1. DD was, and is a terrible sleeper, still waking up several times a night at age 3. For her I tried multiple things. She sometimes slept in her carseat by my bed (hard habit to break). I found out at one point that a low level of light would quiet her, so I used a nightlight (wrecked my own sleep until I got used to it-but the quiet was worth it), and eventually we got her one of those little cribside aquariums that has low lights and calming bubbling noises. After all these things we finally tried cry-it-out. Obviously that wasn't a wonderful success since she STILL gets up EVERY night. I have decided to take a deep breath and chalk it up to temperment. She's finally (thank goodness) old enough to start calming herself, getting her own glass of water, and covering herself back up if she wakes at night. That doesn't always stop her from getting me up, but at least I'm getting marginally more rest.

Posted at 6:42PM on Mar 27th 2008 by Sabrina

2. I'm with ya on the swing thing. Probably not the best way to go. The batteries could always die around 4:00am. THEN WHAT??
And they will eventually outgrow the thing.

We went from bassinet to the crib in our bedroom.
And then once I was ok with it, the crib went back into the babies bedroom.
It worked for us.

I was nursing so the baby did sleep in bed with us after the early morning feeding, but quiet honestly, that wasnt a hard habit to break. It just takes some consistency.

Also, our kids share a bedroom. My son is 3 1/2 and rarely do they wake each other up in the middle of the night. If the baby wakes up the toddler, its usually pretty easy to convince the toddler to go back to sleep.

Best of luck to you...Do whatever YOU think works the best for your family.

Posted at 6:44PM on Mar 27th 2008 by Crystal

3. I was lucky in that my son was a sleeper from day one (slept 5 hours the third night home from the hospital). At his worst (youngest/hungriest), he would wake up twice a night, every 3-4 hours. He's slept through the night since 3 months old. I know, I know, please don't throw things at me. I would say that you've already answered your own question: if he doesn't sleep as well in the swing and you don't think sleeping on your chest is comfortable or healthy, they are probably habits you don't want to encourage. However, I know, at 3 AM, you don't give a flip as long as he's happy and asleep.
Though I take no credit for getting a good sleeper, I did try to instill good sleeping habits. From the beginning, I didn't give my son options about nighttime sleeping. He could sleep in his cradle. Period. If that meant holding him until he was sleepy or comfort-nursing or rocking the cradle until he fell asleep, I did it. I actually tied a string to the outside post of the cradle so I could pull it and thus rock the damn thing without getting out of bed.
When we moved him into his crib, that was where he slept, no exceptions in bed with us or back to his cradle. It was more labor intensive for me, but it really paid off in that now I can put him down for naps or bedtime with little to no resistance. Just my 2 cents. Good luck.

Posted at 7:02PM on Mar 27th 2008 by claire

4. First of all I think every baby is different and the parents need to figure out what works for them and their specific circumstances.

That being said, we responded to our first baby as soon as she made any waking noises and she had a habit of waking me up for a 4:00am feeding until she was 11 months old! It finally took letting her fush a bit (maybe more than a bit) to get her to sleep through the night -- the whole process only took 2 or so nights.

We didn't respond to our 2nd child as quickly, mostly because he was a LOUD sleeper and it was hard to tell when he was just grunting and making noise in his sleep from when he was awake. We basically waited until he cried before realizing he was awake and responding. He was sleeping through the night by 8 weeks (9:30pm until 5 or 6 am) and sleeping a good 11 hours a night by 4 months.

Both kids we had in a crib in their own room by the first week home.

Again, this is based on our kids, I don't think this works for everyone.

Good luck!!

Posted at 7:49PM on Mar 27th 2008 by LLN

5. I went with the Ferber methods, outlined in his book. Some people think it's cruel, but I don't think it is. And the sooner you train them to sleep on their own, (and thus, you on your own), the sooner everyone gets to visit their happy place.

I think we started at the 8 week point, or so for both our daughters and it worked like a charm!

Posted at 8:42PM on Mar 27th 2008 by queenoqueens

6. My son is a ferber baby too! He did just fine, but we waited until he was about 6 months old, which was bordering on waiting too long, but it really paid off! It was hard but it only took 2 days to stick.
I will have to see what this next baby says before I get all confident in my methods though, I know babies are ALL different.

Posted at 11:02PM on Mar 27th 2008 by kim

7. Linda, do you swaddle him? I loved the Amazing Miracle Blanket (miracleblanket.com) with my son, but I love it even more with my daughter, because she is breastfed and still a pretty good sleeper. For me, anything younger than like six months (for me only! I'm just saying, for me!) to sleep train, so I had to count on that blanket to calm them. It has really worked ... well, miracles for us. If Dylan were swaddled, maybe he'd be more comfortable in his crib. Also, my girl has reflux and I got a little wedge that goes under her crib mattress to just slightly elevate her head while she sleeps. It was super cheap, I got it at Babies R Us. And thus endeth my advice.

Posted at 9:04PM on Mar 27th 2008 by Joanne

8. I think that's GOOD advice, we do swaddle him and that makes a difference. I mean, as in I'm sure I wouldn't get those 3+ hours in a row if we didn't wrap him.

Posted at 9:04PM on Mar 27th 2008 by Linda L.

9. I agree with Joanne! The Miracle Blanket was a LIFESAVER for us!

Posted at 3:00PM on Mar 28th 2008 by annie

10. I agree with the statements every child is different. You just have to do what works for you and your family. Our son was a terrible sleeper too. I co-slept with our son until he was about 7 months. I just found it to be easier.
I'll admit I was too lazy to have to go through the process of getting out of bed every 2-3 hours to breastfeed. When he was about 7 months we started working on him sleeping in the crib part of the night and then spending the other part of the night in bed with us once he woke up.
There were many many many nights we swaddled and put him in the swing to get him to sleep longer stretches. These were methods suggested by the book Happiest Baby on The Block. We used the swing religiously, up until our son was almost a year old. I could care less what other people said about us stuffing an almost one year old in the swing with a swaddle on. Again, it's what helped us survive and keep our sanity with a sleepless baby.
When we went on trips somewhere, we brougth our travel swing. Again, this just worked for us. You just have to figure out what works for you.

He's now almost 2 years old and sleeps all night in his crib. He's been doing this since he was a about 14 months. That's what matters. Just do what works. It won't be forever though it seems like it at the time. :)

Posted at 11:08PM on Mar 27th 2008 by ct

11. Oh, I also wanted to mention. We swaddled with one arm out. Our son seemed to like that a lot better than both arms swaddled.

Posted at 11:11PM on Mar 27th 2008 by ct

12. We used some of the things in Happiest Baby On the Block. We still use the white noise at 18 months since we have an old, creaky house. Of course, we found out the hard way that we HAVE to have that noise with us if we go anywhere overnight. We settled a while ago on putting the white noise CD on and old iPod and bought inexpensive speakers. It's pretty small to throw into a suitcase if we go anywhere. For some reason, she does fine at daycare without it. But if she's home for a nap, it needs to be on.

For the first 4 months or so we had M in a bassinet in our room (next to me). Since I nursed, it was so much easier to just reach over to get her when she woke up then me hauling to her room to feed her. Once we transitioned to her crib she did okay, but I would always fall asleep in the rocking chair and wake up in there 3 hours after her last feeding with a wicked crik in my neck.

I don't think she slept a full 8 hours with no feedings until about 8-9 months old. We ended up doing some Ferber methods at that point for the sake of our own sleep.

Posted at 10:03AM on Mar 28th 2008 by ikate

13. Such a timely post. Serenity is a sleeper like my other girls. Storm + sleep....well, we do not know. He has to be awakened every 4hrs still and attempt to feed. He was the more ill of the two and smaller than his sister.

But as for putting him back down, I swaddle and place him down with a butt pat (we dis how well that works b4) and he calms himself and back asleep fairly quickly. He sleeps restlessly, which most likely has to do with all the monitors buzzing and beeping around him.

They both have done much better since the nurse can't get to them. We moved them into our ofc (just off our bedroom) and there is no outside door.

Posted at 10:07AM on Mar 28th 2008 by isisaquaria

14. Sleep always seems to be an issue no matter how old your kid is. Having just gone through it, here are my 2 cents....
At this age, you do what you have to do. We had the baby in a swing for a long long time. Eventually, he got a bit big for it and we moved him to the crib. We expected a horrible night, but he was fine.
In those early weeks, I did what I had to do. The baby woke up every few hours and I went to him and fed him because he's a baby, that's what he does.
Eventually, he will go longer and longer without waking at night. But for now, you do the best you can.
This too shall pass.

Posted at 1:46PM on Mar 28th 2008 by MG

15. L-Our son is 3 months and a reasonable sleeper-I'm talking typically 3-4 hour stretches at night, though we just got our 1st 6 hour stretch last night! We use the bouncy seat on the floor next to my side of the bed-we started this when he had a cold and it seemed to help him breathe w/ the congestion-now it's just plain easier. He's recently begun orienting to daycare and they allow him to sleep in the bouncy seat, and also get him used to the pack n'play; I figure when that's well achieved, we'll start w/ the crib at home-probably b/t 4-5 months of age. I remember needing to do some sleep training w/ our daughter (now almost 3 yrs) when she was 5-6 months old, and found the Marc Weisbluth book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby a helpful read. Good luck, and btw, I'm a big fan...

Posted at 3:21PM on Mar 28th 2008 by leah

16. As a single mom of a 2yo, I think the best thing to do for you and your family is just survive. I wasn't a huge "sleep with mommy" advocate, but sometimes you have to bend the rules for the sake of sleep-sanity. Get as much sleep as possible, and once your little one starts sleeping longer hours you can start developing a consistent night routine. That's what worked for my little man, and it all changed the second I introduced him to a big-boy bed..but that's a whole different story! Good Luck! And congrats on the new addition to your family!

Posted at 12:27AM on Mar 29th 2008 by Stacy

17. I kept my son (now 4 1/2 months) in the bassinet for the first 8 weeks or so, but then I transitioned him to his crib. I talked myself into it. I just reasoned the crib mattress looked much more comfortable, and he had these fabulously comfy sheets he hadn't used yet, and I thought of the noises my husband, dog & I make in our sleep, our alarms in the morning, and decided he would sleep much better if he was in his own quiet room. And I bought a great monitor.

I'd feed him at 11:30ish like you are, and put him down in our room with us. When he started to squawk around 3ish, I'd scoop him up, bring him to the DIM nursery, and feed him before he really even awoke, and put him, firmly swaddled, in his crib, and he might fight sleep a little, but not for long. Very shortly, he was used to waking there in the morning. The 3AM's stretched to 4:30's, then later & later over the next couple of weeks. Once I got him sleeping consistantly from 11:30 to 6:30, I got to drop the 11:30 feed. Now I put him, unswaddled, in his crib at 8:30P and he smiles and talks to himself for 3 minutes and then falls asleep. The same noises wake me through the monitor around 6:45A. He's done this for a month straight and I seriously feel like I've just won the lottery.

You are right on the verge of this! Hang in there and lay the groundwork for good sleep habits now, you'll thank yourself later (and so will he - a good night sleep is important to everyone!)

Posted at 1:12AM on Mar 29th 2008 by ELC

18. sounds like you're doing pretty well. for a while we were in the same predicament. we have gradually transitioned from sleeping on chest to sleeping next to us with head resting on arm/underarm to sleeping next to us on the snuggle nest mattress. junior is almost 4 mos and the night wakings/feedings have ended (at least for the past week- knock on wood). so now we have to get her into the crib or bassinet.

Posted at 12:16PM on Apr 1st 2008 by McLarry

19. I have a 9 week old son, and he sleeps about 3-4 hours at a stretch, which is great for a breast fed baby I understand. He has slept well since I read and started practicing the principles of the "Lullababy Sleep Plan" by Cathryn Tobin, MD. He sleeps in a co-sleeper in our room for convenience of mid night feedings, but he eats and goes right back to sleep.

These principles really work well for my son at night, but he does not like to nap in his bed for some reason - he wants to nap in his swing, which he'll usually do for about 90 minute stretches during the day. But, you know that every baby is different...maybe you can try this method and see if it works for your baby.

A great place to get books online is PaperBackSwap.com. You simply list books you want to get rid of and you take books other people want to get rid of...all you pay is postage on the books that you mail out to other people. I have gotten a lot of great books, so you may be able to find it on there...

Anyway, best of luck to you!!! I know it is difficult, but just enjoy the time that he wants to sleep on your chest. Before you blink your eyes he'll be asking you to drop him two blocks from school so people will think he's an orphan...lol...

Posted at 11:43AM on Apr 2nd 2008 by mp136

20. It seems they come up with something relevant every day.

http://stuffwhiteparentslike.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/20-organic-mattresses/

Posted at 2:21PM on Apr 3rd 2008 by Kim