My 4 month baby is still waking up 5 times plus every night. We have been rocking/cuddling her to sleep since she was born and now this is proving to be a problem as she can't get to sleep by herself. We tried sleep training her with the shh pat technique but she just would not stop crying frantically and ended up picking her up again. I am worried that if i continue she will start to associate bedtime with crying. Any advice?
2007-01-22 20:43:33 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Newborn & Baby
Secrets of the Baby Whisperer has a chapter devoted to un-doing these kinds of problems. You don't have to let her cry it out, but it will take 3 or more nights of crying and picking her up and putting her back down etc. for her to finally learn to soothe herself to sleep.
2007-01-22 22:14:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have 3 children 9, 5 and 3 and we didn't expect or try to sleep train them until they were about 8mths as we thought they were too little before that and that they needed the comfort. At 8mths we would have a relax time where we looked at a book, then had a cuddle in a dark room, then put them down whilst awake, we would say 'goodnight, time for sleep' and leave to cry for 5 mins, go back say 'goodnight' leave for 5 minutes, then go back not say anything but lay them down if standing, and leave for 10 then 15 then at 20 minutes intervals still not saying anything until asleep. With all 3 it only took 2 or 3 nights of this and they've all slept through ever since. It could be she is still hungry so check with your health visitor about this and good luck I know its really hard when you're drained of sleep yourself but it will work itself out in the end ... and when it does your little angel will start causing you other problems!!!
2007-01-23 09:15:49 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try and read the Baby Whisperer book. It is really good for this sort of advice. She does the pick up / put down technique which may help you. Best to train this out of your baby now rather than later as it will only get worse the longer it goes on. Good luck x
2007-01-22 20:50:56 · answer #3 · answered by Ally32 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hi,
sorry to hear your dilemma. You must be knackered!!
I have 3 children (the oldest being 14 and the youngest 4). When they were babies, I always bathed them last thing at night just before their last bottle and it seemed to work really well. My youngest was sleeping through the night at 4 weeks old. Think you have to have a set routine that you do every night without fail and they start to differentiate between day and night. Think the bath thing is relaxing for them too and they seem to settle easier.
Good luck x
2007-01-22 20:56:12 · answer #4 · answered by bee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a great book called the "No Cry Sleep Solution"... I'm having similar problems with my son... and I'm hoping that this book, which has come highly recommended by my friends, will prove useful. Wish I could speak from personaly experience... but I'm working on finding the solution to this very problem. Best wishes!!
2007-01-22 20:51:12 · answer #5 · answered by Lucille 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your baby is only 4months and the first 6months to 1yr are the most important for bonding. Just keep doing what your doing babies that young don't have enough brain waves yet to store information in their memories for long time so she won't assciate crying with bedtime. Try talking to her in a very calm voice like maybe reading or something.
2007-01-22 20:49:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
i had this with my daughter i also did the pat technique and found a little quiet music box with dim light really helped although sometimes there was a demand for a encore
2007-01-22 21:17:04 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋