When to start sleep training???

[aliciasmum]

I have a 3 week old son.  And I'm having troubles getting him to sleep.  He will be tired and be finished bf and will be asleep and as soon as I put him down he wakes up and they wants to suck again.  I also have a 2 year old dd so playing this game to get him to sleep is hard on everyone.  I used the crying it out method with my dd but I didn't start sleep training her till she was 1 and I'm not going to wait that long this time.  I'm just wondering when I can start with him.  He just seems too young still.  Any suggestions would be great.  Thanks

Brandy

[vmcdonald28]

Does your ds have a full feed before falling asleep?

My ds was a terrible sleeper to begin with. he was hungry all the time. we started to give him a bottle of formula at bedtime, and it worked a treat. he began to sleep through the night very quickly.
The only other thing that saved us was a dummy. i wasnt keen on him having a dummy, but we weaned him off it at 6 months.

I dont know how soon you can start the CIO method, but i would say that, at 3 weeks, he's probably too young to be manipulating you. If he cries - he genuinely needs something, even if it is just comfort.

[aliciasmum]

Yes, my ds definatly has a full feed before bed.  We have also tryed a soother but de doesn't like it.  Thanks for the suggestions though.

[vmcdonald28]

It may just be that he hasnt got into any kind of pattern yet, and he's still adjusting to being out in the open!!

Really, he's so young, I wouldnt worry too much just now.

I would personally try the CIO method in a few weeks, if things havent got any better by then. Good luck.

[hannahandme]

My philosophy always was to do whatever is necessary to achieve sleep ... for the first 9 weeks or so. After that was when I really started on the sleep training for ds. He took to it easily (angel) and was sleeping through the night by 10 weeks. This was after a lot of sleeping in the swing, car seat, and bouncy seat for the first nine weeks (though I always tried for one nap a day in his crib, or at least the pack n play).  DD was another story, but I didn't know about BW then and started her much later, so it took longer.

Also, do you swaddle?

Good luck!! The second one really is easier ... after about month 4 :-)

[aliciasmum]

Thank you guys so much.  You really do think that he should be sleeping through the night in a few weeks.  How do you know for sure when your doing the CIO method that he wouldn't be hungry in the night at such a young age?

[Jaime]

I'm going to have to jump in here as a moderator for a second.

Obviously, what you do in your own home with your babies is your own decision.  That being said, this is a site devoted to Baby Whispering, and Tracy was adamantly against CIO and CC in any form.  She felt it broke trust between parent and child. She said many times that there is a gentler solution for every situation, we just have to find it.  Therefore, we really cannot advocate CIO as a potential solution on these boards. 

If you would like to read more research about why CIO is not wise, check out this thread:
https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php/topic,19710.0.html

Thank you for understanding.

ps - almost all babies up to 3 months of age will wake at least once in the night to feed.   

[jswerczek]

Brandy,
   I used sleep training from the beginning... baby whisperer style. It worked like a charm. Tracy always said "Start as you mean to go." If you do not have her books, I would suggest getting them and starting sleep training now. It takes time, but by using her methods, you do not let your little one cry for no reason and you still achieve the same goal. I hope you will give it a chance, the baby whisperer's methods worked wonders in my house. I know all babies are different, but we started at the beginning and my ds who is 7.5 mo. old now has not eaten at night since about 10 weeks old and slept through the night at 12 weeks old. We do hit bumps now and again, but for the most part, he learned to sleep and fall asleep on his own and I never left his side.

If you have any questions along the way, let us know!

Jennifer

[madeleine18]

I did not buy Tracy's book until my ds was 4.5 weeks old and thank goodness I did.  As soon as I read it I started sleep training immediately.  I never ever let him CIO.  The reason I bought the book was because my ds would only go to sleep on the breast and to top that he was feeding every hour so he was a snacker.  He always found it difficult to latch on and often cried on the breast.  After reading the book I decide to give up breast feeding so I could concentrate on sleeping.  This has worked really well he seemed more satisfied straight away.  He was 9lb10 at birth and dropped to 8lb11 while breast feeding and he was slow to gain it back.  Switching to formula helped me because it meant I didn't have to fix the snacking issue.  As for sleep I started to swaddle him and use the sh/pat method.  This has been really successful but it took till week 8 before I felt we had a good EASY routine.  My ds is 12 weeks now and slept through the night twice!   We had a rough night on Sunday where he got up three times and wouldn't go back down after his feeds but I think we are back on track.  I have just recently started to DF at 11.30 which is taking him through all night or till 4.00a.m.  I also cluster feed him but Tracy does not recommend this until they are 6weeks old.  I think it is a lot to expect of him to sleep through at this age.  I think you should feed him when he is hungry at night and start DFS and cluster feeds when he is 6 weeks+.  Does he go back to sleep well after a night feed?