Sleep Training 5 1/2 Month Old?

I'm not seeing the issue. Breastfed right? Breast milk actually digest a lot faster then formula so it is very likely that she is hungry at night. If it was solely about comfort she would be attached to you like you are her pacifier.

She's an infant, waking 2 times a night is really not that big of deal. Now if she wasn't laying down after having her tummy filled I would say she is in it for the comfort, but considering once she has a full belly she is out. It says to me she is hungry.

Why can't you lay her down while she's still awake?

If she falls asleep nursing, gently wake her enough--to the groggy stage, and then put her down.
The Ferber Method works well for this. If you use it for bedtime (before the 2 yr old goes to bed) you should be fine. And once she learns to fall asleep on her own, the middle of the night should take care of itself as well.

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/sleep/a/110_ferber_mthd.htm

As the others have told you..she's going to have to go down awake, and do some sort of crying through this process.
How much is up to you, of course.

I would suggest moving your older DD into another room for a week or two, while you do this with your youngest, so you don't disturb her.

A., you have to start putting her down when she is not asleep. She can have the full tummy, but not be asleep. No, she's not gonna like it. But she cannot self-soothe because you have never let her. She will flail around and be agitated because you are requiring something totally foreign of her. But it needs to be done.

Keep her awake and then lay her down. Pat her tummy while she cries. Let her get used to this for a few nights. Just keep doing it until she calms down. When she calms down and more or less whimpering, take your hand off her tummy and just stand there. When she is almost out for the count, walk away.

After you have this pretty much going well, and she's not crying so much, then start putting her down and walking out the door. Let her cry. She shouldn't be wailing as much as in the beginning of your changeover. Do it in the middle of the night feeding as well.

When you decide not to do the middle of the night nursing, have your husband go in and pat her on the tummy for a little while instead of you. You smell like milk to her. It will be very hard on her to have you there. The Ferber method basically says to go in for a few moments, pat her on the tummy, and leave for 5 minutes. Then come in and do the same, leave for 10 minutes. Then come back in after 15 minutes, etc. You don't pick up baby AT ALL. You don't talk, you don't make eye contact. All you are doing is letting baby know that you are still "around", but sleep time doesn't mean she gets to stay with mommy.

What I'm advising is to first break her from using your nipple as her sleep aid. Then wean her from the second feeding. At the point that you are feeding her cereal, I would give her a nighttime feeding of cereal before you breastfeed. That will help her tummy stay fuller longer.

Being able to self-soothe is a gift to your baby, as well as a gift to yourself. Let her learn it. Just be sure to be 100% committed to be consistent. If you aren't going to be, don't bother to start the process. You will only teach her that the more she cries, the more she'll get you to cave in. And that's not the lesson you want to teach her.

Good luck,
Dawn

the ferber method is exactly what you described doing with your older child.. when they wake and cry you go in and rub their tummy/give them a pacifier, just soothe them ingeneral. but no bottle/nursing.. then wait 5minutes, if shes still crying you go in and do the same.. increasing the time by 5minutes everytime you go in there
- it seems to be working with my 6month old.. she wasnt very fond of her transition to her crib and i learned that my big mistake was actually giving her the bottle she was crying for everytime she woke up.. sometimes she didnt even want to eat she just wanted to be held with the bottle in her mouth til she drifted off to sleep again.. after a few nights of trying the ferber method, my daughters actually gone back to taking her pacifier again - only at night, she wants nothing to do with it during the day- i think she finally realized shes not getting a bottle everytime she wakes up so she needs to make due using the paci to fall back to sleep... and i will say i do feed her once during the night.. about halfway through ive come to realize that this time shes actually hungry and not just being cranky and wanting something to soothe her...the past 3 nights shes been fine with having her one bottle... last night i didnt even have to wake up and comfort her.. she slept from 630 to 2am without waking up in between.. had her bottle and went back to bed until 630am when daddys alarm went off -the first night or couple nights you try this is going to be rough, just to warn you, its definatlye not an instant fix.. also im not sure how you feel about the cry it out method but i know many people who sware by it .. my fiances cousin told us to try it (my daughter was sleeping all night for quite a while before we stopped swaddling and then got worse once we switched to the crib -she would sleep from 630pm to about 4am-ish and have a bottle and sleep til 7am) he told us we shouldve never ever given her a bottle or even tried to comfort her and jiust let her cry herself back to sleep.. he said though it was quite a few nights of torture it worked for both his kids and once it worked that was it they never woke up during the night after that
-also her waking up two times is really not that bad.. my daughter was up 4 times a night when we first started putting her in her crib, so i consider you lucky, youre halfway there already!

Well all of the sleep training books, including Ferber methods, are going to tell you to put the baby down groggy but awake.

All of the no-cry methods are going to tell you to put the baby down groggy but awake.

Also, after she stops vigorously nursing/suckling, you have to detach her mouth from your breast. Just slip your finger in the corner of her mouth so she releases, then gently put your finger under her chin to close her mouth. If she cries just let her attach again, then 30 seconds later remove it again. Continue until she doesn't cry anymore. (This is from Pantley's no-cry sleep solution).

Basically, she has to learn to soothe herself without you (the human pacifier). You can either try a different brand of pacifier that she might take (I like MAM brand). Or you can put her in her crib when she is tired but awake and let her cry until she learns to soothe herself (this is the ferber method).

Myself, I chose to take a middle of the line approach. You just need a plan in place since you can't bounce between crying and not crying.

While I think 5.5 months is old enough for sleep training...I do think that she is a little young to rule out night feedings all together. Usually around 8-9 months is when most will cut them out all-together.

If you are 100% convinced that she is not hungry, and doesn't actually nurse, just wants you, then I would go ahead with sleep training.

If she seems to get a little in her belly and goes right back to sleep and you are able to get her back in her crib. Then I might just play it out for a while yet until she no longer goes back to sleep.

I don't think the mobile will really help much...if anything, might just keep her awake.

When my youngest was sleep training at 8 months, we had the crib in our room so my older daughter didn't have to deal with it. Once he could sleep 11 hours by himself, we moved him in with my daughter. May not be a solution for you...but it worked pretty well for us.

Best of luck to you. Sleep exhaustion is the worst!

Like Mom2many I, too, don't see the problem with what is happening. This sounds just like my daughter at this age. I nursed her every night before bed, then again at about 12:00, then again at about 5:00. I did this until she was 11 months old when she dropped one feeding, then at 13 months she stopped needing any night feedings. Each time, she would nurse until she fell asleep, then I lay her down.

This seems perfectly normal for her age.

She's used to be putting down when she's asleep. Being put down while awake is something new for her. You'll need to teach her to go to sleep by herself by putting her down while awake. Yes, she'll scream. You'll have to go thru that stage to get to her being comfortable with this new way of doing things.

I'm not familiar with the Ferber method. What I'd do is gently pat her until she calms down. At first I'd stay with her until she goes to sleep. Then I'd gradually reduce the amount of time I stay with her until she's able to not cry at first. This would take a week or two, I think.

Victoria W. gave you a web address for the Ferber method. I glanced thru it and would give it a try. Sounds good.

I agree that she still needs those two feeding during the night. She's till quite young.