I thought I should share with you my success story as I know how dishearten it can be when sleep training, I have been lurking around the forum getting loads of very useful info, it's time to give abit back.
I am a 1st time mum and my DS is coming up to 6 months, he's exclusively breastfeed, ( dreamfeed at 10.30pm) and things have been good for a while, he is an angle/textbook baby.
I came across Tracy's books and this site when DS was 5 weeks old and implemented EASY from 6 weeks, in a way I was already doing most of the things in the book, but needed to just tightened the routine, he took to it well.
Tackling the 30min/45min nap.
Don't give up helping them bridge their sleep,
At times I got so dishearten, as he could bridge the sleep by himself at times and other times not, I kept reading the phrase just to remind myself!
".... 1-3months they work on organising their night sleep and 3-6 months their day sleep....." ...and that bridging their sleep is a developmental thing...'
GUESS WHAT? IT'S TRUE. at 5.5months he just started sleeping through for his naps, 1.5hrs / 2hrs am & pm
Night time sleep.
when I got Tracy's books I realised that some of his wakings might not be hunger related! ( explains why he had bad wind pain in the early mornings!!) I tuned into his cries, which was hard as he never really cried much, I was not sure how his hunger cried sounded like!
I gradually replaced the 2-3am feed with ssh/pat, not always succeful I have to add, then one night I realised that if i feed him at 2-3am in the night he would sleep till morning! this time gradually moved to 4am and one morning, i woke up with a start at 5.30am as he had not woken up for a feed! needless to say i was so shocked i could not go back to sleep! he woke up at 7am! that was the revelation i needed. so slowly i worked to get rid of the 4am feed, as i did with the 2am .
He has been sleeping through the night (7pm-8am) from 3.5months, with 1/2 NW, and since 4months with no NW at all.
TIPS
1. Stick at it!: stick at it! it will come right.
2.Feeding well: If i felt they he DS had not taken much during a feed, i would not be scared to try in an hour or so time.
3. Smart phone : My iphone is God sent! those times spent by his cribs gave me plenty of reading time both of books and this site, which gave me loads of info, so had my Y time in that sense.
4.From early on: I knew that sleep training will fall down to me as DH (driver) works long hours and early mornings, jointly agreed i would do night wakings, that way we both knew what to do when DS woke up, my DH move to the spare room and i do what i needed to do to settle DS. ( this my not work for everyone)
5. Self soothe: Get them to learn to self soothe early on, DS was 2months when he started, it actually happened accidentally as i didnt have tracy's books then, i put him down in the cot when he was tired/drowsy... and he started to turn his head from side to side, and whithin 10min was asleep! he still does that to date.
6. Rest: If u are well rested, it's half the battle, in the begining i slept when DS slept.
7. Keep a chair next to cot. Early on when DS was in our bedroom, cot was next to the bed for ssh/pat, when he moved to his room I keep a chair near cot, saved my back!
8. Check your feelings/moods & learn to calm down and go with the flow at times:
whenever i went to sssh/pat and i got frustrated, DS picked up straight away and would not settle, so i learnt to calm down, if after a while he was not settled,I would step out of his room, shake my frustration off and come back in as if I was coming in for the 1st time and with a smile say something like " Hey DS are you struggling to settle for the nap, not to worry, we will try later..." get him out of cot and keep his A time shorter and try later, I ALWAYS PICK DS UP WITH A SMILE...... he smiles everytime i go for him.
9. Know your LO:
They are all different and the books are only a guide! DS was born on the big side and he seems to reach milestones and develpmental stages sooner, it took me nearly 2 weeks to realise that he was fighting me to drop his catnap which he did at 4months!
10. Dreamfed if you can: I have always done this, DS started anticipating it, and would wake up, I use to ssh/pat to settle him wait 20min then fed, even if it was just to get him to start drifting off....it worked for me and soon he did not wake up.
11. ALWAYS go to your LO when they cry.
It promotes trust, reassurance, & confidence in your LO, II see it in his eyes.
12. ENJOY THEM, it passes ever so fast!
N/B I dedicated alot of time to sleep train, am aware that if its not your 1st LO, it would not be feasible, I hope that some of the tips help though.