After saying I could never do it... I let my 10 and half month old Cry it out. She had been sleeping in our bed since she was 6 months. The first day was rough..it took her 45 minutes to fall asleep. Then she threw up for a couple of days. Now she falls asleep within 2 minutes. I just wondered how long will it take before she doesn't even cry. It breaks my heart. Another question, how do I go about getting her to sleep in her crib for naps. Right now we take the morning nap together and she sometimes takes an afternoon nap in our bed.
D.
I have a 16 month old boy and he sleeps with me...we are moving into a new house and I dread the fact of him getting used to sleeping in his own bed in his own room. Any pointers you can give me????? My son is older than your daughter and will it be harder for me...AHHHH!
I am also a stay at home mom and married for 2 years...I hope this will not be too difficult.
Kelly
Well, I used the same routine because I was starting college. You don't have to let her cry it out for 45minutes, that is a little excessive, and I am not judging, but what I did with my son was go in eveyr 15minutes to re-assure that he is okay. He was 10months when I worked on it, and the first time it took an hour, going and checking in on him every 15minutes, and making sure that he had a bottle of breastmilk. And then, slowly over a period of two weeks, he got used to it. By the 4th time, he only cried for 5minutes. Now that he is two years old, he still gets upset because we have to understand as motheres, our children love us. We're their care takers, and when we go away, they feel a sense of fear. Your doing the right thing, all though alot of other parents may criticize us, I do not have a second parent to help me, it's just me, so unfortunately I had to do that to help him learn how to put himself to sleep, and it worked because if I had a second parent, then that second parent could help me with the night time feedings, and the homework that I have do. I can't have my child up all night, etc. By the time my son was 12months old, he was sleeping through the night because I made a decision to do it that way. For the first year, we had a routine, but no bedtime routine. I instilled the routine, and children love routine because they know what to expect. There are good and bad with routine, I've found. It's good that the child knows what's up, but the hard part is when you go off that routine, my child freaks out. If dinner is past the time, etc. But by showing him patience and calmness, he got used to the fact that he can't expect me to get something for him right away, and I make him wait up to 5minutes. Sometimes he goes off and plays, and forgets about it, LOL!
Anyways, hang in there, your doing fine. Each child develops differently, but for my son it took about two weeks, although the first 4 days he transitioned into the routine nicely. Two months later, up-all-night was history.
Hi,
When we were getting our 6-month old to self-sooth and sleep in his crib, I slept with one of his toys and on top of one of his blankets for a few nights (4-ish) so that it smelt of me. When we then put him down in the crib, we gave him the toy (a stuffed teddy bear) and wrapped him in the blanket. It seemed to do the trick - he went to sleep alot easier, and he sleeps well in his crib during the day now (blackout liner also helped with that) - he usually goes to sleep without crying. It took about a week to really get that down (the not crying bit). We don't like Feberising ourselves and it was trying, but our son stoped crying at all pretty quickly.
Hope this helps!
Charlie R (mum to 6mnth old boy)
Hi D.!
Congratulations! I know how tough it is to let your child cry. I remember when I used to let her cry it out and like you it took a couple of days. My daughter (who is now 18 months) has now started (last week) saying "good night mommy" to me before I leave her room, while in the crib. It's adorable! I won't lie, there are some days that she does still cry but the crying lasts a couple of minutes and then she is done.
I would suggest doing the same thing for your daughters nap time also. It may be easier now that she knows you mean business when you put her down for bedtime. I seem to always (knock on wood) have luck with the naps - not a peep. It might be worth a try.
Good luck!!
S.
Check out a Dr. Weissbluth book. My child had major sleep issues and we did some CIO but his book was the only one that had a really intelligent approach to sleep issues. Tons and tons of moms adore it.
I did the Cry it out method w/my daughter at 7 months. It only took 3 days. After that she never really cried again. Every so often, she'll play now before bed in her crib, but will go to sleep on her own eventually. My daughter always slept in her crib for naps, however I started the CIO method at naptime. So you just could try it then too....good luck!
congratulations! That must have been really hard for you. Just remember that a baby's sleep is even more important than yours and that teaching her how to fall asleep will help her sleep well the rest of her life. As far as the crying for 2 min goes, a lot of babies cry when they are put to bed simply as a stress reliever. My friends daughter cried for about 5 min every time until she was 2 1/2. She is 5 and an excellent sleeper. Naps can be more challenging. When I cried my children out (this 1st at 6mos the 2nd at 4 mos) I got the night down pat then cried them out for naps. It went much more quickly because they had gained the skills from bedtime. It might help if you can make where they sleep as dark as possible so it's easier for them to fall asleep. I wish you the best!
A.
