For those who never needed CIO sleep training...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the others that it definitely comes down to temperament, but I do think there are some things you can do.

1) Prioritize sleep. A tired baby becomes an overtired baby. We always tried to be home for nap time etc.

2) From an early-ish age (maybe 8 weeks?) give them a few minutes to fuss to themselves before sleeping. This is not CIO. A fuss cry is very different than a real "I need you" cry. If my kids ever did a real cry, I'd always get them.

3) Don't rush to them for every little noise. If it's just babbling or a little fussing, let it go a few minutes before responding.

+1. These are little things but can make a big difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll share that friends with kids who don’t or haven’t slept well all had some common practices:

1. No strict schedule. Baby out at dinner at night. Not planning around naps. No specific bedtime.

2. Baby in room with parents for months. No separate nursery and crib.

3. Heavy use of baby monitor. Going into baby’s room for everything.

4. Using the boob as a pacifier.

5. Not using babysitters and instead taking baby everywhere including places with lots of noise and people

I agree with this. I think consistent schedule is really important for baby’s sleep habits.

[Anonymous]

Routine and schedule helps establish a strong sleep drive at bedtime. If they aren’t overtired but are used to going to bed at that time, it’s easier for them to work it out themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the others that it definitely comes down to temperament, but I do think there are some things you can do.

1) Prioritize sleep. A tired baby becomes an overtired baby. We always tried to be home for nap time etc.

2) From an early-ish age (maybe 8 weeks?) give them a few minutes to fuss to themselves before sleeping. This is not CIO. A fuss cry is very different than a real "I need you" cry. If my kids ever did a real cry, I'd always get them.

3) Don't rush to them for every little noise. If it's just babbling or a little fussing, let it go a few minutes before responding.

+1. These are little things but can make a big difference.

+1. One of mine STTN at 4 months, the other at 12 months, we did not do any form of CIO. Started putting them down for naps early, maybe 4ish weeks. Never relied too much on the swaddle. When they cried we would pick them up, hold them until they were not crying. Then, would lay them down. Sometimes they would immediately cry again so we would pick them up again. When they woke up really early (like 5) we wouldn’t turn on lights. We would play quietly until wake up time then we would feed them at at normal time. Mine are completely different temperaments so I don’t buy that you only can avoid CIO if your kids are certain personalities. You can avoid it by consistently being there for your crying child, prioritizing a sleep schedule and routines, and a ton of patience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Coslept & breastfed.

+2 (1 for each of my kids)
8-10 years later, they both seem to have healthy relationships to sleeping and to eating, so far.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Coslept & breastfed.

+2 (1 for each of my kids)
8-10 years later, they both seem to have healthy relationships to sleeping and to eating, so far.

More +

I did this for all of mine. I never had to 'sleep train' or CIO.

[Anonymous]

I don't believe in colic. I don't belive in CIO. You either have a kid that will sleep or you have a medium sleeper or you have a bad sleeper. Exausted kids have a reason for not sleeping.
As with calm kids, active kids, hyper kids, I think parents are full of BS. You get the kid you get, very little so early is thanks to parents' skills.
Be consistent and love and hug your babies. The end. Kid is a kid, I think most trouble is parents being insane to either extreme. Either parents are too high strung or too lax. Almost every trouble later in life is due to parents being incompetent, not kids being terrible kids.
But, up to year old, come on, kid is needing something and you are not providing it. Plain and simple.

[Anonymous]

Held her for naps when she was a baby and then coslept when she was older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I don't believe in colic. I don't belive in CIO. You either have a kid that will sleep or you have a medium sleeper or you have a bad sleeper. Exausted kids have a reason for not sleeping.
As with calm kids, active kids, hyper kids, I think parents are full of BS. You get the kid you get, very little so early is thanks to parents' skills.
Be consistent and love and hug your babies. The end. Kid is a kid, I think most trouble is parents being insane to either extreme. Either parents are too high strung or too lax. Almost every trouble later in life is due to parents being incompetent, not kids being terrible kids.
But, up to year old, come on, kid is needing something and you are not providing it. Plain and simple.

Oh, you’d believe in colic if you’d ever heard mine cry. It was heartbreaking. I’m the PP who held mine for naps and co-slept, so I wasn’t letting her CIO. She just screamed a lot. For months. She also had reflux. It was terrible.

[Anonymous]

I had one that slept throught the night at 4 months with no CIO, and one who is still waking up at 17 months despite several attempts at CIO. For both of them, I was super into appropriate wake time intervals, calm environment, good nutrition, lots of play/outdoor time. The only things I can think to explain it are:
-baby 1 had a pacifier
-baby 1 had my undivided attention everyday, including marathon nursing sessions with lots of hindmilk, and didn't need to wake up at night for extra cuddling (like I said, just theories!)
-temperment
-baby 2's environment is more stressful than baby 1 because baby 1 is now crazy 4 yo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I don't believe in colic. I don't belive in CIO. You either have a kid that will sleep or you have a medium sleeper or you have a bad sleeper. Exausted kids have a reason for not sleeping.
As with calm kids, active kids, hyper kids, I think parents are full of BS. You get the kid you get, very little so early is thanks to parents' skills.
Be consistent and love and hug your babies. The end. Kid is a kid, I think most trouble is parents being insane to either extreme. Either parents are too high strung or too lax. Almost every trouble later in life is due to parents being incompetent, not kids being terrible kids.
But, up to year old, come on, kid is needing something and you are not providing it. Plain and simple.

Oh, you’d believe in colic if you’d ever heard mine cry. It was heartbreaking. I’m the PP who held mine for naps and co-slept, so I wasn’t letting her CIO. She just screamed a lot. For months. She also had reflux. It was terrible.

She had reflux but you are calling it colic? Why? Colic indicates that nothing is wrong, just a fussy baby. Reflux is hell. You proved me right. You knew she was hurting and not just a fussy baby. So you did not let her CIO. I never said I don't believe there is a reason babies don't sleep. I don't believe in colic, as in fussy for no reason at all. Colic means to me, something is wrong with my baby and we just don't know what. So, knowing you baby had reflux, how can you believe in colic? Makes no sense at all. Sounds like you are werdly equating colic with pain.
From Mayo clinic: Colic is frequent, prolonged and intense crying or fussiness in a healthy infant. Colic can be particularly frustrating for parents because the baby's distress occurs for no apparent reason and no amount of consoling seems to bring any relief.

[Anonymous]

I had twins so I had to keep track of everything they each did because I couldn't otherwise remember who ate what or pooped when, etc. As a result, I tracked all of their feeding and sleeping, and gradually increased the times between feeds in order to stretch them out such that they eventually slept 12 hours at 12 weeks old (both of them). I never let them cry - if they woke up before it was time to eat, I would comfort them but not feed them. The time was increased really gradually so it's not like they were waiting an hour for food, and of course there were some times when one of the was sick or whatever and the schedule didn't hold, but otherwise it was a matter of finding their natural schedules and manipulating them in a gentle way to get on a better schedule.

[Anonymous]

I did all sorts of things with my oldest (schedule, bathing before bed, longer nighttime feeding schedule, etc), and he slept great. Then I did almost none of those things with my second, and he slept great too.

I think a lot of it is just genetic.

[Anonymous]

Turn off the baby monitor if your baby’s room is close to yours, or turn it down low if they are not within earshot. You don’t need to respond to every wimper they make.
If they really need something, the crying will get loud enough to wake you.

[Anonymous]

nothing. got lucky. kid slept through the night at 6 weeks. turned into a terror at age 2. behavioral issues. our other kid was a terrible terrible sleeper. now the sweetest easiest going kid.