We have always rocked our 6 1/2 month old to sleep and are trying to now get him to be able to go down for naps and bedtime on his own. I read most of the Baby Whisperer Solves Problems book but still have so many questions! (Maybe I should mention he is our first baby:) If anyone can help, it would be MOST appreciated!
My questions are: (1) Is it normal for babies to wake up and then continue to yawn and rub their eyes for a little while afterwards (as if they are still waking up, sort of like adults) or is my son possibly waking too early/not sleeping long enough through the night? I feel knowing whether he needs to be put right back to sleep or allowed to stay up is key to the rest of the day's success, so every time he does this I start my day totally confused as to what to do. He usually gets up between 5-6 am and it doesn't seem to matter what time he went to bed or if he woke up once in the night to eat or not. Occasionally he will sleep a little later, but it hardly ever is an 11 or 12 hour night. I don't know if he is just a baby who will never sleep 11 or 12 hours (which is fine with me if he doesn't need it) or if he simply is not getting enough sleep. If it's that he's not sleeping long enough...do I try the wake-to-sleep technique or what?
(2) Because he is over 6 months old and we just started this a few days ago, yet we have tried a modified cry it out method in the recent past and had always rocked him to sleep prior to that, I am confused as to whether I put him in his crib and leave right away if he's calm and just come back if/when he fusses/cries, or do I automatically just stay in there until he falls asleep to teach him to trust me? Typically he is calm for a few minutes, looking around, rolling, grabbing his feet, etc. Then after a few minutes he begins to fuss. Along these lines I'm not sure if PU/PD is best (given his age and the fact that we had tried a modified cry it out before) or if the shush/pat is better. I know the shush/pat isn't recommended for his age but we have always quietly shushed before and so it is not distracting to him like the book mentions. Also, often he really fights us having our hands on his back and resists being on his side. It seems to distract/agitate him more. Plus the picking up and putting back down seems to distract him. Sometimes he allows us to rest our hands on his chest, other times he pushes our hands away. When he is like this, is it better if I stand near him but don't touch him, sit on a chair across the room (but still in sight) or what? I don't want to further irritate him but also feel I'm not really following the method if I don't try to physically calm him. He seems to like when I run my fingers through his hair at these times though. I wonder if that could substitute?
(3) If it takes so long to get him to sleep that he needs to eat again, do I feed him and immediately try to get him to sleep or try to keep him up for a half hour then try putting him down again? I was a little confused about what the book was saying about this.
(4) The book always says to pick him up when he cries, comfort when he cries, etc. My son rarely cries during any of this. He more "fusses" to lesser and greater degrees. Should I just treat the fussing as crying or only do the recommended things strictly if/when he actually cries?
(5) For a 6 month old, should he be taking 2 or 3 naps and how long should they typically be? Many times he will nap for 45 minutes. This seems too short based on what I read in the book, but he usually wakes up happy so do I just keep him up?
I truly, truly appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this and can offer help! We absolutely refuse to do a cry it out or even a modified version again. But we seem to really need help to get this method off to a good start. I don't even know what else we'd do if this doesn't work... in advance, thanks soo much for your time and help!
