PLS sleep group

@nickseand I did it when it was around $250 this past fall. It happened to fall right when my baby had her 4M sleep regression so it was immensely helpful. That said how helpful it is depends on you. You need to be proactive in asking questions and seeking help. I noticed a few members basically didn’t participate at all so I don’t think if was worth it for them. There were some ppl who were literally posting every day on their issues and Alexis responded to almost all of them. And if it wasn’t Alexis it was Susan responding- one of the admins on the fb group and who has helped Alexis with the book.

Also it depends on how “big” your sleep problems are. Plus a lot of the sleep consultants with rave reviews I was looking into cost $500+ so to me it was worth it.

And I find alexis’s own advise to be more sensible sometimes than some of the fb group answers (though I do still appreciate the fb group!!). I find the fb group tends to overthink some things- even Alexis said so lol. And some of the stuff in the book is a bit outdated so having Alexis give her own updated views is helpful. I think she’s working on releasing an updated version of the book.

I’ll also do a side note- I had a sleep consultant in training offer her services for free to me bc she needed to do case studies and she was not that helpful even though it was personalized to us. Our baby was having false starts around 5M and she couldn’t help us resolve them even after two weeks and finally I went right back to the sleep club for help and was able to resolve it.
 
@nickseand I did the first sleep club for $100. I would absolutely pay more than I did for what I got out of it, but I do think $350 is a bit steep.

For me, sleep club was incredibly worth it. I was really dragging my feet on sleep training, and it gave me the structure and support I needed to actually get through it. It helped me to have daily troubleshooting and finally, the push I needed to just go ahead and do CIO. I don’t think it would have gone as well as it did had i not spent the first three weeks really dialing in his schedule and working with some SWAPs. It’s something I definitely could have done on my own, but I think it would have been a much longer and much more frustrating process for me.
 
@nickseand I might be big-noting our community here at r/sleeptrain but I think we can offer you about the same amount of support- for free!

What issues are you struggling with still?
 
@cindyfernandez hi there-

I have posted on some other chains so you may have seen some of my issues before...

Baby is 11 weeks, 12 on 2/6. My biggest issues are figuring out how many naps to offer, when to call "bed time", and wake windows. Babies natural bedtime seems to be about 10PM, with a consistent wake time of 8AM. On a good night shes up once around 4AM to feed. This i great right? But she is a MESS from 7-10, so i feel like I should be moving bedtime earlier. If we aim for 10, I try to get a micro nap in around 8, leaving 1.5 hours before bedtime. Really it seems like no matter what we do, bedtime is a battle. If we aim for 8, shes down at 9. If we aim for 10, shes down between 11-midnight. Sometimes shes up 4 hours between last nap and bedtime.

Naps range from 30 mins- 2 hours ( just started capping at 2 hours). With capping daytime sleep, I thought I could just get her 5 naps in, and bedtime swing based on that... but last night we got her 5 naps in, had 2 hour wake time before trying a 9PM bedtime... only to go down at 10 and sleep 6 hours. Saturday we were out most of the day so she got 6 short naps... we aimed for an 8PM bedtime, ended up going down at 9PM and slept 6, then 4 hours. Great right? But probbaly just because she was so stimulated all day.

Wake times range anywhere from 1 hour (before first nap) then 1 hour 15 mins, 1.5, then about 1.5 to 2 before bed. We are on 5-6 naps a day.

I just feel so confused on some of the basics of figuring out bedtime, when to wake from a nap vs leave sleeping, when to stretch wake windows, drop a nap... I really like to just follow her cues during the day and really I am pretty good at that, she goes down super easily or naps, I am just SO confused come night time, and wondering what I should be chaning as she gets older.

One of the larger things I cant figure out... I get capping a nap to preserve bedtime. But lets say baby needs 1.5 hours before bedtime, bedtime is 8PM but baby naturally wakes at 5:30 from last nap... do you strech to 2 hours to get to bedtime, knowing there isnt room in there for another nap?

Thank you...
 
@nickseand You're doing really well.

All of this sounds like it's really normal for the age, hang in there. Bed time will solidify soon but not quite yet.

Sunshine in the morning to help circadian rhythm. Avoid screens in the last window. If you pump, give night milk at night.

Stimulation is great- I found it hard to figure out how much was enough vs too much and it changed all the time as she grew.

Hang in there, you're in a really tough stage where you can start experimenting with sleep stuff but also baby is still so little.
 
@cindyfernandez Thanks! Doing all those things. I guess how does Bedtime solidify earlier? If we’re currently to aim for 10 since that’s when she stays down the longest, i am capping her last nap at 8:30 and trying to get that last nap in, how will i know when to put her down earlier ?
 
@nickseand So what we found is that we picked a time that we wouldn't wake after. We found that the last nap became bed time if we didn't wake her from it. So in your example, 5:30 wake up, too early to call bed time. Next nap might be bed time if you're lucky! I found at this age an elaborate bed time routine wasn't necessary and was pretty similar to naps. It was only a bit later that we made bed time special.

I think it was 7:30? We wouldn't wake her up to try and finagle bed time because she'd get cranky in a way that I always regretted waking her.
 
@cindyfernandez It’s hard because i read so much about how she needs an earlier and consistent bedtime and a routine, i keep aiming for that.

So even if she’s not getting her longest stretch until 10, put her “to bed” before that and treat wakings after like night wakings? Even if they are like an hour later? She usually takes that last nap in my arms, so I’ll just have to start putting her in her bassinet and not treating wake ups like a nap. Even with this that makes bedtime pretty inconsistent right, because who knows when/ how long the second the last nap is? What if she only goes down for 30 mins, still treat it as a night waking ?

I tried This last Friday, she went down at 7:45 and i put her in her bassinet on the off chance she was ready for “bed” but she woke an hour later. Instead of treating it like a night waking i got her up and gave her a wake window… we were then up until midnight and i regretted it.
 
@nickseand Try extending those later windows a smidge to see if it helps with the one hour window.

Yeah, pick a time where it's "night time" (maybe 8-7?) And teach her it's night by keeping it boring. She might go down later than 8 some nights depending on how naps fall, but if she's asleep at 8 it's now night time.
 
@nickseand I did! I actually did the first PLS club when my son was about 4.5 months old. (He's 10.5 months now.)

All of the feedback you've already received is correct - it may be less intensive than you are hoping for and was really more of a post and wait for a response kind of situation. If you don't post, no one will attempt to re-engage with you or check in - at least, that was my experience when I kind of ghosted the group 2 weeks in after I had my big goal with my son's sleep accomplished.

With that said, I do credit the group with giving me the support I needed to let my son learn independent sleep at bedtime - which nipped his 4 month regression in the bud. I am the breadwinner for my family, and that + postpartum recovery + being a FTM meant I really couldn't make a sleep training plan and stick to it without guidance. I'm grateful for the help and support I received.

Like I said, work got the best of me before and during Sleep Club, so I more or less ghosted. I wish that the club would have given me future strategies to try - how to tackle naps, night weaning, and DST for starters - so unless something has changed, be aware that you're basically going to be asked to pick a primary and possibly one secondary goal to work towards. You won't receive a comprehensive sleep plan that will take you into toddlerhood. You WILL feel like part of a community if you actively participate! Which, with my work schedule, I just couldn't do.

Only you can decide what's "worth" it to you in terms of monetary cost - but just so you know, the original SC cost $100. And since I stopped participating 2 weeks in, I've often thought that was maybe a little much lol!
 
@nickseand I did it and the support although nice is not very one on one. It is a when you get your turn thing. Also the FB group is very skewed to suggesting less and less sleep even tho not all babies are the same (my case). I wish I had saved the money and would have used it towards the personalized sleep consultant that is helping me now. For fifty extra bucks I get a personalized sleep plan and constant support-and guess what, because it is really one on one, it is finally working for us.

I honestly wish I had saved my money. Group trainings are difficult because you don't get as much attention as you hope. Also, it is not very structured so you just write posts and wait for a response.
 
@mykim I'm working with the cradle coach. It is a by the clock schedule and requires more sleep from baby but it actually worked for us. I also liked having more constant support.
 
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