Sleep training your little one can be the most difficult, confusing, and frustrating part of being a new mommy. Well at least it was for me, both my boys sure had a hard time figuring out how to sleep through the night. My first son was 10 months old before I got my first full nights sleep. My second son was 13 months old before sleeping through the night!
I don’t know about you, but I am not one of those people who can get a little amount of sleep and function. I need sleep; uninterrupted sleep, to be a happy functioning human!
So at my second son’s 1 year check up I told his doctor he is still waking a minimum of 2 times a night up to 4 times a night on average to eat (I was still breastfeeding)… I told her this is just not working for me, maybe I should stop breastfeeding?!
I was open to any and all advice at this point! I had read numerous amounts of sleep advice, methods, books. None were right for my son and myself. Nothing seemed to be working. I was getting desperate!
Now for the BEST SLEEP ADVICE EVER!
She told me what she recommends has always worked without fail within 4 nights! This is what psychologists and pediatricians have come up with that is the least traumatizing for the baby and parents.I thought this was worth a shot but probably wouldn’t work for us. But it did and it was a miracle!
Here is the method:
Step One: Once he wakes go into his room pick him up comfort him for 1 min. patting his back, saying a mantra such as “its bedtime, time to sleep, I love you”. Put him back in his bed.
Step Two: Wait 3 min. return if he is still crying.
Repeat step one. Continue to do this until he falls asleep.
For us it took 2 nights. The second night he only woke twice. The third night he woke only at 5 am. It took almost 45 min. to get him back to sleep but for me I counted this as sleeping through the night, since it was the longest he’d slept EVER. The fourth night he only woke at 5 am and took one time of me going in to get him back to sleep! Night 5 he slept until 7 am!! Yay, victory!
Good luck out there! If you try this out please comment and let me know how it went! Also if you have any other advice on your best sleep practices I’d love to hear them.
fun fierce mama 
I am eager to try this! Riley was sleeping through the night at 3 months but regressed thanks to teething and never went back. Now at almost 9 months she’s still waking in the middle of the night and I pull her into bed with us. As much as I love snuggling with her, I’m pretty sure we three need to get some real sleep 😆
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Totally! I know what you mean! I can’t Walt to see how this goes for you guys🙄 keep me posted on your progress! Also the first night was rough but after that it was nothing. Good luck🤗
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My 7mo old son didn’t start sleeping through the night until a month ago when he turned six months. Honestly we couldn’t do the method you described because it seemed to just tease him and get him more aggravated lol. What ended up happening was that he on his own dropped his night feedings one by one (I used to breastfeed him 3x/night) over two weeks. Then after his six-month checkup, he randomly slept thru the night one night and hasn’t turned back since! Fingers crossed it stays like that! =P
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That’s awesome!!! You got super lucky! I’m not sure this woulda worked at 6 mo. for him either. But I think at 12 mo. he was pretty ready to sleep through the night. He just needed help figuring out how. They are all so different though; that’s for sure☺
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I like the consistency of what you talk about. That was a problem for me when my son was younger, and due to his autism, his anxiety has always been through the roof. I have learned over the years with other things, and recently with sleep training too, that a consistent approach in however you interact with your child, along with love and support of who they are, is what will work long term.
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Thanks. Yes it’s tough to be consistent when all you want is sleep. But I think when we set our minds to it we can do it.
Yes, great point about supporting who they are, they are all so different with different needs😏
Thanks for reading!
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You’re welcome! Love your message.! 🙂
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😍
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So did you just cut out the feeds? My baby is 9 months. Wakes at least four times a night. One for a feed and the other three just for the hell of it.
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Yea basically the Doctor was saying he doesn’t need to eat in the night he’s just conditioned to. By comforting without food he stopped “needing” it, therfore was able to sleep through the night.
Since your lil one isn’t waking strictly to eat I’m not sure if this would work for you. But maybe once they realize she’s just gonna put me right back every time… worth a shot though🙂 good luck to you!
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I’ll give it a try. When she wakes she normally goes straight back to sleep, but I have to stroke her head for ten seconds or
Put the dummy in. Last night it was 1.30am feed. 2.30am head stroke 4.30am head stroke.
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Lol oh man, that’s rough, hang in there! Sounds like she just has a hard time of falling back to sleep. But before you know it you’ll be getting a full night sleep. Although I know it seems like it’ll never end. It will!
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I need to work on a few things. Self soothing, getting rid of the dummy etc, but I’ve only just introduced dairy into her diet, so feel like I need to work on one major adjustment at a time lo
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Yea. I say mama knows best😙
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I am really considering sleep training. Just wondering how it will work with co-sleeping. I’ll try some creative version. Really reslly needing some sleep 😉
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I feel ya, not getting sleep is by the hardest part of being a new mama. At least for me it was. Good luck to you. Let me know what you end up trying and how it goes!😊
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