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A**A
It worked for us in 3 days!
You may be in the same situation as we were: baby keeps waking up, won't take naps, won't fall asleep unless nursed, walked, rocked, etc. Our son had a slow start in terms of gaining weight so for the first 4-6 weeks I found myself nursing all the time. Consequently, the baby would only fall asleep after (or while) nursing. His nighttime sleep was getting better and at 3 months he was sleeping 6-7 hour stretches at night. The problems began at around 4 months when he became a lot more aware of his surroundings and suddenly started to wake up every 2-3 hours at night wanting to nurse. During the day he would only nap for 20 minutes at a time after nursing and/or walking. I decided it was time to do something about his sleeping habits so I started reading books on baby sleep.I've never believed in cry it out and felt it was against my instincts. I started with gentle methods suggested by Dr Sears (The Baby Bible) and Pantley (The No Cry Sleep Solution). While Dr Sears basically advises you to accept night wakings and react to baby's first peep, Pantley offers some methods that are actually supposed to help your baby sleep through the night. Personally I think that the No Cry solution is a VERY slow way to get your kid to sleep that is kind of like peeling the band aid off at a speed of a snail.I bought The Sleep Lady's book based on Amazon positive reviews. I read it cover to cover and was actually quite skeptical. I really liked the fact that it's straightforward and tells you things that nobody told me, including my pediatrician or most baby books. She talks about baby schedules, how much sleep baby needs and what time baby should go to bed at certain ages. This was INCREDIBLY helpful. What I was skeptical about was the method itself - it seemed to me like it's plain old cry it out only you stay in the room by the crib.After a particularly hard night of frequent wakings and lots of nursing and a day with no naps (baby would scream every time I tried putting him in the crib fully asleep), I decided it was time (my son is almost 5 months old). I could never have predicted that it would work so well. On night one, I put my son to bed already asleep after a nursing session. He woke up at midnight and started fussing. He cried for 1 hour and 48 minutes and I sat by his crib trying to comfort him without picking him up. He cried, I cried thinking the method was stupid. I did not give up though. He finally fell asleep and woke up later only once for a feeding (the Sleep Lady says it's ok to keep one feeding a night at 5 months). The next day I prepared myself mentally for bedtime and decided to put my son to bed drowsy but awake. I thought that as long as it's less than 1h and 48 minutes of crying, it would be ok. I nursed him and woke him up a little to make sure he's going to bed awake. He looked at me, looked around, stirred a bit, and then the most amazing thing happened - he rolled on his tummy and fell asleep (I know what you're thinking - SIDS hazard. BUT, he rolls both ways and just prefers to sleep on his side or tummy). All in less than 10 minutes. That night he woke up at 3 for a feeding and then woke up again at 4:30. I sat by him, patted his back a little and went back to bed. It took less than 5 minutes for him to fall back asleep. The next night he fell asleep right away. I could not believe that - we're talking about a kid who never ever fell asleep on his own before, unless nursed or rocked. I thought the method worked really well for night time sleep but did not see any improvement with day naps. At first I tried putting my son in the crib at nap time but he would just look around, play with his feet and eventually fuss and look at me like he was saying "what do you want from me, mommy? I don't get it." I also tried putting him down already asleep but he would wake up immediately and scream. All of his naps so far had been in the stroller, car seat, our arms or rock and play. I thought it would take for ever to get him to sleep in the crib during the day but yesterday morning (day 4 of sleep training) I decided to give it a try and put him in the crib already asleep. And another miracle - my son woke up, looked at me and then rolled over and fell asleep!!! He's been taking naps in the crib yesterday and today. It is absolutely amazing and I have to say, worth every minute of the 1 hour and 48 of crying one time. And all this time I did not leave my kid to cry alone once.I definitely recommend this book. It's non-judgmental and will help you understand that all you need to do is to step back a little and let your baby learn how to fall asleep on his own - a skill he or she will use every day and a skill that will help him or her fall back asleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night or during a nap. It also taught me that I was putting my baby to sleep way to late and following the Sleep Lady advice I moved his bedtime to an earlier time and it made us all happier: my son does not go to bed not overtired and me and my husband have a whole evening for ourselves.If you're deciding whether you should get Pentley's No Cry Solution or this book, go for the Sleep Lady!! I read both and can tell you that in order for your baby to learn how to fall asleep without your help he or she will most likely have to cry a little. It helped me understand that as parents we need to let go and create sleep inducing environment free of sleep crutches, like rocking, nursing and pacifiers in order for our babies to be able to sleep well and get enough sleep. It also taught me that the longer you wait, the more difficult it gets to get rid of "negative" sleep habits.Good luck and lots of patience with sleep training! And let your baby surprise you!
M**P
Worked for our son
This worked very well for our son!! I bought this book, read the relevant sections within a couple days, and implemented a plan tailored to our situation. Within 5 days of starting the plan, our son was only waking up once at night (after 6-15+ wakenings each night before this) and was sleeping through the night consistently after 2 weeks. Best of all, I wasn't abandoning him to cry by himself (a la Ferber). While he did cry a good amount the first couple of nights, he made enormous improvements each night, which were very encouraging. Also, with this program, you remain right beside their crib the first 3 nights and slowly move farther away every few nights; so, you are right there with them if they are upset and can offer comfort and assurance.A little more about our background: After co-sleeping with our son for 7 wonderful months, nighttime started to get unpredictable and difficult and my son and I were not getting good, consistent sleep. I did a lot of research and first ended up reading Pantley's No Cry Sleep Solution and implementing her ideas for several weeks. However, we were not making enough real progress... I could not put my son down in his crib unless he was 100% asleep and I could make no further progress towards getting him to fall asleep in his crib and not in my arms, even with following all of her suggestions. I was spending so much time and effort to get my son to fall and stay asleep for naps and nighttime -- it was driving me crazy and he still wasn't sleeping better. I realized that both my son and I needed a more effective solution that was still gentle. The Sleep Lady was the answer for us!This book offers a great wealth of information on sleep and some of her best advice is regarding creating a consistent routine and a consistent response to any wakenings. She also offers wonderful advice for a variety of issues (i.e. co-sleeping, pacifier use, rocking to sleep, nighttime feedings), so you can tailor her plan to your situation. She also tailors the plan to age groups, as each group has its own challenges. Her tone is helpful, friendly, and understanding.Regarding naps, she has good information on that and specific steps to follow. Nap training is harder and takes longer to see consistent results, especially regarding the length of the nap (my son's were always too short). It took my son about a month or two to consistently have long enough naps. Now, at 12 months, our son is a great napper and sleeper, and our life is much more predictable and less stressful.My advice would be to buy this book, and make and follow a plan as recommended by the Sleep Lady. I found it important to have confidence that your child can learn to sleep by themselves -- my role was to coach and parent them to sleep, not to do everything for them. Hopefully, your child will surprise you and you will both be sleeping soundly with a matter of days. It is worth it!
Trustpilot
1 month ago
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