How did you get your child into healthy sleeping habits?
5 Answers
-
Still working at it. :-) But, truthfully, when my son was just a few months old, I started with the "two yawn" rule. He yawned two times in a row and I would bring him up to bed. Now, he's one and he gives us other clues (besides yawning) that he's tired.
I'd also pay attention to the time. While not militant that he had to go to sleep at the dot of 9, noon, 3, whatever, I notice that he'd get clumsy after being up 3-4 hours. So, we go upstairs, get 2 books, climb into the rocking chair and read. Sometimes, he gets a bottle too. We still get a bit of crying when he's testing us, to see if we really mean it that it's rest time. After about 10 minutes, he falls asleep. (If it really seems like a losing battle, I'll go get him and give him a little more play time before trying again.)
-
We tried a co-sleeper, a snuggle nest, a crib in our room, a crib in another room, a bouncey seat, but basically what we had to resort to with all 3 of our kids was me holding them for about 6 months. I got a comfortable loveseat set up with pillows so my arm would be propped up so the baby couldn't squirm away, and I held the baby for sleeping. And, really, all the time, but you just asked about sleeping. :-) (It helps that I am a very light sleeper. I don't think I would have done this if I were a heavy sleeper.) I could latch him easily on to my breast if he woke up so he could nurse and then quickly go back to sleep, and he didn't wake the rest of the people in our very small house.
At about 6 months, for naps I would lie down on our bed with the baby once he was asleep and have him snuggled up into my armpit and have my arm completely surrounding him. Over the course of a couple of weeks, I moved my arm farther and father away so he was sleeping on his own. Then I started getting up and leaving him there (mattress on the floor). Once he could sleep without my physical presense, I started patting his back and trying to get him to fall asleep by himself.
With #3 this largely worked and he fell asleep by himself and then we started putting him into his crib and he could put himself to sleep. He's 19 months now and still doesn't always sleep through the night, but generally goes back to sleep quickly after we replace his binky.
With #1 this worked okay, though he had trouble learning to fall asleep by himself and we did some cry-it-out. But the first night he cried for 35 minutes, the second night for 10 minutes, and the third and subsequent nights for less than 1 minute. AND he slept much better. He was waking up about every hour at 8 months and I was just a wreck since I would nurse him and/or shush him and pat his back to get him back to sleep. After we did the cry-it-out, he started waking up less and less.
With #2 this didn't work very well. He had trouble learning to fall asleep. We finally resorted to cry-it-out at about 11 months since he wasn't getting enough sleep. That took some doing (a week or more of crying every night for an hour or more). Don't know if it was because he was older or is just not naturally such a good sleeper. Also, it turns out he had/has food allergies and insensitivites and it could have been pain or discomfort keeping him awake. So I feel bad but he also started getting a lot more sleep and a lot higher quality sleep so I think that was better for him and us.
BTW, we talked to a sleep consultant about doing cry-it-out, I think largely because we felt so guilty about doing it and wanted some absolution. She said everyone would be happier once everyone was sleeping, which was true. But the practical tips which helped too. Let me save you $500. She said to have the baby sleep in his own bed. She told us to explain to him what we were going to do and model it with stuffed animals. Corny and I don't know if it helped. But the part that was key, for both us and the babies was to start this at the beginning of the night. Get him to fall asleep by himself when you first put him down. Once he does, continue whatever we were doing before. After he could put himself to sleep at the beginning of the night, for the first awakening, do the same thing as at the beginning of the night. (For us that was going in, telling him it was time to go back to sleep, giving him a binky and a pat, and leaving.) After the 1st awakening was taken care of, do it for the next one, and the next.
If you do choose to use cry-it-out, don't cave! That greatly prolongs it and makes it more painful for everyone. Also, our kids had a 6pm bedtime until they were about 18 months which also seemed to help them. (Completely sucked for us because we couldn't do anything at night ever, but it was what they needed.)
Re-reading, I see that you have a daughter. Sorry I used "he" and "him" throughout; I have 3 boys.
-
We (more I) are pretty anal about sleep -- mostly so that my husband and I would both be in better moods, and hence better parents.
We did start early -- though we never really had to go the full cry it out. Before three months, we started putting him down at night, and when he cried, we would pick him back up, wait for him to calm down, and then put him back down again. The first night, it took about 8-10 attempts of picking up and putting down before he settled down for the night. The second night, it was just a few , and the third night he was good to go. Periodically, every few months, he'll resist sleeping at night, and we've had him cry it out. But on the whole, our 14-mo-old has been a pretty good sleeper since about 3 months old. (He's been cranky recently with his transition from 2 to 1 nap, but that's a whole different story....).
For naps, he used to resist them... Until we introduced the SWING! Now he rarely fights them. We are very consistent about sticking to naps. He knows when to expect them, he knows the routine, and I think that's always helped. He's really outgrowing the swing, though, so our next challenge will be getting him weaned from it!
-
Wow I might be the only one here.. but I fall into the love 'em enough to let them learn to sleep on their own category!
I had a Doctor tell me with my oldest kid (she's 12) that the best thing to do is let them cry it out for ONE night. Then on the second night see how long it takes them to fall asleep.
We tried it, (husband had to sleep in the basement!). As painful as that one night of toddler crying/fussing was, the second night she was asleep in less than 20 minutes.
Will she be scarred for the rest of her life from that one single night, versus learning to sleep early and sleep well?
Um.. I don't think SO!
-
As a mother to 6 children 3 of which are specail needs here are a few ideas...Routine and consistency. Dinner, bath, book, etc. If your child is 3+ limit naps to 1-2hours but early in the day preferably before 2 p.m. Fresh air with daily walks weather/allergy pending. Limit sugar intake including soda, candy etc. as sugar is a quick boost of energy/high that results in a tired/low feeling afterwards. Baths with Epsom salts or ALL natural lavender bath aid in calming. Children do not need their hair washed daily unless they are outside daily and get their hair dirty. Make bedtime fun but not overstimulating.
Our children with autism use melatonin and 5-HTP which are all natural and help with a regular bedtime routine as well. Hope this helps:)
