I could cope with him and Millie at the same time, but he dropped it himself at about 10 weeks. He's bfed so he was normally asleep when I put him down, sometimes he woke up but I didn't wake him specially, I did always feed him in the same room as he slept, with just a night light on so he knew it was still nighttime. I think there is an element of luck involoved as well, he's a lazy little sod so I think he quite likes his sleep!
    xx
  • You're so lucky! Well fingers crossed I have a lazy sod this time..please, please.xx
  • Hey Love - I have a good sleeper (says a pray the next will be too!)

    Well, with his milk (diffrent now he is on solids) but with his milk if he left an oz.. I would give him a little break and then offer it to his again towards the end of the hour.. because the oz's they miss out on they normally try to make up on.. and you perfer that doesn't happen at night.

    I put Charlie down awake at 7pm give him his dummy, give him his comfort blanket, cover him, kiss him put on his music mobile and leave the room. Then he just goes to sleep on his own.. Sometimes he'll call out for us.. we never give him eye contact or talk to him.. just re-settle doing the above.. might take a couple times but thats it.. he just goes to sleep then. x
  • argh caitlin is a nightmare sleeper so far 3 nights through the night and shes 7 months, robbie my eldest was a dream, but caitlin hates sleep, too bloody nosey i think lol, good luck with lo xx
  • Hey, thanks for that it_must_be_love, think I know what I have to do, just hope it works.
    tracey, hope caitlin hope caitlin redems herself soon! xx
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