Sleep training... | Imamother

amother

Seagreen

Tue, Jul 24 2018, 7:57 pm

Okey dokey. The time has arrived to sleep train my adorable 5 month old. He's a cutie but lousy sleeper and this mama is tired. I also don't have time to do extensive reading so I want to only read one book. I'm choosing between No Cry Sleep Solution and Baby Whisperer.

So wise women of Imamother, what are the pros and cons of each and which would you recommend?

amother

Slategray

Tue, Jul 24 2018, 9:22 pm

I use thw baby whisperer, but not necessarily would I suggest it to someone only starting out when the baby is five months old
Part of her qhole theory is teaching skills for sleep from birth gradually and age appropriately... With my first I started baby whisperer around 3 or 4 months old and it was extremely hard. I did not work and was consumed by implementing it all day. My husband was in kollel and helped on his breaks and evenings. It worked in the end and she was sleep trained by 7 months but it was extremely hard. With my subsequent babies (3 more kah) ive implemented her strategies from birth and caring for my infants are the easy part of having a baby (older kids adjusting being the harder part). Her method takes a lot of intuition and understanding and is not just a simple solution to sleep. If you dont have the time yo invest I would recommend using the ferber method which is controlled crying. It works under a week with perhaps some sleep regression here and there.
Good luck!

amother

Seagreen

Tue, Jul 24 2018, 9:40 pm

I know there's no scientific backing to this but in my heart I feel that letting a baby cry has long term affects so I don't want to try Ferber unless things get very desperate. I'm willing to spend a few extra days (weeks?) to gently sleep train

amother

Orchid

Tue, Jul 24 2018, 10:24 pm

I tried using the baby whisperer books from birth because I was also against the idea of sleep training. It didn't work for me at all. I was obsessed with using her methods when it just wasn't working for my baby.
Eventually when my baby was around 4 and a half months I gave in and sleep trained. Worked so well. I used a book called the sleepeasy solution. It's basically letting the baby cry it out but you check on them at predetermined intervals.
Best decision ever!
Baby is an amazing sleeper and loves her crib!
The way I look at it is that after the baby crying for around 30 min total to go down at the beginning of the night plus 15 min in middle of the night and 7 minutes by her first nap the next day, she was done being trained. So all that crying put together is less then what we were dealing with every night and nap before we trained her. We continued to do a dream feed once ever night before we went to bed until she was around 6 months.
The book we used also explains the research that shows that crying does not lead to any long term issues with the baby and gives you confidence to know that the baby will be just fine and will be even happier then ever once it's all done!
And then it's the best feeling ever!
Good luck!

amother

Slategray

Wed, Jul 25 2018, 8:22 am

amother wrote:

I understand your concern, which is ultimately why we used the baby whisperer. Im just saying that if you are back at work.already and dont ahve a few months to spare and tons of tons of patience and support from husband, it would probably make more sense to do a controlled crying method. Also just letting you know with the baby whisperer method there is crying involved too, its just you are there picking up and putting them down many times and sometimes just staying in room if its a mantra (self soothing) cry. There are many details, and understanding and takes a lot of trial and error. Good luck making your decision. You can search baby whisperer for advice on this website.