Advice on sleep training prep?

[lovely_krystal86]

LO is 15 weeks old and I think we are headed into the "4 mo sleep regression" as of last night. Before last few days she was doing great, would go down easily around 8pm and sleep until 3:30, then down again until I would wake her to take her to her nanas house since I am back at work (7:30am). She has never slept in her crib, has horrible acid reflux and I admit that we have fully utilized the automatic rocking feature of the R&P (she has yet to sleep a motionless sleep). We also use a pretty hardcore swaddle on her (arms only by Ana and Eve, two layers and it works great). This morning I fed her in my bed and she had a ton of reflux all over, it got in her ear, caked her face and neck, back of head,etc. So I am not sure I can move her to a flat bed anytime soon. But more and more I am thinking we may be ready to try CIO at 4 months old and I feel guilty about this. However she seems to lately almost get overstimulated by my presence when I try to get her to sleep (like she fights it more). I have sometimes lately just walked out of the room after putting in a pacifier, and she falls asleep better than if I had stayed in room trying to sooth her. But like last night, she could not settle down and she woke up frequently all through this morning no matter what I did. She recently discovered her hands and sucks on them a lot during day. So I have some sleep training questions: has anyone done CIO while baby is in R&P? Should I plan on doing CIO with a rocking R&P or still one, and same question re: swaddle- do i lose it ? I just bought merlin magic suit and can try that, but when she cries she works herself into a nice sweat and I worry how hot she might get in that suit. I just do not know how best to start doing some training...I can hold off on CIO, but feel like I need to start doing something to help her sleep better. Also- FWIW we have her nap in a swing because it helps her have real naps. So yes, I pretty much have used every "sleep crutch" out there and am so scared about what is ahead for me. Please give me your advice and experiences! I am also scared to try an earlier bedtime than 7:30pm just because I am so scared that will shorten my own nightsleep, and also the social constraints an earlier bedtime brings, but I keep reading about ideal bedtimes of like 6:30pm....sigh..please help!

 

[christianchar]

@lovely_krystal86 We used extinction around 3 and 4 months. However, it wasn't exactly the sane circumstances- no reflux, no swaddling. So take it with a grain of salt, but what worked well for us was to do it in the RnP first, with it rocking all night. The goal there was just to get him used to falling asleep alone. About a month later I moved him to the crib, cold turkey. No tilting, no rolled up towels or anything. I actually had intended to utilize those tricks, but just didn't find the time for it. So into the crib he went, and the first night was horrendous. He cried for close to two hours (intermittently), slept for 20 minutes and woke back up. I moved him back to the RnP at that point. The next night was better, and within a week he was falling asleep no problem and staying asleep for a decent stretch. If you're going to do it though, commit. Its terrible at the beginning and will get better, but you have to really stick with it.

Like you, I found that my presence was detrimental, which is why we ditched Ferber in favor of plain old extinction. I still nursed overnight for another month though, just FYI. Also, we continued naps in the RnP for some time since they were harder. He's at 5.5 months now and does 95% his sleeping in the crib at this point.

Personally, I would maintain a strong bed time routine, ditch the swaddle and start letting her fall asleep alone in the RnP. If that goes well you could start setting it to the 'Nap' timer (30 minutes) and see what happens, and eventually just stop turning the rocking on. That might help out with the reflux issues while getting her used to a still environment. Good luck!

 

[leah3018]

@lovely_krystal86 We didn't CIO since she wasn't 4 months yet and started rolling, but this is what has helped us the most: we switched to a zipadee zip and put a towel in a U shape under her sheet in the crib to get her used to that change. After a week or so we adjusted her bedtime routine to nurse first so she wouldn't fall asleep. Nursing to sleep stopped working for us so we had to find an alternarive. We nursed, diaper change, warm wash cloth, pajamas, read a couple stories and then rock/cuddle for a couple minutes until she is drowsy. We are then able to set her in her crib, rub her back while 'sshhing' and then she is usually fine from there. Some nights require more rocking than others and some nights she doesn't want to be rocked at all. Bedtime has gotten so much easier and less stressful. We may have to CIO at some point to completly get rid of the rocking, but I think it has set us up to be an easier transition since I know she is capable of falling asleep on her own (she is almost 5 months and hoping to wait a bit on that front)

 

[lutheransamurai]

@lovely_krystal86 I sleep trained at a little over 4 months, getting rid of r&p (sometimes swing at night) and swaddle both at the same time. Did extinction CIO. It took a few weeks to get the 4-5 wakes down to 2, and a month or so to get to 1. Naps in the swing to crib was a whole different story!

 

[musestan]

@lovely_krystal86 What exactly is your end goal?

 

[welshchoc]

@lovely_krystal86 I'm no pro, but just some thoughts: break the bad habits all at once. The way i see it, you don't want have to sleep train three times, so if you're going to commit, do it once. Since your lo is still on the young side for CIO, you could spend a few weeks establishing a bedtime routine, so lo starts to associate that with going down to bed (even if for now they are going in the rn'p). There is an article on precious little sleep about weaning off the swing, and that could also be something to work on in the coming weeks preparing to do extinction or whatever you choose. We also did extinction (at 5.5months) with a lot of luck because our interventions weren't helping anything, and i think the routine really helped.