I have been on holidays and had a half hearted intention to get Olive who is almost 15mths sleeping through. Basically I just can't do the whole CC/CIO thing. I have read Save our Sleep and another sleep training book but didn't agree with either approach. I have tried sitting in Olive's room but cannot stand her crying out "Mumma, my mumma" and watching tears stream down her face
She is still being bottle fed to sleep most of the time or cuddled which i'm fine with but when she wakes up she will not self settle so i'm in and out quite a bit and she comes into our bed usually around midnight and has a bottle at around 4am.
So anyway I guess i'm looking for reassurance that babies of gentle parenting methods do eventually sleep through. Did you ever have to get tough or did your child just learn to sleep through in their own time? What age did you get tough if you did?
it's hard isn't it? Our little girl is 11mths and still waking approx 3hrly of a night time and we are co-sleeping just to get some sleep. I can't see any light at the end of the tunnel (yet!) and we are using gentle parenting techniques also as we can't stand hearing her cry or scream and we don't believe in CC or CIO methods anyway.
I do believe with gentle parenting, it is the best way and that all our hard work will pay off one day.... also parenting out of instinct. If it doesn't feel right then don't do it.
Very tiring having a baby/toddler that doesn't want to sleep huh? I know what you mean about the "mum mum" and calling out... it really pulls on your heart strings hey!!
not really! My 16 mo has just started sleeping for long stretches, will sometimes wake at 10:30 when I go to bed because we're in the same room and I move the fan before I go to sleep and she will sleep through till 6 or 7. If its early I will bring her into my bed for a cuddle and she goes straight back to sleep and at the 10:30 she has a cuddle and goes back to sleep.
We had to cut out bottles (although I always have a bottle of water for her now) which was sooooooooo hard because she was having 3 bottles of milk a night - the final straw came when she wanted four.... and so basically I did have to listen to her throw the biggest of big tantrums but only for one night. The next night it was a little sook but I was with her the whole time for cuddles (most of the time she was pretty upset with me and didn't want them though). It was hard to listen to her those nights and so I made hubby come in (he was sleeping in another room because of her night waking) so that he had to endure this heartbreak with me and that was it.
When she got sick she woke up crying a lot for a cuddles and one night because she hadn't eaten much in the day from being sick I could hear her tummy rumbling when she was stirring and then she woke up crying and wouldn't stop so I gave her a bottle - I was lucky because when she was better she went back to sleeping through again.
There is hope - we try our best to gentle parent, she sleeps on a mattress on the floor next to my mattress and now we have a bub who sleeps through the night and doesn't wake in her daytime nap either now from start to finish. FINGERS CROSSED FOR YOU!!!
Things really do change with time. At 15 months my DS was co-sleeping with me and having 2 BFeeds a night. I needed a change for my sanity, as being in a different room from DH was not good for us. I changed things one at a time.
1st I cut out 1 breastfeed, then the second, then I took the cot rails off the cot and changed to a toddler bed (I realised he slept much better in the big bed - with or without me, so thought he hated his cot)....I slept on his bedroom floor wit him for about a week, then started to slowly leave the room.....he started sleeping much better, but was still waking up once or twice a night. Then we moved countries, got him a big new spiffy bed and eventually started sleeping through in that when he got to 21 months.
Just persist. Do it slowly, and gently. It really does just change.
After a night of Olive waking 5 times I decided to embark on a new journey. I went to the library and got out 'No Cry Sleep Solution For Toddlers and Preschoolers'. I then changed our bedtime routine, spending time in Olive's room playing away from tv etc before bed. I put a chair beside her cot. We made a fuss at 7pm of saying good night to Daddy, chose two books, made milk and went into the room. I sat on the chair with Olive on my lap for milk and stories. As she loves teddies and has no other comfort thing I decided to make a teddy her sleep comfort. After the 2 stories it's lights out then a tuck in with teddy.
The first night I put her in the cot after stories she started to cry but I quickly started singing a lullaby and she stopped instantly and finished her milk. I rested my head agaist the rail of the cot without giving eye contact. I took about 35 mins of tossing and turning but no tears. When she was looking really tires I left the room and she went to sleep by herself!!!
I am now usually able to leave the room straight after the tuck in, occasionally having to return to sit beside the cot but Olive is self settling for over a week now. She is still waking 1-2 times but that is a whole lot better then 5 and hopefully we will get there eventually but I am just so happy that the no cry method has been so easy with just a few changes.
Thanks for your support everyone!
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OK...So Did You Eventually Have To Get Tough???
for you. It is heartbreaking and frustrating isn't it?
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