Gentle Methods DO work (eventually!)

[SAMum]

Just thought I would give some hope to those with poor sleepers who refuse to CC.
My 11 month old had just had 3 nights in a row of 12 hours sleep after months of waking at least 2 sometimes more times a night for BF. I still BF him to sleep so just goes to show that sometimes they just take time to sleep through but you don't always have to resort to CC or "teaching them to self settle".
My DS1 (33 months) was the same, I never did CC and eventually he also learnt to sleep through at around 12 months and he now runs happily to bed at 7:30pm and sleeps all night every night and for his midday nap, he has no negative thoughts about bed / sleep and sees it as a good thing. I adore my evening BF and cuddle with DS2 and having him fall into a deep sleep in my arms and no way was I ever letting him cry :no:
I feel so good about doing things this way, even though there were times I was completely exhausted, I am glad I didn't listen to everyone who told me to either CC him or put him on formula to make him sleep.

[kirstenriley]

:thumbsup:

[Mrs Nietzsche]

I'm glad it worked. I had the same experience with my DD.

Unfortunately I am really struggling with DS who wakes up sometimes every half hour wanting BF. He often sleeps for a 2-3 hour stretch when he first goes down but after that it's toss and turn and wanting BF all night. He's been like this ever since he started crawling. Sigh. Exhausted!

[misskittyfantastico]

:yelclap::yelclap:
Yay for gentle parenting!

[lovelymum]

:yelclap: I love gentle parenting!!! Our DD shares our room she sleeps in her own cot next to my side of the bed (a few inches from my face). She used to wake every 40 minutes for the first 15 months of her life while she was in her own room so I sat and I thought and I decided that she could not bear to be separted from us - and I was right :laughing: We have now set up a mattress on the floor for DS 1 so if he wants to camp out with us he can as well (Mmmm begining think about selling up our rather large 2 storey home for a 1 bedroom flat seems thats all we need) I believe in parenting from the heart, not the book and dont ever let anyone tell you otherwise :):):):)

[quirkymum]

:iagree:GOOD ON YOU GUYS.:yelclap::thumbsup::shakehands::angel:

[Freya]

:yelclap::yelclap:

[GeorgiaAnne]

I'm glad it worked. I had the same experience with my DD.

Unfortunately I am really struggling with DS who wakes up sometimes every half hour wanting BF. He often sleeps for a 2-3 hour stretch when he first goes down but after that it's toss and turn and wanting BF all night. He's been like this ever since he started crawling. Sigh. Exhausted!

Oh - I am having the exact same experience :yes:

But to the OP - I am very ant cc but sometimes I am so tired that the though creeps into my mind but I put it out straight away as I know I will regret it.

THIS TOO SHALL PASS :goodvibes::goodvibes:

Thanks for the reminder that I will get some sleep eventually :D

[SAMum]

I know sometimes it's so hard but like PP said even when I did let the idea of CC enter my mind I knew I could never do it.

Just an update my DS started waking a bit again this week and I was so upset that we had gone back to bad nights again but yesterday afternoon he came down with a really bad cold so no doubt some symptoms of that had been starting in the days before, he probably had a sore throat or something, anyway I am glad that as usual I just repsonded to him, comforted him and BF him as much as he wanted. Hopefully when the cold is gone we will go back to sleeping through, but even if it doesn't happen the week of great sleep I had rejuvinated me and helped me have a more positive attitude to get through whatever the next stage may be!

[quirkymum]

There's a similar conversation going on in the thread about 'how long did you co-sleep?' If anyone's interested.
Co-sleeping can be a different route to take if you want more sleep :sleeping:, if it fits in with your family's lifestyle, and you do a bit of pro-cosleeping research and follow safety precautions.

[pommiemum11]

Its really nice to see this - I feel so guilty because the child health nurse, friends, relatives all say I have to use CC or he'll never learn to settle. He only wakes once in the night for a BF which
i think is reasonable. We are having some problems with naps though... any advice? DS is 8 months

[quirkymum]

All babies and all families are different, so you should go with your gut - you're the one who has to live with yourself and your baby. :yes:
To the advice you don't want: :ecomcity::raspberry:
To the advice you find useful: :shakehands: :yelclap:
when he's home my hubby gets DS to sleep for nap with stories told to him by a hand puppet. On days I am alone, I take DS out all morning to tire out, then drive home with lullaby CD till he's asleep, then VERY CAREFULLY transfer him to bed. I have a CD playing ocean sounds playing when DS is asleep, in case he wakes a bit, it shusshes him back to sleep :sleeping:
Dr James McKenna (PhD) is a good resource to look up on the web. Arm yourself with scientific research which backs up whichever method you feel most comfortable using, so you can confidently reject suggestions that aren't suited to you or your bub!
The baby and toddler years are over in a flash, and when your baby starts school, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about!
Good luck.

[BlueBlueBlue]

Well done.:yelclap:

[fludo]

Its really nice to see this - I feel so guilty because the child health nurse, friends, relatives all say I have to use CC or he'll never learn to settle. He only wakes once in the night for a BF which
i think is reasonable. We are having some problems with naps though... any advice? DS is 8 months

My DD had trouble with naps at 8 months. Her routine needed changing - she was no longer tired yet when I tried to get her to nap. I was pretty relaxed about the whole nap thing because she wasn't really getting overtired, somedays she'd only have 1 nap of 45 mins. But now she's pretty much crawling she's getting more tired again and is back to 2 naps a day but at different times than before.

[kar]

We have big nap/day sleep problems too. I'm going to Pinky's seminar in Melbourne next week, hopefully there will be a magic bullet! :laughing:

Felix is only 9 wks old and he really does not like to sleep during the day for more than 30 - 60 mins at a time and maybe once or twice a day at the moment which makes for one cranky baby come about 4pm...

[SAMum]

Day naps are so hard aren't they? I think it is pretty much out of our control as my DS1 was a 20 minute napper maybe 2 or 3 times a day until 1 then he would have maybe 1 30 minute nap a day but after 2 he started having a 2 hour nap every day of his own accord (and still is, he is 3 in June :fingerscrossed:). Then DS2 came along and he sleeps well during the day, a 1 hour nap in the morning and a 1-2 hour nap in the arvo (had 3 naps until about 8 months) and we are not doing anything different so it must be just different babies do things differently. It's so hard to cope with a non-napper though isn't it :sleeping: you just need that bit of time to yourself each day. We are lucky now we have our 2 sleeping for at least 1 hour at the same time each day, it's the only way I survive. Once again for me it was just about riding it out until it got better, I couldn't have believed DS1 would ever be a good napper and here he is having a minimum of 2 hours every day and he literally runs to bed (after Bill and Ben finished :laughing:).
For the record DS2 is back to waking once only in the night at various times for a feed, but goes down easily at 7pm and is up for the day around 6am so I can live with that :yes: