Author Topic: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!  (Read 90153 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline LMcKinney

  • New & Learning The Ropes
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 24
  • Location:
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #30 on: October 14, 2009, 03:48:37 am »
I wanted to post a success story for Pat/Shush.  I have a spirited LO and started EASY at 5 weeks.  He's almost 7 mos now and easily goes down for his 2 naps putting himeself to sleep.. he's going down for bed time easier and easer with little pat/shushing..

He still has 2 NW, but they're spreading out and he's going back to sleep easier and easier now.

Just wanted to encourage parents to keep at it. I'm so GLAD we didn't let him cry but have made huge improvements towards independent sleep.  We're not "there" yet in all his sleep issues, but we're gettin better.   He's touchy and not a great sleeper, but it does work if you stick with it and stay consistent!

Offline LinziB

  • Linzi
  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 354
  • Location: South Africa - Cape Town
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #31 on: October 20, 2009, 11:52:13 am »
Hi I'm a new Baby Whisperer mom (2 weeks now) and would just like to share my success story for all those of you who are still busy considering giving it a try!

A bit of history, I think I have what BW refers to as an angel personality type baby who never cries and is always happy even when OT or OS.  First 4.5m were amazing she slept between feeds and fed every 4 hours from birth, had a soft cloth that she put against her lips and sucked against so when she stirred in the night she would just suck against it (wouldn't suck a dummy).

BUT after about 4m I fell into some accidental parenting, feeding her inbetween feeds for comforting so she would stay awake longer (because no dummy) so she started snacking and then just after 4m we went away for a few days and because there were ALOT of people who made ALOT of noise she started waking after I put her down for night so I fed her ... when she started waking more regularly I then swapped to feeding her bottle to go to bed instead of BF then putting her into cot with bottle for a few minutes before retreiving it! (this happened in a few days!) Within in a few weeks she was waking most nights ever 1-2hrs wanting to be fed! 

I started doing some reading online and came across a website that spoke about the BW Techniques and routines which sounded like something i could do (didn't like Crying since she was always so happy), ordered some books and in the meantime decided to teach her to go to sleep on her own.

1st day swaddled her and put her into cot with light patting she went to sleep in about 5min same for that evening, next day 2min and night went down on her own with no patting and so it continued by 4th day (Friday) it was going so well I decided to give BW 4hr E.A.S.Y routine a go 1st day didn't go so great but day 2 she went exactly to routine even sleeping 2hrs and then 1.5hrs and then catnap of 30min - 45min. After about 2 or 3 days she was back to waking once during the night for a feed between 2-4am. I also re-introduced DF which she had dropped at about 3 months (at 4 months she would sleep from 7 - 3am).

Anyway a couple of weeks down the line all is still going well she is still only waking once a night for a feed! and most days go according to routine and she is able to go to sleep by herself most naps and at bedtimes!

So in short I would definately recommend giving it a try - it definately worked for me!


Offline mamitica

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 3
  • Posts: 319
  • Soledad (Sol) mami de Diego & Mateo
  • Location: USA
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #32 on: December 15, 2009, 22:56:50 pm »
I wanted to post a success story on the whole BW philosophy.  We started DS1 on BW when he was 5 months old and since then he's been an excellent napper and night sleeper even though he has a very light sleep.  I couldn't even imagine what our lives would be like if he wasn't a BW baby.  We used PU/PD with him and worked like a charm.  My goal was always 100 PU/PD and many times I got very close to that.

We started DS2 from day 1 and it was a learning experience since I was thinking he would nap and sleep great always just because we were not doing any AP.  Well, not true since things are very variable with a newborn.  However, we kept our routines as best as we could -considering I had 2 under 2- and now that he's 4.5 month he's napping really well, almost 2 hrs. and is a very deep sleeper :) :)  We just used a hand on the chest with him and voice.  He's too much of an angel baby for the shush pat or PU/PD stimulation.  I'm a happy mom and I love my boys and BW has allowed us to offer the best routines possible for each one of them.  :)






Offline Gypsymom

  • aka Shannon
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 14
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 758
  • DS1 - born May 1/08 DS2 - born May 14/10
  • Location: AB & BC, Canada
    • Rainstorm Whitenoise
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #33 on: January 10, 2010, 21:03:34 pm »
DS is Spirited/Touchy. When he was wee, this meant he rarely slept, fed often, and wanted a lot of touch and "mental" stimulation. Just thought I'd give a shout out to any mamas with that type of babe...

I'm thrilled to report that once DS was able to really get mobile (a later walker around 15 months) he began to be able to burn off a lot more energy. He's now a great sleeper (2 hour nap in the afternoon and 11.5-12 hours at night). I NEVER would have believed it was possible.

Keep up the good habits, girls. They will eventually pay off!!!


Offline yockey1

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 1
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 6
  • Location: Cartersville, GA
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #34 on: January 22, 2010, 01:30:06 am »
I just found Tracy's first book this week. I have a 7 month old spirited little girl. She has been getting up every 1-3 hours every night, usually 5 times a night. We're working on her EASY routine, I've just started charting her day. She nurses to sleep at nap time and at bed, and back to sleep. I've already had positive results. I started a nap and bedtime routine that includes putting all of her toys out of sight and completely darkening her room. Our first two nights have only had one 2:30 good feed. Once I have successfully gotten her to sleep on her own and on EASY, we'll be getting rid of the middle of the night feed, if it hasn't already corrected itself. What a wonderful book! ( and author!) Thank you so much for carrying on her work!

Offline Chicane

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 103
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 3295
  • Location: Spain
ITS WORKING!!!!
« Reply #35 on: March 17, 2010, 08:26:20 am »
DS always fed to sleep. One week of doing shh/pat and pu/pd and tears and awfulness...today and last night he did it all himself NO BOOB, NO TEARS!!! ITS WORKING YAY!!!!



Offline Gypsymom

  • aka Shannon
  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 14
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 758
  • DS1 - born May 1/08 DS2 - born May 14/10
  • Location: AB & BC, Canada
    • Rainstorm Whitenoise
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #36 on: March 18, 2010, 02:55:08 am »
Good job, Chicane. Keep up the consistency and you will be rewarded even more :)


Offline emmalou76

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 2
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 93
  • they aren't babies for long enjoy it!
  • Location: lancashire
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #37 on: May 17, 2010, 07:58:49 am »
Here is my story, i tried to start right by leaving Liam in his Moses basket sleepy but still awake from birth but his dad spoiled it by rocking him to sleep and continued doing this even though i told him this was not going to help in the long run and i was unable to sort this out as we had very noisy neighbors were we live and i was stressed all the time so when i moved i decided to sort it out. We moved into a nice flat with bedrooms downstairs so i knew he wouldn't get woken by upstairs but by this point he was 10 months old and he woke at least 3 times a night and i decided pu/d was the best method as he would never settle back to sleep. On the first night it toke me 2 hours to get him back to sleep but then he woke at 6am, on the 2nd night it took 45 minutes to get him back to sleep when he woke and on the 3rd night it took just 10 minutes but then woke 2 hours later so i had to do it all over again, 3 weeks later i was still doing this and i decided he should be re settling himself by now so instead of going over the minute he cried i left him for 5-10 minutes and kept checking on his and comforted him and lied him back down and then left him again and guess what he just stop and lied back down and went straight to sleep and since then he has been a dream to put to bed and started waking just the once which was a result. As Liam was virtually sleeping through apart from waking at midnight someone pointed out on here the midnight waking has become a habit so i could try wake to sleep well ladies i tried it, i went in at 11pm and gently turned him over and i got woken at.....7am! it really works wow he has never slept till 7am before normally has me up at 6am he was sleepy when he woke me don't think he is used to so much sleep ;D now i know that works going to try moving his bedtime from 8pm to 7.30pm     xx
Emma mummy to Joshua born 16/07/1999 weighing 7 Ibs and Liam born 13/07/2009 weighing 7 Ibs 15 Oz's ouch

Offline jessicabella

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Posts: 3
  • Location:
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #38 on: July 22, 2010, 15:06:31 pm »
I was having a really hard time doing shh/pat with my 3 week old... I have a 2 1/2 year old that I really don't want to leave to fend for himself for 45 minutes every 3 hours while I shushed our little girl to sleep, so it was really frustrating that the shush pat didn't even seem to be working. I would feed her and then immediately after eating she would yawn so I figured that was her sleep window, so I would put her down for a nap right away. About 5 minutes after leaving her in her crib she would start to fuss so I would go back in a do shh/pat. She would seem so sleepy, with her eyes closing as I shushed her while she was in her crib. But then after about 4 minutes of that sleepiness, she would open her eyes again and be WIDE awake and content as I shushed her for another half an hour. It was so frustrating because it just didn't seem to be helping her fall asleep!
Then I figured out that the yawn after eating was a WAKING UP yawn, not a ready for nap yawn! After eating, she's now up for about 20 minutes or so, during which time the yawning stops and she is just alert (like she was in her crib :) and after about 20 minutes she will start yawning again, whihc are the ready for nap yawns! And the shh/pat works like a charm now, since I'm trying to help her fall asleep when she's actually ready for it! She doesn't always need it--about 1/3 of the time she falls asleep on her own after winddown time, but when she does need help, it takes at most ten minutes! I'm still getting to know her :) but she seems like a textbook baby to me.
Hope that helps somebody with the same issues! :)

Offline lulunut

  • BW Devotee
  • ****
  • Showing Appreciation 4
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 465
  • Location: canada
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #39 on: November 03, 2010, 14:43:08 pm »
Success!!!

I was having such a hard time with separation anxiety, always wanting to be PU.  NW every 2hours and short naps.  I everything.  Well, most things.  I didn't want to let him cry too much!!  My Mother suggested I turn off the white noise machine and soft music after an hour or so of sleeping.  It worked!  He has been STTN since at 10mts.  Finally!!! 

I guess some kids are bothered by the noise.  Or maybe it was just an accident.  Hopefully this will last a while!!!



Offline Rose.

  • BW Aficionado
  • ***
  • Showing Appreciation 5
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 191
  • 12 weeks
  • Location: Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Reflux baby with broken, short naps...is finally sleeping
« Reply #40 on: November 15, 2010, 15:17:22 pm »
My son is 6 months old and 4 days. He was diagnosed with reflux during his first month.  He was swaddled and used a paci up until 4.5 months. He was chronically overtired until just recently. He figured out night from day around 6 weeks, generally only waking for a feed. Naps were a nightmare; he kept waking at the 40 min mark and I would have to run in and reinsert his paci. If I got there in time he would continue sleeping, otherwise it would take me 40 min or so to get him back to sleep (shhh/pat didn't work for us initially; we used to pace the floor with him all the time until about 3.5-4 months old.) We cut out the paci for three days when he was about 9 weeks old and he still woke at the 40 min mark so we knew he wasn't paci dependent (he just needed soothing to get through his broken sleep). We gave him back his paci.  It would take me 1-2 hours to get him down at night because he was sooo overtired from his poor daytime sleep. Feeding was also a nightmare. His weight gain was poor especially between 2 months and 4 months. We often had to interrupt his scant naps to feed him because often he would only feed while asleep. When he was about 12 weeks old we discovered we could feed him if we walked around feeding him. This was all due to his reflux and then I think it became a learned behaviour. In any case, thanks to this site and the MARCI site we got him on the right does of Prevacid and he slowly started eating better (around 17 weeks I think?) Once we got his feeding worked out we started to look at his sleep.

He was getting too big for his swaddle and really hated being swaddled. So at 4.5 months we knew we could do PU/PD (but we also had to lose the paci). So we went cold turkey and got rid of both the swaddle and paci. It took about three days of very hard work but he started being able to put himself to sleep. BUT he was still waking up at the 40 min mark for naps (not at night) and we didn't want to give him the paci after all our hard work of getting him off it. We tried everything: wake2sleep, holding through the jolts, shh/pat (which sometimes worked; by this point he liked it) and PU/PD to extend naps. A month of bad napping. Sometimes I would be at it for 40 min... sometimes 70 min. As the month went on, he grew more and more OT and self-settling for naps got rarer and rarer. Occasionally we had a long nap here or there. I noticed that if he had a rough night he was more likely to have better naps. I should have paid attention to that more because what I have discovered is that I was letting my son sleep too much at night! Strangely though, even after a day of broken naps in which he needed help to fall asleep my son could now put himself to sleep for bed (no more 1-2 h of screaming).

He was still waking at night for 1 feed during this time and so we slowly started reducing how much we gave him. Over that month we reduced his one night feed down to 1/2 oz of formula in 2 oz of water. Clearly he wasn't waking for hunger. We couldn't do Wake2Sleep at night since he kept changing the time he would wake (anywhere between 3-6 am). My husband stumbled on a tip on the internet: if your baby is waking at night but not for food, first soothe back to sleep; if the baby wakes again, feed. This website claimed that the time for the feed would slowly move forward until it became the first feed. Worked like a charm over about 1 week! We accepted anything after 6 am as a wakeup time and I think this was pivotal to solving our nap problem. When we used to feed him in the night, he would sleep for 12 h...but have broken, short naps. Now he is waking up after only 10.5 h of sleep BUT is napping 1.5 h in his first nap, 2.25-2.5 h for his second and having a cat nap. He no longer gets overtired during the day anymore and is putting himself to sleep for ALL his naps!!! We are finally on a great routine. Again, I think I was letting him sleep too much at night. We also started doing a loose swaddle for naps, with one arm out and I don't know how much that contributed to the improved naps; really I think what helped the most was getting his night straightened out.
« Last Edit: November 17, 2010, 21:30:22 pm by Rose. »

Offline Mia's Mommy

  • New, But Posting Steadily!
  • **
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 66
  • Location: WA
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #41 on: December 23, 2010, 22:20:23 pm »
First off, thank you for your support!!! I'm a new mom and this forum really helps me to stay positive and reassures me that I'm doing the best I can. I really have become more confidant in being a mommy in just the last few days. Thanks to you!

Also, good news! The Four S's wind down routine is really working for Mia!!! I began this routine just 3 days ago and it's working!!! Mia fusses and sometimes cries a little in my arms when sshing, but in just a couple of mins, she gets calms down and gets drowzy. I put her down and she's able to put herself to sleep on her own!!! Hubby and I no longer rock her to sleep, which could take 40-45 mins, sometimes longer. We say soothing words and can lay her in her own crib and trust that she falls asleep. It's been such a dream these last couple of days!!!

Offline trimbler

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 37
  • Posts: 3029
  • Location: London, UK
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #42 on: March 20, 2011, 12:49:29 pm »
Ok I have a success story for independently getting to sleep :) [staying asleep past 30-45mins still needs work!]

DS was never a great sleeper from the start (apart from those first few sleepy newborn days), we tried and tried to get him to sleep using shh-pat but often he missed one (or even two) naps completely and took 2h to put to bed. Through this forum we realised we were keeping him up too long for a start - he wouldn't start yawning until 1.5-2h after his last nap, and for a newborn this was way too long! Trying to start putting him down earlier helped. So gradually, although I never believed it would happen, we went from taking 30-90mins of trying to get him to sleep - more at bedtime, to maybe up to 30mins, by about 3mo I think - and often not so long. We were still staying in there with him for the first 20mins of sleep at that stage, so it did feel like all my time was spent in that darkened room...

Moving on a few weeks and we only stayed in there 10mins, he started to not like the pat, then the shh - so eventually it was only placing a hand on his chest. By about 4mo or maybe 4.5, we started leaving the room after only a couple of minutes of sleep... and then finally - around 5mo, we could just put him in his cot and leave the room and he'll usually just drift off straight away or maybe babble a bit. :) Even when we moved him into his big cot in his own room a few days ago, he didn't need too much reassurance from us.

So - it's really worth it, but it can take a very long time to see those results! We did use the sling a LOT (well, usually for one nap a day) for the first 4-5mo, to combat OT, since he's still usually taking short naps. But he did learn to resettle himself to sleep at night from quite early on, if he wasn't hungry, so am really glad that we didn't rely exclusively on props. Also, looking back, we should probably have used a swaddle from the start - by the time we started trying it, he just wasn't used to it and seemed to hate it... but maybe he'd have done better earlier on if we had?

I've been complaining about short naps so much on here that I thought I'd pause and be thankful for the independent getting to sleep :)



Offline mamakwe

  • New & Learning The Ropes!
  • *
  • Showing Appreciation 0
  • Gender: Female
  • Posts: 7
  • Location: Cumbria UK
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #43 on: April 04, 2011, 20:48:21 pm »
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.
« Last Edit: April 04, 2011, 21:25:32 pm by mamakwe »
Mama to my beautiful angel/textbook baby Kwe 14.10.10
Stepmom to Martin, Ashley & Barry all flown the nest,
Wife to Tony, been together 15 years married 6 many more happy years to come.

Offline Mackjack

  • Resident BW Chatterbox!
  • *****
  • Showing Appreciation 3
  • Posts: 541
  • Location:
Re: POST YOUR SUCCESS STORIES HERE!!!
« Reply #44 on: May 24, 2011, 17:55:20 pm »
I broke the 45min naps!
I didn't read any books before LO was born as I wanted to try to work things out for myself - I had no idea how hard it would be! LO slept through the night but would only nap 45mins.  The problem was that for her first two weeks she was colicky so we rocked her to sleep and it then became a habit - so she would nap but wake up at that dreaded 45min mark needing rocking again. I would literally spend HOURS each day for MONTHS rocking her to sleep, crying my eyes out because I was exhausted and so was she. My house was a mess and so was I. Everyone thinks that if your baby sleeps through the night, that's all your problems solved but a baby that can't sleep through the day is pretty draining too!!

Two HVs told me to use CC - horrendous. (Really think HVs should be trained in different sleep methods).

I stumbled across BW and what I liked straight off was that I read about EASY and realised that was exactly the routine we had fallen into naturally - so Tracey's methods seemed really natural to us which gave us the confidence to try her sleep training method. At 6months, I started PUPD - it worked the very first day. To say I was amazed is an understatement, I felt like I'd won the lottery. Yes, a couple of days later, we had the regression but we stuck with it and within 5days to a week, she could go to sleep with merely a cuddle and then go in her cot drowsy and drift off.

Yes, you have hiccups along the way but STICK WITH IT and it will pay off - I can't stress that enough - whenever sleep issues start cropping up again, use the same methods and it will pay off for you!!