When did you start sleep training?

[Eva's Mummy]

When did you start sleep training your newborn. DD2 is 5 weeks old and I tend to hold and gently rock her until she is asleep, at them moment she still sleeps in her moses basket but I am thinking of moving her to her cot soon as she is quite long and is almost filling it.

Is it too early to start now and would it work if I only did it for naps on the days the DD1 is at the CM's? Also how do you go about it with a baby so young, I think DD2 was about 4/5 months before is started it with her but it would be more helpful starting earlier this time so I don't need to spend as much time trying to get her to sleep while I have DD1 around.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

Hmmm...I think I rocked DD1 to sleep until she was 3 months and then used a modified version of shh/pat on her (she was a fairly textbook sleeper). DD2 was 3 weeks when I used shh/pat (again tailored to suit her - white noise, black room, very rhythmic patting). DD3 was sort of 2 steps forward, 1 step back so I couldn't really pin a time to it. I did AP for her 2nd nap until we dropped it and worked on st just for the first nap for the longest time. Bedtime was hit & miss - fed to sleep up to 3/4 months and then did shh/pat and eventually gw.

[jessmum46]

I gave an opportunity for independent sleep at least once a day right from the start, but didn't worry too much if it didn't work (mostly it didn't!). I just put him down awake - for me that was the end goal, that he should be able do it all himself.  If he got upset, I used a version of shh pat (rested a hand on him and stroked his head) until calm, then let him do it himself.  If it was clearly not going to happen fairly quickly I gave up and tried again the next nap or next day.  Bedtime actually worked for us from around 2 weeks (we were v lucky I think) and naps from about 8-10 weeks x

[creations]

I did very gentle sleep training from day 1, when I say gentle I put him down whenever I possibly could but also accepted that it was cosy for him to sleep being held and that being held built our bond.
I initially used Harvey Karps 5S method then a mix of BW and Karp when I discovered BW at 4.5 weeks. DS was independent around 8-10 weeks. By independent I mean he was mostly put down awake and happily went to sleep on his own, he still needed help when he had reflux, teething, illness etc etc etc and any other tricky times.
The 'problem' I had was it was almost impossible to APOP, he could (but very very hard) sleep in a sling if I really forced him to, it was a nightmare if I needed him to sleep in a pram, utter nightmare.  My DS had to be in his own cot on time for every nap or he had a melt down. With that in mind I would think about where you really want your LO to sleep, if you need flexibility (pram, car, sling, out and about) so that you can take DD1 places then begin that habit now. It's pointless having a LO who will only sleep in their cot if you really need them to sleep in a pram.

[Eva's Mummy]

That's a really good point. Dd1 will only slee in her cot and nowhere else.  For night wakings I put her back in her basket awake and she goes to sleep but never during the day. I have been trying to sshh pat jn her basket but she just dnds up mkrs awake smiling at me x

[Eva's Mummy]

How long do you leave them trying to self settle.  Lo has been in her  basket for 20 mins now still wide awake but quite.  I worry she'll get ot as she's not sleeping x

[ljc1977]

I agree with creations, my dd is a champion napper in the crib but elsewhere - hard. She used to sleep everywhere before i trained her doh!

[jessmum46]

Gail have you got a routine post going somewhere?  Generally I found with DS if he was just lying there quietly he was either not tired or way past it and completely wired!  If the A time has clearly been too long I'd just AP the nap and try again next time x

[Eva's Mummy]

I don't have and EASY posted to be honest I've must log it down and post in a couple of days. I think you are right though, lying there awake for ages seems to be OT. Not used to that as DD1 would certainly let me know she was OT as not stop crying DD2 is much quieter.

At the moment she does spend all her naps in her moses basket, today I tried a nap just in the cot without her moses basket as I am sick or carrying it up and down the stairs due to the noise waking her and she only slept for 40mins (wither that was due to not being as cosy in her basket or OT / UT I'm not sure.

I haven't started sleep training, after this mornings nap I went up to settle and she was smiling at me quite the thing so I picked her up and rocked her back to sleep but she only slept for another 10/15mins.

I guess I should really start trying to re settle without picking her up.

Sometimes she will settle herself, she is napping now and I have heard her cry a couple of times just for a couple of seconds but she has gone back to sleep (unless she was still asleep while she cried) but she has been asleep for 1.5hrs so far.

[Kiwi_one]

I didn't find BW till (spirited) DD1 was 4 months old and we were at our wits end because she never slept in her cot and APOPing wasn't working anymore!

So with (textbook) DDs 2, 3, and 4 we've sleep trained from day dot, not so much with shh-pat but swaddling, white noise, a dummy, and using an EAS routine. We've had different levels of success but overall I'm pleased we started early

DD2 settled independently for most naps within the first two weeks. Bedtime was another story entirely but I would learn only later that my babies need one fewer A time in their day as newborns and super-short last A times when older. DD3 came home from NICU sleeping independently so we made sure we kept it up and have had the least sleep problems with her. Until recently, we'd only ever had to APOP DD4 to sleep two or three times but I've gradually lost her EASY so now I'm scrambling to find it again! But that's got nothing to do with training early

The routine is soooo crucial, we've always always struggled to settle our bubs if their routine isn't right so that's what I would work on first before worrying about the settling/re-settling side of things. You may find she doesn't need much or even any help if you can get those A-times right.

[jessmum46]

^^^i'd agree with this, especially in the first few weeks/months.  I think later on props are more ingrained and you can have trouble settling because of that, but for the first 3-4 months at least LOs seem to adapt quickly to new ways of settling provided you catch them at a good time

[Eva's Mummy]

Thanks i'll start a new thread and post my EASY as I think that might help me get to grips with it.