Tuesday, August 23, 2011

It's Tuesday! Bringing back the tips and tricks from moms! Cry it out or not cry it out?

Tips and Tricks Tuesday

Chase is 16 weeks old and I am stupidly weaning him of his swaddle and attempting sleep training at the same time. I think he is a little congested too. I wanted to write a blog about sleep training because I need a place to just vent!

The sleep training stuff started when I called the advice nurse about his green poop. It came up that I struggle knowing if he is hungry because I hold him for some of his nap. She told me I need to read healthy sleep habits, happy child. I had skimmed it before and was waiting for it from the library already. So I asked a mom friend of an 8 month old for advice and got the book.

The book said we had been doing fine putting him in his crib asleep. But now that he's almost 4 months he needs to learn how to fall asleep on his own which could involve an hour of crying. I was so upset. How could I let my baby cry for an hour?!

I asked all the moms I knew if they had let their babies cry it out. The majority said yes. Some would go in at different time intervals to calm the baby down.

Chase has been able to fall asleep if I put him in his crib drowsy for his #1 and #2 naps. He usually does great at going back to sleep after nursing at night. The thing I think he needs to work on is falling back to sleep. He wakes up from his nap sometimes after 30 mins and is still tired. In the evenings we put him down for bed and he wakes up a few times before he is asleep for good.

What I struggle with is if he is old enough for all of this. My friend has a baby 3 weeks older whose pediatrician said they were too young to cry it out. I've tried letting him cry and never last more than 5 mins. My maternal instinct is that he needs me. He gets pretty upset and I just have to go to him. Then I feel like a bad mom for not letting him cry but I feel like a bad mom for letting him cry.

I'll keep you updated on what we end up doing :(

Let me know if anyone wants to link up.

6 comments:

  1. i think you just need to keep doing what you are doing and what feels right. with C it's different, i try to keep some kind of a routine but it's hard when billy is gone late and likes to see C when he gets home. C so far is just taking naps in his crib and then sleeping in his pack n play at night. i have just started swaddling him again and he slept last night and the previous night in his pack n play from 10:30-6, today when he woke up he nursed and went back to sleep until 8. C takes a paci when he naps in his crib and sometimes he spits it out so i sneak in his room and put it back in his mouth without him seeing me. if he has it he goes to sleep usually within 10 or so minutes, no crying. i honestly don't think i'll ever be the mom that lets my baby cry it out. i'd be crying right along with him. also, C usually takes a nap #3 in the evening around 4:30/5. this is what we do because it's what works for us and our family. billy needs to spend time with the babe too so C is usually up around 9:30 for around 30 mins-an hour, depending on how tired he is.
    sorry this turned into me rambling. in the end i think you just have to do what works for you. some people let their baby's sleep in their swings for many months!!!

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  2. I'm sorry Chase is not sleeping; hang in there Mama. You are doing a great job!
    I didn't realize how lucky I was that Jack started STTN at a month and a half!

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  3. You will figure it out!!! I have missed you. I was about to email you and ask where the heck you have been :)

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  4. I agree that you have to just do what works best for you and your family. L sleeps in a pack n play in our room at night and will still only nap in his swing. I am trying to put him down for naps around the same time each day, but sometimes he falls asleep at other times or doesn't want to go down when I want him to. I don't think I could ever let him cry it out because it would be very upsetting for both of us.

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  5. I'm probably the worst person to offer advice, seeing as how I have an angel for a sleeper - but I do let Everleigh cry it out a little bit before I go in to her. It also depends on her cry. If it's a whiny "I'm almost asleep" cry then I'll usually just leave her be. But if she's a-wailing then I definitely go in to her. I find rubbing her back helps a lot to calm her down once I put her back in her crib. (Also, thanks for commenting on my blog! Chase is adorable!!)

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  6. A meta-analysis of infant sleep research was published a few years ago. . . here's a summary: http://www.infantsleep.org/

    Looking at all the previous research pointed out a very interesting fact -- very little research on CIO has actually been done on infants (most has been on toddlers, or at least infants over a year.)

    So when you say, "What I struggle with is if he is old enough for all of this." The answer is. . . no one really knows. It hasn't been studied. All you will get are anecdotal tales from other mothers. . . some who will say CIO worked great, others who will say it didn't.

    As for me. . . I've done both. . . I remember crying, standing just out of sight of my oldest, when he CIO. And my youngest never CIO. Really? I prefer the latter. I don't think CIO really helped at all -- and those early months and years go by so quickly. . . if it is hard for you and your little one (and since it can't be established to show any benefit), why put both of you through that?

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