Around seven or eight months of age, sleep turned into an issue with my first child. My son stopped sleeping through the night and didn't go back to it until he was well over a year old. I read some things here and there, but never did any real research on anything. I think I perpetuated my problem. So now my daughter is 4 1/2 months old. I decided to read up on different baby sleep methods and choose which one sounded best for our family. I read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth. The Baby Sleep Book, by William Sears. Solve your Child's sleep problems by Richard Ferber. And I haven't gotten to it yet, but The Sleepeasy Solution by Jennifer Waldburger is on the shelf waiting. Now I am overwhelmed. I read one book and the author sells me on their idea. Read the next book and I am convinced that's the one. I know every family and baby is different, but which method worked best for you? Is there a book I haven't read that I MUST read? (And I know a nighttime routine is key...we have always had that, the issue was NEVER with routine it was getting to sleep and staying asleep.) Right now I must admit, I am doing what works...nursing her to sleep.
Just because you experienced some difficult times with your first, doesn't mean you will with your baby, too. Just do what works for you and your baby like you are already doing!
We swear by the Babywhisperer. She advocates a routine, and provides suggestions when things are not working (pat and hush, etc.). I started with Babywise, but found it provided little support when things were not working. I also had a very hard time with allowing our daughter to fuss for any time on her own. The babywhisperer website includes a message board that I found truly invaluable. Good luck!
We used the Ferber method
Ferber for us! It was torcher for me at first, but after a few days, she was sleeping on her own. She is now 16 months, and sometimes awakens around 11pm or 12am, and I just get her up for a minute and she falls asleep on my chest and then I lay her back down. She has bad dreams, and so I soothe her only when I know she needs it. We started the ferber method at 4 1/2 or 5 months old.
I got the Ferber book just for the chapter on sleeping. I used it on my youngest son when he was about 6 months because I was back to work full time and sick to my stomach from lack of sleep. I didn't wait quite as long as Ferber suggested to go into the room because my son would scream so hard he'd nearly throw up. I'd go in there before he got that out of hand. I think the Ferber approach is good as long as you know there isn't a problem or reason for baby not sleeping through the night. For mine I knew it was habit of him crying out and me going in there and patting his back or rocking him in the rocking chair. It only took a few nights of going in there, not talking to him or rubbing his back or anything like that - just laying him back down on the mattress. It did seem cruel to me at first, but I was at my wits end and willing to try almost anything. I remember being surprised that it only took a few nights for him to get back to sleeping through the night.
I swear by the Baby Whisperer as well. It made my life WONDERFUL with a new baby. I will be digging my book out to refresh for #2 pretty soon.
While our child is crying, we go in every so often and pat their back or head to let them know we're still there and then quickly leave and keep doing this till they're asleep. I am by no means a sleep expert, but I did learn one thing the hard way: whatever method you choose, stick to it! We waffled and changed our game plan with our first and it was torture! Our second and third went much better. Talk about it with your spouse, go with your instincts, and choose a plan that you think fits your family the best. You might even write it down to help you stick to the plan at 4 in the morning. Good luck!
I have studied many methods in my infant/child psychology classes and the method that works best is the one your baby responds to.
One thing that is important to remember is that your baby experiences times of wakefulness when she is sleeping. If you nurse her to sleep, then lay her in bed, when she wakes she can be startled to wake up in a different place than where she fell asleep.
By nursing her to calm her when she is tired and then rocking her gently and putting her in her crib while she is drowsy, but still awake, will help her become familiar and comfortable in her surroundings, so she will be less startled when she has moments of wakefulness at night.
From my experience, putting my children down, and going in there when they awoke to rub their tummy gently and maybe hum or sing softly helps better than picking them up and rocking them back to sleep. This will only enforce the behavior for them to cry to get you to pick them up, but they need to learn to sooth themselves, and you are there to help them do that, but not to do it for them. Eventually, you can just go in there and stand by the crib and not rub them or sing at all, until they learn to fall asleep without your help.
We followed the advice in "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", which you said you've already read. It has worked very well for us. I did feel that the book can seem contradictory and confusing the first time around, but as I read it more thoroughly, and repeatedly, I was able to work out the right method for my baby. 99% of the time, she sleeps beautifully.
In the end Ferber got our daugther sleeping through the night at 6 months. That said, we read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth and still use that book as a basic guideline for ensuring that our now 2 year old is getting the sleep she needs. I, too, read alot and often find myself overwhelmed with information. I have learned that usually it's not just one technique but a combination of 2 or 3 that works the best. :-)
