Sleep training is one of the major problem points for parents, there are many different ways of getting your kid to sleep, and every baby will have different triggers.
My husband used to wake up daily with the baby in the bed with us in the beginning, it was so much easier for me to feed my son in bed with us when he woke up at silly times, and then he'd fall asleep in between us and lets be honest... Who's going to wake up a sleeping baby at 3am? Not me, thats for sure.
Well when my boy was seven months old we decided that it was time for him to get into a better routine so I did some research. There's two main theories out there, the 'cry it out' method, the exact opposite of that is the 'no tears' approach, and there are a few variations on these methods. This time were going to focus on the cry it out technique!
The 'cry it out' method or 'Ferberising' is when your baby learns to self soothe, so you have to let your baby cry. Its hard to do I know, but for some babies it works really well. However your not supposed to allow your child to become hysterical, that's clearly not going to be beneficial for them.
The Doctor responsible for this method is Dr Richard Ferber, and his theory is that you use this method as part of a daily bedtime routine. So try something like giving your baby a bath, maybe following it with baby massage, (I like to use the johnsons bedtime baby oil with lavender), then a last feed, and a bedtime story.
Next comes the hard part, you have to put that baby down and walk away... The first night you can go back in to give comfort after set intervals, like 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, gradually building up to longer periods of time in the hope that the child will fall asleep. Bear in mind your NOT supposed to pick the baby up when you go in, just offer comfort and a gentle touch.
I used this method with my son at 7 months and it worked wonders, well except I didn't go back in after I had put him down and he cried for half an hour the first night and fifteen minutes the second night, and that was that! He has slept for ten to twelve hours nightly (excluding sickness or extenuating circumstances) ever since.
Experts reckon that short periods of crying alone will do NO damage to your child and will instead teach them quickly and efficiently to soothe themselves and become healthy happy sleepers. I have to say that while I do know that this method will not work for some children, it worked wonders for mine. It all depends on what kind of person your little one is in themselves, but rest assured as long as your not leaving your child to get so hysterical that there beside themselves, your not going to traumatise them. I promise!
Next time Ill be looking into the 'No tears' method of sleep training, but in the mean time here are some links for this technique. Wishing you happy sleep times!
http://www.sleep-baby-sleep.com/ferber-method.htm
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/sleep-10/nighttime
http://cryitoutmethod.com/
Please be aware that while it IS important to get your baby into a regular routine early on, they will NEED to wake up for feeds and things throughout the night for the first few months, so it is NOT a good idea to try sleep training your child too early, they reckon the optimum age is four months old.
That's so organised and thought out. When mine were little, we only had "Spock " No, not from Star Trek.. I never looked at any books, just got them calm and sleepy then started to put them to bed a little earlier each night until we established a regular routine.. Is great when it works.. Good luck with your Blog . xxxxx
ReplyDeleteMY god I remember that first night and it WAS hard, but after the 30 minutes we couldn't believe that he had gone to sleep!! In fact we were glued to the monitor and heard him talking to himself for a minute or two when the tears stopped and then he went to sleep as you say with no issues.
ReplyDeleteI had not totally believed that it would work so well but it did and he now ASKS to go to bed when he's tired, something I think is a direct connection to his sleep training. He learned to self comfort in his own bed and he now knows he can do the same anytime he's tired or grumpy.
Good job there :) xxx
We have the exact same with my son, we asks to go to bed, and I also remember being glued to the monitor saying 'that cant be it surely!!!' glad you liked it :)
ReplyDelete