Sleep training and pregnant

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 12:52 am

I did not want to hijack the thread about sleep training posted by amother with a 6 month old so I am starting a new one here.

I have a 9 month old and am currently in early pregnancy, so that means I am constantly tired. My baby can sleep for 4-5 hour stretches but wakes up during the night to feed. I have weaned him to a bottle when I found out I was pregnant so I prepare the bottle before I go to sleep. When he wakes up I only have to give him the bottle and he drinks it by himself and falls asleep (usually only halfway through). Even just handing him the bottle during the night is a bit too much for me as I am not sleeping so well as is.

My previous "baby" slept through the night from and early age- no sleep training involved. I need tips to train my infant to sleep through the night, as the bottle only seems to be a soothing method. rather than satisfying a hunger. Keep in mind, I am sleep deprived with early pregnancy issues.

TIA

MaBelleVie

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 1:30 pm

Leave the bottle in his crib before you go to sleep. When he wakes up, don't hand it to him, just show him where it is and let him take it himself. The idea is that after a couple of nights he'll find it on his own and won't wake you. Make sure to leave it in the same place every time (my baby sleep with a cup of water in her crib and I always put it in the same corner near her head so she can easily find it when she's half asleep).

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 1:44 pm

When I sleep trained my older one, she was also waking up only really for the comfort, not actually for the nursing. I also sleep trained when I was pregnant with the next one. This is how I did it, and she was sleeping by the 4th day:

I put her down in the crib, sang shema and all that, and left the room. She cried, and I let her cry only 1 minute, and then I went in, put her back down, rubbed her back, gave her a pacifier (and made sure she had a few others lying in her crib within reach - very important!!), said I love you, and left. Then she cried 3 minutes. I did the same thing. Then 5 minutes. Then the rest of the night, whenever she woke up, I went in every 5 minutes til she fell asleep. The next night, I did the same thing, but instead I started at 3 minutes, then 5, then 7 - and continuing with 7 for the rest of the times that night.

It worked for me really well. It was hard for the first few times, but it got easier. And she was sleeping through the night on the 4th day. And it sounds like your baby does sleep, just wakes up to nurse. At 9 months, he should be able to sleep through the night, so this method should work.

I should note that I am still trying to train my 1-year old this way, but she doesn't take a pacifier, so it is harder. But when she's not teething, she is able to sleep through with only 1 feeding.

I wouldn't suggest leaving a bottle (of milk or formula) for a 9 month old in the crib. I don't know much about it, but it sounds like it could be unsafe. I do leave a bottle of water for my older daughter (like the above poster); I started doing that probably a few months I sleep trained her (which was 1 year and 4 months old).

Feel good, and I hope you and the baby are healthy! I hope this helped...

amother

Sun, Oct 19 2014, 7:05 pm

amother wrote:

WOW that was really descriptive...

As you correctly assumed, my baby know how to fall asleep on his own during bedtime. I found though, that I couldn't "trick" him with water bottles during the night (when I was too lazy to prepare the formula) so I am conflicted if he is hungry or not. Formula bottles don't get finished before he falls back asleep, but the water bottles he finished and started crying again. He is a very small eater during the day so I can't push more than he wants to take.

amother

Mon, Oct 20 2014, 2:07 am

amother wrote:

Well, you asked for sleep training help, so I tried. I'm sorry it was long.

So what I would suggest is to train him, either in the way I said or in a way that suits you better, to fall back asleep instead of eating. Since he should technically be able to sleep through the night at 9 months, this should be possible. It may be hard at first because he doesn't eat much in the day, but he should adjust after a few days so that he'll be extra full before he goes to sleep. He may start eating a drop more in the day time, to compensate, once he is trained. I also noticed recently that if I give my kids light lunches, they'll eat much more at night and generally sleep better.

I'm not an official expert, I just did a lot of sleep training research and found what worked best for my kids.