POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!

[angnzandy]

I am thrilled to be posting this today.  My third child (DD) is 8 months old and in 3 and a half weeks I have gone from a baby who was awake every 2 hours every night for 5 months (with me BF her back to sleep each time) to last night when she went down at 7:30 had a dream feed at 11 and woke again at 6.   She is also taking much better daytime naps.   I have gone from a sleep deprived zombie to a fully functioning human being again.   It is fantastic.

I used BW with my DD1 and kind of with DS but when number 3 came along I was so busy (and slightly overwhelmed) every thing was very random.   
I found Tracey's ideas struck a chord with me when I was reading books before my first dd was born and when I remembered them again (upon finding this website) I felt I was saved (I dug my book out again and re read it).  I felt that I was finally in control and actually doing something to help DD2 learn to sleep.   

I went cold trukey on the BF and didn't feed between 11 and 6 (although if she wakes at 5:30 I will feed her then).

It hasn't been easy!!!!!  On the worst night it took 2 1/4 hours to get her back to sleep  and other nights 1-2 hours but with help and advice from people on this site i have tweaked my technique and now feel  we are there.
I also found that I would have one good night then a couple of not so good nights but the main positive thing was that the 2 hourly wakings were gone almost immediately.   

I think another thing that really helped was looking at my daytime routines.  We basically didn't leave the house for 2 weeks except to take DD1 to and from school and to get groceries when we were running out of food.   During this time DD2 started taking much longer naps 2 hours in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon.  Prior to starting this I was lucky to get 1 hour out of her and usually it was 45 mins.    We even managed to go away to my parents last weekend without to much disruption as I kept her to her routine and she is even sleeping now with a bad cold!!!   

My only regret is that it took me so long to find BWing again.   Sleep deprived brains can be a bit slow on the uptake.   Good luck to all those who are struggling now and keep at it.   It really is worth it.   I can be a much better mother and wife now that I am not constantly craving sleep!!!! Our whole family is in a far better place.  I felt like I was in a dark tunnel with no light at the end but now I am out of the tunnel and living again.   Thank you Tracey for your ideas and thank you to the moderators and members for you support.   RIP Tracey.

[FPT23]

I am super excited to post my recent success story (: ! On getting my son to nap past his 40min mark.

Those who contemplate CIO, don't! It is possible. I was just like tht until I found this wonderful site. I wannpt to thank Kara n Natalie for helping me thru the process. Here's my story:

My son is 5mths nxt week. He was a colicky/reflux bby who for 3mths depended solely on me to sleep. The only thing I was able to routine was a consistent bt so he's always been a well sleeper....however, he slept in a swing due to reflux. I tried several ways and nothing work until I stumbled upon this site and recently bought the BW book. Anyways, my sons daytime routine and sleep was all ovr the map. I could nvr routine him bc he was just a high maintenance baby! His naps were so ridiculous and and short and I was ready to lose it and cry it out. I also found out about the way babies chng at 4mths to 4hr etc. my son naturally fell into easy w.o me doing anything and b4 I knew about it. Like, his feed gave him energy to stay awake now, not sleep (: ...to make matters worse,I did not know about this 4mth issue and had planned to CIO, and put him n his crib out of the swing cold turkey (my son had been used to the crib forever now n napped in there occasionally...the cold turkey part was the rocking having to stop) ...he acutually didn't do bad and crib but sleep was bad during the day. I always had a nap routine, dark room, white noise...swaddle...I done it all. I started speaking to Kara n natalie who gave me knowledge on extending his A time a few mins at a time but wean myself as a prop (rocking to sleep) ...he's a big baby as well so it was getting very hard n no down time for me as well
I rocked to sleep as usual only this time I patted on back n shh'd (he liked Pat shh Since always bc it was all tht wormked during colicky days) after doing tht for a day or 2 , I then just pat shh in my arms ...yes he cried n fought it but all the while in mommys patient arms (: ...I put him down asleep. Then the nxt day, pat shh again till drowsy, lowered into his crin and finished shh pat till he was asleep...then to finish the weaning, I out down right away in crib at nap time, pat shh till drowsy only, and left. If he cried, I pat him but not to sleep. Yes he did cry n fight it and once or twice it took a whole nap of this and then tried again....but finally it wrkd. He now takes 2, 2hr naps....eats evry 4hrs and follows easy perfectly. He also extended his night sleep from 5-6hrs and 2 nite feeds, to, 8hrs straight and 1 night feed (: I want to thank Natalie for teaching me how to wean myself gradually w no CIO and Kara who has supported me through this the whole way and educated me a lot more on techniques and information on A times and age sap propriety schedules etc! (: it can be done and my life is so much more easy going and I can def enjoy the Y in easy (:

Good luck mommies. It's very very possible. The BW book is very useful as well (: I love it and wish I would've heard about it sooner. My son naturally did easy on his own so I got lucky but the book is great for other milestones and info along the way (: thanks and this is truely very worth the time and patience (: no CIO!

[erdebren]

last night our LO slept for 7 hours straight (he is almost 4 mos. old), ate (EBF), and then went straight back to sleep for 3 more hours.  I had to wake him for daycare!  On top of that, his naps are getting easier and easier, though we still have our hard ones every now and then.  this was not easy for us.  We struggled with getting him to fall asleep and stay asleep starting around 6 wks.  I found the BW website after about a week of complete distress and started implementing EASY.  The rest of my maternity leave was LOTS and LOTS of documenting our LOs schedule, TONS of sh/pat and staying nearby for the 30-45 "hurdle."  But with time and lots of hard work (and often tears, screams, and APOP) things are getting better!  hang in there mommas and papas!  All of that and no CIO-- though at times it was tempting after frustration and fatigue were wearing on us. I am glad we have opted to stick with this instead. 

[Ma,aBear87]

I have much a great success story i kept meaning to come on and share it and now i am finally making the time to do that because i know when i was desperate and in need of hope i read these stories now i am so glad to finally be posting mine on here!
 My little one co-slept with us until 4.5 months..trying to get her to sleep in her crib was quite a process!
She would wake up every hour i was exhausted! Not only that but she has been teething non stop as soon as she gets one tooth she would be started on another so i had to just make her as comfortable as i could and continue with the BW plan..with the occasional APOP on the really rough nights..
The first time i did pu/pd with my daughter it took forever..i think it was somewhere around 3 hours! I even put ear plugs in to make it easier..she was almost 6 months old at this point and i had accidentally parented her into a few bad sleep habits..BUT she did go to sleep!
I also had to break the habitual waking habit too..so i took the great advice from the ladies on the board and got through that..
I had quite a struggle and each time i had a new problem i came onto the board posted my questions got some advice and tried it out with my girl.. to go into all the specific issues we ran into would take way to long but all im saying is stick with baby whisperer it will work i promise!
I am so thankful for all the help i received from this forum! I didn't ever let her cry it out i stuck with my plan and finally i have a little one who is 15 months old who will come and ask me for a nap! and she will tell me when she is sleepy.. she sleeps all night now no problem..i have a girl who has no anxiety when it comes to sleep..it is amazing!
Thank you so much!

[*Ali*]

What a lovely update

[odd]

Hello,

Thank you ladies for all those good advice and words of hope to help me get through the tough moments (difficult time with the first baby). I'm greatfull for that, but only few things worked for us.

My success story is: taking my time, all the time I had, and observing my baby. The 2h EASY and then 3h EASY were a gift, it really helped me to get through the day and the days were long. For the rest I followed the rythm of the baby, short naps, short activity time, 2x waking up at night, etc. If she napped 45min instead of 2h or 3h, so it was. I tried to force her to fall back asleep... only few times! It never worked and was frustrating. So I gave up. And it stayed like that (I agree, a bit chaotic when you looked at it from outside) till my DD turned 6m. It worked for us because I trusted my DD and I believed in her that she would change her habits when ready. I adjusted my habits to her new wonderfull life helping her to grow.

Then, suddenly, from one day to another, she slept through the night (Eureka!), from 8pm to 5am. I was so proud of her and euforic (because I slept well!)... And she still does, now till 6.30am. The nap-time still varies from 45min to 2,5h, just whatever she needs and I refuse to get frustrated by that. Her A-times also vary, from min 2h to 5h. I tought her to fall alseep on her own at the very beginning (2m old when I learned about this system here), so now I don't have to rock her to sleep. She knows what to do.

Of course, there are still few minor things I have to deal with but I also have preferences, so does she. It's the character. I'd like to help her grow and trust me whenever she needs me.

Is it a success story? I don't know but coming to a conclusion that despite all the invented systems I really don't have to force anything on my DD was a success for me. Good luck with your LO's

[mrsgalang]

She did it!!!!!

We were able to wean our 3 month old (14 weeks) out of her swaddle cold turkey!!!!!  It took some time for her to settle at bedtime. Her body would jolt and jump but she did it. She was able to self soothe with the swaddle so when i knew she no longer had moro reflex we decided she was able to soothe herself without. We were prepared to basically sleep train her again and we used the sh..shh..shhh/pat method. When she finally went down she slept from 7:46 - 7am with one dreamfeed at 11. We are still working on her naps since she only takes 30 min naps but at least we got her out of the swaddle before she got too used to it.

[epting57]

okay so dd just fell asleep on her own with out me holding her.  granted she is on hoppy, has a paci, and my hand is on her stomach as she lays next to me.  but i feel like there is some progress.

[*Ali*]

Small successes lead to big ones

[ButterflyLily]

Then, suddenly, from one day to another, she slept through the night (Eureka!), from 8pm to 5am. I was so proud of her and euforic (because I slept well!)... And she still does, now till 6.30am. The nap-time still varies from 45min to 2,5h, just whatever she needs and I refuse to get frustrated by that. Her A-times also vary, from min 2h to 5h. I tought her to fall alseep on her own at the very beginning (2m old when I learned about this system here), so now I don't have to rock her to sleep. She knows what to do.

Congratulations! How are you doing now?

[Marielle]

Hi everyone, I am a mother of two and have gone through hard times with my oldest. He was not falling asleep on his own, waking up all the time, sometimes needed 45 minutes to go back to sleep (torturing my hand while doing so) - and then would be awake again as soon as I had tiptoed out of the room... So then baby number two came - and I tried pat/shush when from when he was 1 1/2 months. It worked! My most important insights:
- It takes time. It took me around 2 or 3 months to get to a point where he wouldn't cry anymore when being put into bed. Then several weeks more until I felt like I could stop making sound and patting. Then several weeks more until I felt like I could leave the room before he was asleep. All in all it probably took 5 or 6 months!! There was a point when I thought: Isnt the patting a prop? Am I ever going to be able to stop patting? That was when I still had to pat as long as he needed to go to sleep. But over time naturally the patting got shorter and shorter. I just realized he needed less of it. And then I could stop altogether. Then again: We are not talking about days, but about months.
- It is hard. I spent so many hours patting in a dark room. My back hurt badly. I was fed up. I cried, because he woke up after only 30 min of sleeping and I had to rock him back to sleep (only thing that would work). Oh, it was all a pain! But I realized quite soon that in the mornings it tended to be a lot easier, and that gave me hope that in the end it would all work out. So when things were bad for an afternoon nap or he was crying a lot at night-bedtime, I needed lots of patience and believing.
- Modifications are good I tried shushing, but it didn't impress my LO much. For him a sound that was sort of like "uuiuuuiuuiuiiii" worked. Winding down while sitting was simply impossible because he would start to complain a lot. So winding down consisted pretty much of rocking him until he was drowsy.
- Tips from the board work At one point I figured after checking typical A-times of other babies that my LO was awake for too long for his age. When I shortened the A-time putting him to bed became easier. Looking for help in the forum usually gave me useful ideas!!
- It is so rewarding!!! Oh, how I love putting my LO to bed now! It takes barely three minutes, I put him down, sing, leave the room, it's quiet. Amazing.
The nights are still not good, he needs the pacifier and right now is teething like crazy. So lots of waking up. But just for the sake of uncomplicated bringing-to-bed-times was all worth it! We started with him needing to be rocked to sleep (which would have led to years of trouble, as it did with my 3-years-old who still until today doesnt go to sleep independently), and look at us now! 
So if you are in doubt: Don't give up on pat-shush. Having to deal with the consequences of accidental parenting for YEARS is so much worse than some weeks of increased effort introducing independent sleep!!!!

[*Ali*]

Wise words. Thanks for sharing.

[ireneasheard]

Pick up / put down. I was doubtful it would work. Even more doubtful I could simply comfort my child in cot by reassurance after doing pu/pd... but it works. Only took implement of it and now at 6 months a rub on the belly and sitting until calm and babe puts himself back to sleep.

[ireneasheard]

More PU/PD success - my son struggled to get to sleep tonight and cried badly. In I went and he settled with 2 pick ups and then my hand on him and he went off to sleep. Also he had a soiled diaper the other night and woke fully.... took a few goes but back to sleep he went after a full change. Amazing technique. Never would have believed it would work prior to trying it, I feel so much better for trying it. My son is really trusting and I can see how secure he feels when I am there reassuring him about going back to sleep.

[creations]

That is so wonderful to hear
Thanks for sharing.