it’s just one of those things when you begin to sleep train your little ones that support from others always helps. melissa contaced me through my “request a sleep consult” link on my blog. we were in touch via email and then set up a phone consultation. we spent an hour discussing their current nap and bedtime routines and what she felt were shane’s sleep issues. melissa informed me that currently shane needed to be rocked and laid down asleep. he was waking around every two hours, but she was only feeding him one of those wakings. unfortunately, when he woke he was looking for either her or her husband, paul, to come to him in the night and rock him back to sleep. shane doens’t know how to fall alseep unassisted at this point, so this is where i come in! melissa was also concerned because he was still being swaddled and needed a soother. as for shane’s nap schedule. he again was being rocked to sleep, swaddled, and soother, but would only sleep a maximum of 45 minutes per nap. if at the 45 minute mark she went to him and rocked him back to sleep, sometimes he would sleep more. melissa also mentioned that if she brought him downstairs to the couch with her, he would take a really long nap being held! who wouldn’t right? it’s awesome to snuggle and sleep, but it’s time we get little shane to go to sleep unassisted, unswaddled, and soother free!
i gave melissa verbal advice during our phone consultation and then emailed her a written form of everything she needed to do to begin. she decided to do nighttime first as she just couldn’t take it any longer! this is totally normal and most parents, like i said, hit that wall and enough is enough! keep reading as we anxiously wait to find out how baby shane did on night one! if any of this sounds familiar to you, than you’ll want to stay tuned…
feel free to ask any of your personal questions on my discussion board or for more detailed help request a sleep consult. i am happy to help!
This sounds EXACTLY like my almost – 15 week old baby boy. I am having many similar questions right now in trying to break this cycle. Is it better to unswaddle him so he can use his hands to self – soothe (he puts them in his mouth lots during the day), but I am afraid he won't be able to go to sleep/will wake up more if he is unswaddled. Also, he has such trouble napping during the day he is soooo overtired and grumpy that I have ended up in the past few days napping with him so he stays asleep or having him nap on my lap, but I know this just further perpetuates things. I don't know how to break it. Is 15 weeks to young to formally sleep train?
hi there! thanks for the comments! first and foremost, 15 weeks isn't too young to begin sleep training. that being said, you have to be ready to stick to it and be consistent. you also know your baby better than anyone else and can distinguish with you gut feeling, whether or not you think he is playing games with you in the night? is hungry? or just needs help sleeping? if you want to begin formal sleep training it is up to you whether or not to swaddle. if he is breaking out of the swaddle frequently during sleeps, than it may be time to bag it! you are right, in that no swaddle allows them to try and self-soothe with their hands. if he has trouble napping because he has to be held to sleep, than i would say it is time to teach this little dude how to sleep properly! if you want more help please feel free to "request a sleep consult" on my homepage.