We are having trouble with our 5 month old daughter waking up every 1-2 hours at night and not taking more than 2 - 30 min. naps during the day so my husband looked up and is reading "The Sleep Sense Program". I was just wondering if anyone else knows anything about this program or if you have used it and what you think about it. Thanks so much!!!
My daughter was a barely 20-30 min napper too. The no-cry sleep solution was helpful to me as well. I noticed as her nap time increased, so did her sleeping time at night. I hope you find a solution as I didn't start looking until she was over 6 months old! Good luck.
I don't know anything about that one, but if you either decide not to try it or if you try it and it doesn't work, another great book on sleep is "How to Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Ferber. It worked like a charm for all three of my kids and your daughter is the perfect age to try out his methods. Good luck!
I know that not all "programs" work with all kids. If this doesn't work, try Babywise.
I read it while desperate for sleep with my first child. I didn't follow it, though - she kind of started sleeping before I could. I tried the infant part with my son, but he would never go down on his own. I know the example said it took 8 times, but we tried for HOURS and it didn't work.
I am now desperate for sleep once again and have thought about going back and reading it. I saw a segment on Dr. Phil a few years back that modeled this idea and it took a week to 10 days, but worked for that mom.
Does your daughter cosleep? You can try Dr. Jay Gordon also and see what you think.
Good luck and I'll think of you while I'm up with my little one tonight!
J.
I do not know about "The Sleep Sense Program." But, I completely understand your situation because my first daughter was exactly the same - really short naps in the day and waking up all night. I thought she was just a bad sleeper. It was not until I read the book - Health Sleep Habits, Happy Child - by Marc Weissbluth and implemented the methods that I was able to change my daughter's sleep schedule (this was when she was 6 months old). She has been a great sleeper ever since - taking long naps during the day and sleeping through the night. She is now 2 1/2 and I have used the book at every stage of development in her life and recommend it hightly. I would be happy to provide more details if you are interested. However, just know that you can change her sleep habits and you will both benefit.
Haven't heard of that program. I'll share my favorite two books, though: "Good Nights" by Jay Gordon, and "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley. Both books have great ideas for extending sleep that limit crying. Good luck.
I don't know if you are nursing or not but my daughter did the same thing only wanting to nurse that often. That is when I had to put her in her own room and let her cry it out when she woke, so that she would sleep all night. I slowly minimized the number of feedings at night to no feedings at night. I have found that checking on her and reassuring her one or 2 times was fine but after that if she saw me checking on her, it would just prolong the process (meaning she would cry more). It took 2 to 3 grueling weeks for her to not wake up at all during the night, but it is so worth it now. As for the 30 min naps, my daughter did the same thing for a few months. I really feel like that is just a stage they go through. Now my daughter is 10 months old and sleeps 45 min in the morning starting at 9 and then a nap from 2pm to 3:30pm and goes to sleep at 7:30. I feel like we have a great sleep schedule now. Good luck and remember, patience is a virtue.
We used it with great success. Had to adapt a little. After the 9 days we kind of used our intuition as to what to do, instead of just standing in there that wasn't really working anymore. So then we started going in every 10 minutes or so. It also took a little more time maybe about a month or so for him to have any good nap. That was definatly more of a issue. Also he reverted back and forth a bit at night for a couple months. We just kept on top of it and stayed consistant. I think the point is that you must stay consistant and it will work. It's a difficult thing to listen to them cry, but he was doing it for hours even with me holding him, so I figured how much worse could this be? Anyway I think it helped us a lot and I like that we felt like we also had control over, how to do all of this. Our son has now been sleeping between 11 and 12 hours a night for 6 1/2 months now, he is doing great and can help himself fall back asleep when needed. This was something he would have never done before. Good luck.
