Sleep Training

Hi everyone,

My 4 mo is not a great sleeper...  at night we can get him in the crib now with minimal pacing after our bedtime routine, where he stays for 3-4 (usually 3) hours and then wakes up.  I can usually nurse him to sleep and get him back in the crib again until about 2 am (about 3 more hours).  Then he keeps waking if we put him down asleep so he usually comes in bed and nurses the rest of the night off and on, not very good for either of us when it comes to sleeping soundly.

He is a terrible napper.  We try and try to get him asleep and unless we hold him, he doesn't stay asleep for more that 10-20 minutes after he is put down.  We have been putting him in the swing asleep for the last week or two just for a break and he might stay asleep there for an hour, but we have to stay right next to him because he is swaddled and not strapped in properly.  Plus getting him down is a HUGE task.

I am back to work now and have a sitter and we really need him to be a better napper for all of our sakes, he is a complete bear when tired and he is always tired because he is not sleeping well.

What can we do?  I tried to let him cry once at 13 weeks at night and he cried for over two hours and we decided to wait and try something again later.  Now he is 19 weeks and we are ready to try something, but I wasnt sure what might be the best way to tackle these problems...

 

   

JMHO, I'd get your pedi's opinion and give CIO another try.  He may be ready for it now.  If he's anything like my LO his naps will get better once his nighttime sleep gets better.  I did CIO on my LO when she was 6 months and it worked great.  Her naps got better also, but she was still napping in her swing and I tackled that next and it only took her one day to get used to always sleeping in her crib. 

If he doesn't seem ready for it I have no advice about other ways to help him sleep; since I tried every one on my LO with absolutely no luck!  Just keep trying as he gets older.  I feel your pain, my LO was waking every hour or so all night and then taking 2 thirty minute naps if I was lucky during the day.  She was always so cranky and just seemed miserable.  And I was nearly insane. 

GL and HTH!

  

 

Thanks, we tried CIO again.  The first night he cried for 2 hours 20 minutes and i was really afraid that we are in for huge task.  He woke up an hour later.

The second night he only cried for 15 minutes and slept his normal three hours and tonight he flipped himself onto his belly cried for less than a minute and went to sleep. 

I hope this trend continues and he starts sleeping for longer than three hour stretches.... now I have to tackle naps!