Sleep Training

Hello Ladies,
Today I decided to take sleep training seriously for my daughter. She is 9.5 months old and a terrible sleeper. She likes rocked to sleep, wakes up frequently in the middle of the night, and is much needier than her brother when it comes to going to sleep. So I decided to put her in her PNP for her nap this morning and let her CIO. Well, I checked on her every five minutes, then seven minutes, etc... 32 minutes into CIO she was still upset and I went and checked on her and she had a poopy diaper. I changed that and she fell asleep in my arms. I don't like letting her CIO but I desperately need suggestions. Her brother is the world's best sleeper. At nap time, I put him in his crib and he falls asleep, and at night he basically begs for us to put him in his crib at bedtime. Here are a few of my questions:
My daughter pulls herself up to standing in her crib. Should I go and lay her back down every so often?
Would you set limits on how long you would let her cry?
Is there a modified CIO type way to get her to soothe herself to sleep? I can't let her CIO at night since my husband needs his sleep before his long work days...
Is there anyway she would be ready to drop her morning nap? She always seems happy and rarely gets upset or cranky(except when I try to get her to go to sleep). She definitely doesn't need as much sleep as my son but could this be possible?
Could sleeping in a different position help? I put her on her back but perhaps putting her on her stomach would help.
Today was the first time in months that I cried about raising twins. Her sleep problems are getting to me and I need a solution... quick. Perhaps I don't have the heart to do CIO but I also don't want to raise a bad sleeper.
I know this is post is very confusing but I am confused and upset right now too. I swear I almost cried as much as she did while I was letting her CIO.

 

If you do CIO I have read that the key is consistency. Make a plan and stick to it. i know that if I go in to check on my kids when there is an issue, that makes it worse when I leave then just never going in, in the first place. As for the poopy diaper, I would change her and then put her back down. If it becomes an issue every time, you can gob Desitin on her and go from there. I am sorry that you are so frustrated. :hug:

 

I let mine CIO but I would only let them go for so long before I'd go in and check. Most of the time they had dropped a paci or a lovey or had a poopy diaper and after I fixed that they wouldn't cry for very long. I hope it's the same way for your daughter. I know it's hard to listen to them CIO but I don't really have any suggestions since that's what I did.

 

The thing about CIO is that it really only takes a few days usually and then it's over, so if you can just get yourself through a few days of it you will probably see a huge improvement. I know it's hard, I hated CIO with a passion, but the truth is it works. I would let my kids cry unless they seemed really hysterical & then I would go in to see if something was wrong. I also left the door open just a tiny crack so I could see in there without them seeing me, that way I could see if anything was going on that I needed to take care of. As for the standing in the crib, mine did that as well & when they get tired enough they will let go & lay down. And she is probably big enough at this point to get herself into any position she wants for sleeping, back or front, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. :hug:

 

I agree with the pps.

You have to make up your mind, have your plan, and stick with it. I had to do CIO for one of my boys around 7 months old, and with my baby girl we did it at close to 6 months (she was wearing me out way more than the boys had).

I had my rules/routine/game plan.

Same routine before naps every day and definitely the same routine before bedtime (bottle, supper, bath, jammies, hugs, and down she goes...every night, at the same time every night).

The first night, I checked on her after 5 minutes...not so she could see me, but so I could make sure she was fine. She caught me in there and she became totally hysterical...so, for me, it was best that she didn't know I was there. I checked on her again (more stealthily this time) after another 5 minutes, checked on after another 10, and then she was out before the next 10 minute check. I had in mind to do 5, 5, 10, 10, and 20 minute checks if necessary.

She fussed in the middle of the night, and I let it go about 10 minutes and she fell back asleep.

The second night, I only had to check on her after the first 5 minutes...and since then baby girl (and the boys for that matter) have slept through.

Your baby is old enough I wouldn't worry about the pulling up (they do this and they do figure out how to "fall" or sit back down), and baby can get into the position she needs to sleep so no worries there.

If you're concerned about your husband's sleep, try to explain what you are doing and why and if he can manage the first few nights, you should have it worked out...or give him ear plugs.

I would not think she's old enough to drop to one nap, but each child is different. My baby girl is not near the sleeper that her brothers are.

CIO is hard, and you have to be committed to do it. It is hard to listen to your baby cry and know that you could go in there and "fix" it...but I didn't want to "fix" it for the next several years.

Good luck in whatever you decide...you'll do what's best for you and baby girl.

 

If you're not sure you want to do CIO you should check out the book The No-Cry Sleep Soloution. It has lots of advice about ways to help your baby learn how to soothe themself to sleep. The results are not as fast as letting her cry it out, but it does get results. It's set out so you can pick and choose the methods which will work best for your family.

Good Luck with whatever you choose.

 

:hug: so sorry your having a hard time of it, 9.5mths is such a long time to be sleep deprived! Sorry not much iadvice but I totally agree that consistancy is so important, if your going to try again. We did the extinction method and it was terrible but it worked in a couple of days and i now have THE best sleeper! Wishing you lots of luck.

 

Well here's an update. I decided to do it again this afternoon, since she didn't fall asleep when she took her bottle and I thought it would be a good time to do it since I knew she wasn't hungry. So I decided to do naptime when her brother became tired since he is very easy to read and fairly consistent(three hours after waking from previous nap). While I was changing his diaper before I set him down, I decided to put her in her crib. After 12 or 13 minutes, there was no wimpering. She wimpered a lot and let out a couple good cries and that was it. Wow! After two minutes of silence I peaked my head in and just about fainted. There she was, basically folded in half with her legs spread apart and her head between them. I actually panicked a bit thinking she wasn't alright but as I got closer I noticed she was sleeping like that. I transitioned her to her stomach, gave her a backrub, and left the room. I really hope this works since I believe a couple days of difficulty for us now may alleviate many sleep problems down the road. Thanks for your support girls.

 

:yahoo: that's fantatstic! How clever is she? Honestly i can imagine how you felt, i will keep everything crossed that this is a turning point for her, what a good start though!

 

Awesome...I hope things continue to go well.