Ladies I am so hoping someone out there has some good advice. I have been co sleeping with my 6 month old since she was born. I nurse, gave birth naturally and am not into the cry it out idea of baby training. I originally only planned to co sleep for the first couple months but it took a little longer to get my two year old transitioned into her toddler bed and make the crib available. I've got the crib now, set up in my room and she naps in it each day. Night time is our real problem. In these six months I've realized some tremendous mistakes I've made in allowing her to suckle to sleep with each night waking. She now has a strong association with suckling to sleep and only sleeps 30-50 minutes at a stretch for naps. We are working on that and yes she is able to fall asleep on her own in her car seat, in her swing and in the arms of my husband or our babysitter or even me on occasion. She falls asleep easily for naps and at night. At night she will fall asleep and will stay asleep her typical 30-45 minutes but then awakes and I can't get her to go back to sleep/stay asleep unless I go to bed with her and let her suckle to sleep and stay there. She falls asleep easily if I let her nurse but within moments of being placed back into her crib she is awake and screaming. She is screaming now. My husband is in with her trying to comfort her and it just makes her angry and she is screaming terribly for him. I don't know what to do to break her of this expectation that bedtime for her means bedtime for me. We have a bedtime routine, I use the soft music, white noise, I pre-warm her bed, there is a soft night light in there. I've tried leaving something that smells like me near her. I've read the No Cry Sleep Solution and am trying some of the ideas in there but still don't know what to do to break her association with night time. I am at a total loss. Any advice would be much appreciated.
She's old enough that a pacifier won't mess up breast feeding, and for all their faults (none of my 3 ever took one) studies now say that they reduce SIDS. Not a perfect solution but maybe worth a shot.
Can you put her in her crib and let her cry? What is the difference with her screaming at your husband or crying in her crib? She needs to learn that she can put herself back to sleep. I made the mistake of going in all the time when baby was crying but it just made things worse. If I ignored it he would put himself back to sleep. Same with my daughter. I co-slept with her until 4 months. Do you have an aquarium or something that she can play with. I know it sounds cruel but it really isn't. They cry, you don't rush in, they learn that they can put themselves back to sleep. See if it will work. Go in pat her back, put her in her crib, walk away. Let her cry for a little while, go back in say night night and leave again, She'll fall asleep and then the next night will be easier. I only had to do this one night for my daughter. But with my first (son), took a few days. But he was older. Good luck!!
My now 3.5 year old was like this. He did not sleep alone all night until just recently. It sounds like she is not ready to be in a bed by herself there is nothing wrong with co sleeping a little longer. I co slept with our son until he was 2 then moved him to his room w/ his brother but still ended up sleeping with him for half the night and now he sleeps all night without me and i miss cuddling with my baby :(
hey girl - i would recommend letting her try to fuss herself to sleep - we did that with all three of ours, and it is tough the first times, but we have the rule that we give them 15 - 20 min, then we go in and settle them down, then put them down to try again. All of mine are great sleepers now.
Good luck & hang in there! :)
hugs!
~T.
I don't have any advice because I'm still getting my son to sleep in the crib (doesn't help he has had ear infections non stop so I can't really expect him to) but I'm wanting to know how you pre warm the bed??
I was going through this with my son. I co slept beautifully with my first and planned to do the same with #2 DS. He too woke up every hour to nurse and it just kept getting worse to the point when he was almost one he would wake every 20 minutes and insist on sleeping on top of me. Neither of us were getting any sleep!!!! I never thought I would let him CIO but we tried it and it honestly was not too bad! After three nights he was sleeping on his own! Now he sleeps 12 hrs a night and I'm getting some sleep and a little time to myself at night. It was honestly like we were keeping each other up and this is what he needed! Good luck and stay strong mama!
I agree with the PP. There is a huge difference between CIO and letting them fuss a bit. I used the Dr. Weisbluth method, but a modified version. We never let our son cry more than 15 minutes and it only took him a few nights. He was sleeping 12 hours and I breastfed. I too had a natural delivery and agree with you on not letting a baby scream forever, but I think it's up to you as to when you are ready to get a good nights sleep. Good luck:)
I know it's very hard to do but it worked wonderful for us if you know they dont need anything let them cry, the first night for us took 35 minutes it was terrible but it only took a few days for it to be under 10 minutes.
My son sleeps through the night but occasionally at night, when he wakes up, I'll nurse him or comfort him for a bit then lay him back down and let him cry for a little bit. I believe that letting him fuss for a few minutes and CIO are different. good luck!
