Anyone seen one of the links promoted on the homepage yet?

[susan_1981]

I'd love it if my DD slept for 3-4 hourly blocks at night, instead she sleep for 1 1/2-2 hours haha

I certainly wouldn't try this method! Plus, if she doesn't get fed when she is hungry, she is like an angry bear being poked with a stick

You're little one is nearly 8 months and she still wakes up that often? You're a trooper! I think I would have had a meltdown long before then! x

 

[OnyxSnowfall]

All I know is that I believe it's ideal for parents to strive to put their children before them.

Exceptions are when not putting yourself first will be more detrimental to your child/ren (gotta look out for "number 1" so you can keep looking out for others)... and of course no one is perfect and there will be other times but, striving isn't about 100% success.

Yea some people have a better tolerance for sleep deprivation than others but... so help those that are painfully awoken to the reality of sleep disturbances (generally) coming along with newborns --- I don't personally know of anyone who's ignorant of this.

Honestly I don't get the mentality of "excuse and validate my selfish behavior please!" --- but then again, I also prefer to be called out on my crap times rather than have them wrongfully supported (even if it sometimes hurts)

'Course there ARE tactful ways of constructively criticizing but really, the parents in this article are probably not going to read this thread so --- those that are somehow taking personal offense to comments not even directed towards them (at least not initially) well, I beg the question: why?

If you feel secure in whatever you've done that resembles the people in the article, then just be secure in that. If you're doubting your method(s), well, change whatever will allay any dissonance in you and be done with it.

 

[Vicki_Cream]

I'd love it if my DD slept for 3-4 hourly blocks at night, instead she sleep for 1 1/2-2 hours haha

I certainly wouldn't try this method! Plus, if she doesn't get fed when she is hungry, she is like an angry bear being poked with a stick

You're little one is nearly 8 months and she still wakes up that often? You're a trooper! I think I would have had a meltdown long before then! x

I think I've just acclimatised to it lol! She goes to bed at around 6.30-7pm, sometimes she stirs for a feed at around 9.30/10 ish, sometimes she sleeps until 1 am then stirs for a feed. I go to bed at around 11ish, and I have a feeling that we disturb her when we are going to bed, and my OH snores like a pig which probably doesn't help. We are going to move her into her own room over the next few weeks, so it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference! I'm still EBF, so not sure if that has anything to do with it either.

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

I saw this a few days ago and I was just floored. I can't believe anyone would think this is OK... newborns have tiny stomachs and need to eat often. Trying anything to get a newborn to sleep through the night seem barbaric, imo.
If you can't handle lack of sleep for AT LEAST the first few months, you're not fit to be a parent.... just sayin'

 

[MommyJogger]

I saw this a few days ago and I was just floored. I can't believe anyone would think this is OK... newborns have tiny stomachs and need to eat often. Trying anything to get a newborn to sleep through the night seem barbaric, imo.
If you can't handle lack of sleep for AT LEAST the first few months, you're not fit to be a parent.... just sayin'

Or the common sense to build a support system and get help if they need it rather than making their newborn suffer. I know a few people for health reasons who suffer more than is average if they're mildly deprived of sleep, but they arranged long in advance for friends and family to come help to make sure their health didn't suffer while they prioritized their new babies' needs.

 

[xolynn]

I agree with the article. Have at it as you will, but I don't care one bit, its MY opinion. I'd be dead if my LO was still waking at night by 8-12 months.

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

I agree with the article. Have at it as you will, but I don't care one bit, its MY opinion. I'd be dead if my LO was still waking at night by 8-12 months.

Waking when they are 8-12 months old is COMPLETELY different than waking to feed when they are a newborn.... But yes, it's your opinion.

 

[staralfur]

There is certainly a difference between older babies/toddlers who in all likelihood are not hungry every couple of hours through the night. But I think it's kind of common sense that a newborn with a teeny tiny little tummy would be hungry at some point during the night. I can't imagine how anyone thinks it's a good idea to basically tell a newborn that its hunger doesn't quite fit in with their lifestyle so they're gonna have to wait.

 

[LittleNikki]

I still really don't understand how stretching out day time feeds will help them go longer at night as everything i was told was to feed more often in the day so they know are full up and they then go longer at night, and that is definately how it worked for my son who now sleeps through at 6 months, so logic would suggest stretching out day feeds would make them hungrier at night and therfore wake up more

 

[jd83]

I agree with the article. Have at it as you will, but I don't care one bit, its MY opinion. I'd be dead if my LO was still waking at night by 8-12 months.

But that's still quite different than what the article was proposing. Sure, I was sick of night wakings by 6+ months, too, but by that point I was better able to tell if he was actually hungry and that's why he woke up, or if he was awake for some reason that I needed to figure out. He had a pretty distinct hungry cry. A newborn is pretty much guaranteed to be waking due to hunger/thirst. Expecting them to sleep 7+ hours right off the bat because the parents are too tired to deal with several night wakings to feed is ridiculous at that point.

Doctors telling new parents that their newborn baby should be put on a schedule that the parents should work on spacing out to no less than 4 hours apart? That's really extreme for such a tiny baby with such a tiny tummy.

Honestly, I'm all for scheduling to a degree if you are able to, but that really just makes no sense with a newborn baby who gets hungry/thirsty at such random times. I did kind of a modified schedule with my boys, of going no longer than 3 hours between feeds. IF they got hungry sooner, I always fed them sooner, but never went longer than 3 hours between feeds. But that was more of a need for myself, to keep my milk supply up because I noticed decreases in my supply anytime I went longer than that.

 

[Debi]

I don't agree with making a newborn wait for food during the day or the night! Breastmilk especially is so easily digested and babies take different amounts at different times... I just don't see how this would work?!! But whatever, I'm obviously rubbish as my 20 month old is still up frequently through the night to breastfeed!! Wonder what this pair would make of me

 

[xolynn]

Ah, didnt realize the article was referring to specifically newborns..just kinda skimmed it over honestly. But no, I don't believe in forcing a newborn to go a certain amount of time without milk. That would be cruel. But yes I do firmly believe that by somewhere in the range of 6-12 months they should be doing at least a 6-8 hour stretch without waking for a feed.

 

[jd83]

Ah, didnt realize the article was referring to specifically newborns..just kinda skimmed it over honestly. But no, I don't believe in forcing a newborn to go a certain amount of time without milk. That would be cruel. But yes I do firmly believe that by somewhere in the range of 6-12 months they should be doing at least a 6-8 hour stretch without waking for a feed.

Yeah, the first paragraph said that a couple sought help after the first week with their newborn because they couldn't deal with night wakings...And they were advised to stretch out their newborn's feeds gradually, and not give in to cries for food until the scheduled time. Which it said worked, but I would think rather than it actually "working" in the sense they are saying, its more of a coping mechanism kicking in for the newborn baby to have to get used to not being fed when hungry, but having to wait for food.

 

[susan_1981]

I'd love it if my DD slept for 3-4 hourly blocks at night, instead she sleep for 1 1/2-2 hours haha

I certainly wouldn't try this method! Plus, if she doesn't get fed when she is hungry, she is like an angry bear being poked with a stick

You're little one is nearly 8 months and she still wakes up that often? You're a trooper! I think I would have had a meltdown long before then! x

I think I've just acclimatised to it lol! She goes to bed at around 6.30-7pm, sometimes she stirs for a feed at around 9.30/10 ish, sometimes she sleeps until 1 am then stirs for a feed. I go to bed at around 11ish, and I have a feeling that we disturb her when we are going to bed, and my OH snores like a pig which probably doesn't help. We are going to move her into her own room over the next few weeks, so it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference! I'm still EBF, so not sure if that has anything to do with it either.

I reckon moving her into her own room could definitely help. My youngest is such a light sleeper, unlike my eldest. You could blow a trumpet in his ear and he wouldn't wake up. My youngest, if I just breathe, it can wake him up! That's why we moved him into his own room at 4 months. Earlier than we wanted.

We did do controlled crying (not for everyone, I know) but the results were worth it. At about 5/6 months, he was waking every half hour. I stuck it out for 3 nights (like everyone told me) and it was amazing. And not only did I feel so much better, he was also a lot happier!

Oh well, the way to look at it is they are only babies for such a short time. Sleepless nights or not, I just want to make the most of every second of them being young because before we know it, they'll be angry teenagers x

 

[Starry Night]

We did controlled crying with our DD even as a newborn. It was taking 2 hours just to put her down every time she woke up. A newborn waking up at night is one thing, but I NEEDED her to be able to resettle relatively quickly. I have a hard time falling asleep myself and with her getting up every 2 hours at the time I was getting about 1/2 hour to 40 minutes. Not enough for me. Never mind that my DH's alarm woke me up too. And she refused to nap in the afternoon. I was NOT willing to be a zombie. I physically couldn't do it. So I tried straight CIO and that was not a big hit so I tried the controlled crying and it seemed to work for her. Neither had worked for our son but he took a soother and did well with the rocking to sleep.

My DD is about 3 months and sleeps 10 to 12 hours a night now. I don't know if my methods helped her STTN sooner than she would have anyways but they did make bedtime less stressful. Now she goes to bed without a fuss, or will only lightly cry for maybe 5 minutes. She also naps now too.

Honestly, you can't MAKE a baby or child do anything. But you can try and guide them and teach them how to do these things for themselves.

 

[shanny]

Honestly, you can't MAKE a baby or child do anything. But you can try and guide them and teach them how to do these things for themselves.[/QUOTE]

I certainly did a fair amount of this with mine - BUT not at the newborn stage - That is when you just have to suck it up!!!!

 

[Pearls18]

We did controlled crying with our DD even as a newborn. It was taking 2 hours just to put her down every time she woke up. A newborn waking up at night is one thing, but I NEEDED her to be able to resettle relatively quickly. I have a hard time falling asleep myself and with her getting up every 2 hours at the time I was getting about 1/2 hour to 40 minutes. Not enough for me. Never mind that my DH's alarm woke me up too. And she refused to nap in the afternoon. I was NOT willing to be a zombie. I physically couldn't do it. So I tried straight CIO and that was not a big hit so I tried the controlled crying and it seemed to work for her. Neither had worked for our son but he took a soother and did well with the rocking to sleep.

My DD is about 3 months and sleeps 10 to 12 hours a night now. I don't know if my methods helped her STTN sooner than she would have anyways but they did make bedtime less stressful. Now she goes to bed without a fuss, or will only lightly cry for maybe 5 minutes. She also naps now too.

Honestly, you can't MAKE a baby or child do anything. But you can try and guide them and teach them how to do these things for themselves.

Newborns are instinctive, they go by their gut, they've just been ripped from the womb where they are constantly warm, fed and comforted by the closeness, sounds and smell of their mum, it is all they have known. Then they are expected to be in this big space, cold, hungry, weird noises, the one thing they need is mum, they don't cry for any reason other than they need something. I may have been a zombie when my baby was born but he *needed* me, it was what I signed up for, I physically could not leave a newborn to cry I just think that is just awful I really do, genuinely can't believe anyone in this day in age sleep trains a baby, I couldn't ever put my own needs in front of a defenceless newborn like that (and I know sleep deprivation my second son woke 2 hourly till 6 months), I did sleep training with my older son from 6 months old which I totally understand many people would think is too young, but a NEW born?! They don't have habits, there's nothing to teach them, they are primitive. I try not to comment and make judgement each to their own and all, but I would hate for someone to read this and think this is normal, I urge anyone struggling in the first 3 months to read the fourth trimester, really helped me understand my son (and I really am not an AP type parent at all).

 

[Lovn.sunshine]

Nuff said

https://i.imgur.com/ItjCR5f.jpg

 

[MummyMana]

After spending a week in hospital trying to get our baby to feed, she finally started feeding often enough for us to be let home. As soon as we were home a health visitor appeared on our doorstep, told us she was feeding too much and we needed to make her go longer between feeds. Luckily I found my own health visitor who actually knew what she was talking about

As for sleep deprivation, I really don't function well on no sleep. But I'm sure I function better on no sleep than a newborn does on no food!

In the first couple of Weeks after her birth, I only had maybe 4 hours sleep total, I was running on pure adrenaline from the birth and I've never had so much energy in my life! Honestly I was buzzing for the first week or so, felt like I'd had 20 shots of espresso! When I finally crashed, 2 hour blocks of sleep was just awesome.

 

[HBGirl]

My DD nearly died in ICU. Right now night time scares her, she wakes up scared to find herself alone like she did in hospital. THAT is perspective. So now we have cuddle fests all night long. We hold each other, bf for food and comfort, drift in and out of sleep and just enjoy our time together.

She is 5 months old. "Too old" for this. But guess what, she will never be 5 months old again. She won't always want to snuggle me, pull my pj top up for a snack, stroke my breast as she eats. So to me, this advice is as barbaric to parents as it is to babies. I would go cold as ice if someone told me I should drop this time with my little love.