Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

DD#1- 10 months with sleep training (Healthy Sleep Habits book).

DD#2- I didn't go running in there at the first sign of fussing starting at 4 months. Up til that point she was waking every 2-3 hours to be fed (full on crying). Suddenly she started STTN at 5 monts or so. We still have blips, but she's definitely a better sleeper than #1.

To the OP: try to let go of the dream of having a night time sleeper by 3 months. It didn't happen for me and it made me CRAZY with #1 when I was "expecting" her to. With #2, I was WAY more flexible and it was easier for me to get through.

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

At 3 months I started following the Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Baby and since that helped me put her on a schedule , I think thats what gt her sleeping through the night. At that age they shoud be napping every hour to hour and a half of being awake.

Up to that point, I had always rocked her too and held her. So - I started putting her down half asleep and gradually worked my way to being able to put her down awake.

hth

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

I had to do sleep training...pretty much a modified Ferber method. I started this only 3 weeks ago actually and he's already sleeping through the night and napping like a champ (going down on his own fully awake and soothing himself to sleep)!! (He's 6mos. btw)

I started on a Friday and the Monday prior I started to get down the routine that I would be using from there on out.

6pm - cereal/veggie or fruit
6:30 - bath
7pm - evening bottle
7:15 - read a story
7:30 - BED TIME

By Friday, I hoped that he was recognizing the routine and was already "getting sleepy" by storytime and after story time I put him in the crib and walked out (ps - he had still been sleeping is his co-sleeper with us until then )

When he cried, I would go in and check/soothe, by using a comforting voice and stroking his cheek or rubbing his tummy. I used timed intervals of:

1 minute
3 minutes
5 minutes
10 minutes and then EVERY 10 minutes until he fell asleep. I did the same thing when he would wake in the middle of the night...

By the 4th night, he was sleeping through with no crying...I honestly NEVER thought it would be that easy, but it was for us and I just PRAY that it continues...

1st night he cried 50 minutes
2nd night he cried 35 minutes
3rd night he cried 10 minutes
4 night, IF he cried a minute, that was a lot....

GOOD LUCK!

ETA - I know this doesn't work for everyone and not everyone is comfortable with listening to their babies cry, and I do admit it was VERY HARD that first night. DH had to stop me from going in there more than a few times...but ultimately it worked and I think we are ALL happier now.

Message edited 6/18/2009 8:31:32 AM.

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

ds started STTN at 10 weeks. But then i went back to work and all h*ll broke lose.

We've done a lot of sleep training to get him STTN and he's now a year old. We've had to do various episodes of CIO after sickness, vacations, etc etc.

We are on week #2 of him STTN consistently (that's the most he's ever done).

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

My twins started sleeping through the night at about 10 weeks (I went back to work at 12 weeks). Everyone keeps telling me how incredibly lucky I am, especially with twins, that they do this! Only on occasion, Christopher will break out of his swaddle and cry. After we re-wrap him and give him a paci, he falls right back asleep.

I'm very, very thankful!

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

DS started sleeping through the night on his own at 9 weeks.
It came out of left field too, cause before that night HE NEVER SLEPT AT NIGHT!!!

Then after that night, it just continued!

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

I read The no cry sleep solution by Elizabeth Pantly and tried to follow the tips in that book from the beginning.

These were Bedtime routine, no eye contact in the middle of the night, no talking, quick feeds and changes. By the time DS was 3 months or so, and only waking once a night, whenever he woke, I would try to get him to go back to sleep without the feed or change. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I would use the pacifier instead of the bottle, sometimes it worked. DS was never really a paci child. Sometimes I would just rock him back to sleep. I also swaddled DS for the first 4-5 months so I would reswaddle when he woke and just put him back down.
I think DS was about 3 months when the ped said he should be able to make it through the night without waking and that is when I started to try to get him back to sleep without the feeding or change. I think this is also when peds will tell a lot of moms to let DC cry a bit before tending to DC and many think they mean CIO which most think is too soon. I think they mean just give DC a minute or two to try and resettle back to sleep. I would try to get DS to sleep again for a few minutes and if it didn't work, I would give the bottle or the diaper, then try again the next night.
Good luck!

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

It was all him

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

My DD is 14 weeks old...for the first 2 months all she wanted was to be held....she would freak if we put her down! That being said, at about 9 weeks she just started STTN. She has been STTN since then. She also does not need to be held as often anymore either. We can put her down now 1/2 awake and she will go off to sleep on her own. I think with age it just got better! Hang in there....I spent many a day and night just walking around the house with her!

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

My DS was a really good sleeper. I was totally lucky and thank god every day! I went back to work when he was 3 months old and he was waking up at 3 am to feed. I knew i would never survive work if i was getting up at 3, so when he was about 2 months/ 2months and 1 week, when he would wake at 3, I would give him a pacifer and hold him off for about 15 minutes, next day i would hold him off for another 15 minutes. I did this until i went back to work and he was sleeping until 5:30. It actually worked. He has slept through the night since he was 3 months old. he never missed that 3 a.m. feeding.

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?

Consistency is key! Never used CIO or other sleep training on either girls, but i never let them sleep in our arms, swing, carseat, etc.

They both went to sleep for naps and nighttime after their bedtime routine in their crib awake but drowsy.

Both my girls were sleeping through the nigh t(12 hours) around 8-10 weeks old and 6 hour clips at 4 to 6 weeks old.

SLeeping through the night is a developmental stage, you cant' force it and make it happen though but you can help it along i was told by ped.

Re: For those who have babies that sleep through the night, did you sleep train or did they just sleep through the night on their own?