When did your baby 'sleep through' the night?

[0ze_Kid]

Sleep

carang - great news about number 2. Bubbles is still waking up but we are getting there!

I think that as you have just explained, we can "sleep train" our children without the tears and regiments that some authors describe!

I remeber doing something similar with Smurf (the older one) when she was one. One night I decided that I could keep getting up and patting her twice a night when she woke so I didn't feed her and just left her in her cot each time she woke explaining that it wasn't morning time. We had a few tears but I think she understood and the next night she didn't wake. We have had to "re-train" every so often but it hasn't been painfull.

Her most recent training has been to not cry when she wakes up but try and tell us what the matter is so we can fix it and all get back to sleep. We have had two nights of no night crys - let hope it continues!!

 

[Bumblebzz]

Although Gina Fords book worked well for me, I'm not a die hard fan.

Believe me when I say it took alot of patience & practice of over 8-10 wks to totally have a schedule in place.

There were many times I wanted to rip the book to shreads !!
I think I was putting way to much pressure on myself & putting to much stock in every tiny detail of that book.

As soon as I loosened up the routine a bit things just fell into place (for me anyway). Gina Fords book obviously does'nt work for all babies/parents, and parents should do what they feel is best.

I also agree that following her routine may be very hard once you have more kids.

And btw, I've never let my baby cry himself to sleep...I've always made sure to give him reassurance & cuddles if thats what it takes.

 

[aussiegal]

I have a 15 month old who has always slept well, from 7.30 pm to well after 8 most mornings. He started sleeping through the night at about 8 months but these last 6 months have been hard on him as we have done a lot of travel and moved countries so for the most part he's gone back to waking once in the night for a feed. Every now and then he'll go back to sleeping through but then something will happen, like he'll be teething and he'll start to wake again. I don't really mind however. Sure I'd like to see him sleep through the night but I actually really enjoy seeing him at night! We always bring him into our bed for a feed and a quick cuddle and he's so docile and sleepy it's adorable!

We've got another baby due in a month so it's probably best I didn't get too used to being able to sleep through the night myself!

As for the Gina Ford books etc. I wouldn't use them myself and agree with someone who said they are more for women who like routines than the babies themselves. I'm also never ever going to let my baby cry unnecessarily. I used to run to my son when I heard him cry and he's never used it against me! Babies that cry are telling you they want something (even if it's just a cuddle) - they are too young to simply be trying to manipulate you. Now that my son is older I let him cry when he is just being silly but am glad I didn't do it when he was a baby. Maybe post 6 months is an age where you can start to leave them a little longer but not before.

 

[Bumblebzz]

Sorry, but what does " more for women who like routines than the babies themselves" mean?

I hope you would'nt imply that having a infant on a schedule or routine is a self centered thing to do.

There's nothing strict about what I do...or any hard and fast rules either.

I loosely applied Gina Fords book to our lifestyle. It just happens to work well for baby & me...if it did'nt I would do things differently as I'd expect others to do.

My baby is very happy & well adjusted.

And again ...I NEVER let my son cry himself to sleep...I would'nt do that no matter what book told me too.

Sorry if I'm coming across defensively, but I think we moms should be supportive of each other no matter what choices we make.

Whatever works best for baby & mommy I say!

:crib

 

[bekyboo44]

I think the main thing is that each baby is different and different things work for different babies!

I was also anti letting my baby cry himself to sleep which created a situation where my six month old would only sleep if rocked or nursed to sleep. This meant we then had to put him in his cot asleep and hope he stayed that way! Some nights it could take four or five tries of putting him in his cot, having him wake up, rocking him to sleep, putting him in his cot, having him wake up etc. It was exhausting and then once he was asleep he would wake up every hour, every two hours because he couldn't go back to sleep by himself!

We waited until he was six months before attempting letting him fall asleep by himself in his cot. I tried staying with him until he slept, soothing him etc., but it only made him cry more. He will not sleep if I am in the room because, I suppose, there is always the hope I will pick him up!
The only way to do it is to leave the room completely.
It's also very important to be able to know when a baby is crying because they don't want to go to sleep by themselves without you there; and when they are crying because they are teething, because their nappy is full, etc.

Since we started letting him fall asleep by himself, admitedly with some crying, he has never slept better. Last time for the first time ever (at almost seven months) he slept for 7 hrs straight! Also using this method I have managed to cut his night feeds down to just one between 7pm and 7am instead of the 2 to 3 he was having before.

I also think that was has helped is that since he started on solids, and 3 solid meals a day, he fell naturally into a routine of set feedings and naptimes. It isn't set in stone, and half an hrs difference here and there happens from day to day but I think it has helped.

I want to now know if it is reasonable to expect a seven month old to sleep say 7pm- 7am without any feed? Have managed to cut night feedings down to one in that time but can I attempt to cut out altogether?

 

[aussiegal]

Bumblebezz, no need to get defensive, it wasn't an attack. Some people like routines, some don't. If it works for you that's great. For me, someone who has never liked routines prefering to let other things (like my body) dictate when i do things, when i eat, when i go to bed etc it's not an option. I found that listening to my child when he was a newborn was the right way to go for me.

It's funny, nearly everyone who says they used the book or loved the book always end up saying that they applied the guidelines loosely. I wonder what that means exactly. Maybe we actually all parent more similarly than we think?

 

[Bumblebzz]

aussiegal

Can you blame me if I got defensive? I'm sure you would too.

Afterall, look at the comment you made in regards to moms who follow her book. Think about it....

In the end...all our kids in up on some type of routine...whether you followed a book or not.

I did'nt have a routine with my first child. But this time around I found it helpful.

 

[Bumblebzz]

Hi Beckyboo44

I think it seems reasonable for your 7 mth old to sleep from 7pm-7am.

Well, it sounds like he's almost ready anyway...but you're the best to determine that.

Before my son started solids, he was still taking one feed in the evening (10pm).

He started solids at 5 1/2 mths.

Once he was firmly established on solids by 6 mths I slowly started reducing the amount of milk I gave him at 10pm, and increased his day feeds a bit more.

After about a week or two he stopped waking for his milk feed at 10pm all together.

Around 7 1/2 mths he started to show signs of hunger between lunch and dinner, so I started giving him a snack in the mid afternoon.


I'm sure your doing fine...good luck!

 

[Bumblebzz]

Beckyboo

I forgot to mention that my LO also has a similar sleep time to what you mentioned.

He's usually in bed around 6:30 to 6:45 pm and wakes in the morning between 7 to 7:30.

 

[carang]

i have a feeling that what aussiegal meant by her comment was only that some people, ie the parents, like to know what's coming next, having a plan for the day andbeing able to depend on that.

i think that this is true for many of us, even those of us that do NOT subscribe to any one author's view of how it should be done.

i think that the people that like to follow these books use them as a guideline and support because they may be unsure of how to attain the same results on their own. this is NOT to say that they are worse parents, or worse people because of it.

i think that some 2nd time parents who resort to the books for this child when they didn't use a book for the 1st are doing it simply because
1) their 2nd or 3rd is very different from their first and so they are unsure of how to deal with it
2) their circumstances have changed and find that a more rigid routine will suit them better the 2nd time round
3) had a hard time with the first child and don't want a repeat with the subsequent kids....


anyway, that's just my opinion. i don't judge others who follow the books, but i do think that all of the books have downsides (i've heard of some mums having a hard time with nap times because their kids will ONLY sleep in their own beds with black out curtains, etc)...

i think that EVERY mother has to be flexible, what differentiates us from one another is HOW flexible we are with the schedules (again, not saying that one is better than the other, just different!)

take a dep breath everyone and remember that this IS the hardest job you'll ever do, we are after all raising the next generation and we are doing it the best that we each know how!

good luck & (hopefully) sleep tight!