Should I be using WI/WO

[Natdebe]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum and just wanted some advice about my 15 month old who is no longer settling at night and sometimes NW. She always settled and generally slept through from 8 weeks previously. In early September she had a cold and some teething and some accidental parenting occurred. Unfortunately due to work and tiredness my husband and I continued to cuddle her to sleep, then take her to bed when she woke at night. Last week I started to do the PD method with GW and it was going well, but now I cant get out of the room.

After reading through the posts I have found some information on WI/WO and started it a few nights ago. Last night became hysterical the more I went into the room and after 45 minutes I lost my temper, which I am not very proud of. My LO went straight to sleep but then woke at 12.00 and 12.30, I went to her and stood till she went back to sleep. She woke this morning about 6am

My LO does not have a problem putting herself to sleep for her daytime nap which is usually between 11.30 and 12pm depending on when she woke up, but lately for night time she is beside herself. Does anyone have any advice on whether maybe she is scared of the dark? Is she awake too long? Am I changing things too suddenly? Am I expecting too much? Her bed time is between 7 and 7.30 and she usually sleeps between 1.20 to 1.40 minutes for her daytime nap.

Sorry for all the questions and rambling I am a little confused  and tired at the moment.

[Natdebe]

Hi There,

Well I am not sure, but last night I went back to GW method and my LO slept within 5 minutes of me putting her to bed. I was much calmer and ensured I kept that way. She woke from 11.45pm - 12. 45 am every 20 minutes I would just go back in and ask her to lie down and say "its sleep time bubba". I think all her waking is from teething at the moment. The molars have been playing up on and off for weeks. I eventually gave her panadol and she is still asleep at 6.10am.

Do you think that GW may take a few weeks and I should persist. I didn't post her routine the last time, but it is generally


6 - 6.20 wake up
7.00am: breakfast
10.00: morning tea
11.30 - 12.00pm: Daytime nap for between 1hr to 1.5hrs
1-1.30pm: lunch
3.30pm: afternoon tea
5.30pm: dinner
6.00 - 6.30pm: bath
7.7.30pm: Bed

[Lolly]

Hi

My DD is just a little bit older than yours and has a similar routine except she has 2-2.5 hour nap in the day. We get NW if she is over tired and she is teething her canines at the moment so that definitly has an impact on her sleep

I wonder if she would do better with an earlier bedtime given that her day nap is sometimes only 1 hour? I would aim for a 6.30 bedtime so she has a 12 hour day/night.

I've never used GW - not enough patience - so it's always been wi/wo for us with both children but I think you do need to keep it up for a while if that is the method that suit's your LO's temprament. Which ever method you choose try and be consistent with it so you don't confuse her by chopping and changing.

What do you think?

Laura

[Natdebe]

Hi Laura

Thanks for that suggestion. I will definitely try an earlier bedtime and see how that goes. Unfortunately my DD has never been a good daytime sleeper, previously only sleeping 45 minutes twice per day until she cut to one day nap. She has always been an excellent night sleeper until recently. I can see that there are many contributing factors including my accidental parenting.

I will persist a bit longer with the GW. I decided originally to try the WI/WO method as she had originally been sleep trained using the Tizzie Hall method where by she was left for longer and longer intervals until she could put herself to sleep. I thought she'd take better to WI/WO but I think I may have been going in too early and often and overstimulating her. Also she is touchy. Did you find that your children were more upset the first few nights?

Anyway the plan then will be GW for another week and earlier bedtime and see how we go.

Thanks so much for your advice and good luck with those canines. I hear they are pretty painful to cut.

Nat

[Lolly]

With wi/wo the first night was always the worst. We used it more with DS who was a lot harder to convince - luckily DD has been pretty good so far . Consistency really is the key though, it worked a lot better for us once I got DH trained to do it properly too He's a soft touch and spent too long in there with them.

The canines are a bit of a nightmare, we get bursts of 2 or 3 days/nights when they cause trouble. Thankfully her top ones are poking through now and I can see the bottom ones have moved up more so not too much longer I hope! Then of course it will be the 2 year molars!

Let us know how you get on!

Laura

[Natdebe]

Hi Laura,

I tried putting my LO to bed at 6.30pm for about 4 nights but she ended up waking up between 4.30 and 5.00am each morning. I would go in and tell her it was sleep time and then stand at the door but she would call out every 20 minutes till 6am. She has always been an EW and just doesn't seem to need as much sleep as some out there.

So I returned to putting her to bed between 7 and 7.30pm continuing with the GW, but just standing at the door asking her to lie down if she stood up. That process did eventually take less time to get her to sleep but I was getting tired of standing there. I was also doing that through NW which were occurring every night.

About a week ago she began sleeping through the night, waking up at 6am  A few nights ago I decided to walk out to see what would happen, she didn't even cry. She was up for a period of two hours during the night but slept till 7am. Since then I have done WIWO and she has been asleep within 5 minutes and so far slept through the night till 6.30am. I had to wake her up this morning to take her to care. I am very excited

Are your DDs canines through? Have things settled down?

[Lolly]

That's a great update! Well done you!

Canines still edging their way through here . Thankfully they aren't bothering her at night at the moment (bet I've spoken to soon now though!) so both kids are sleeping from 7/7.30 til at least 6.30 so I can't complain! Just clock change weekend to look forward too now!

Laura

[LucysMommy]

just following along, my dd is very similar.