Sleep Training

[gumdrops]

At what age do you think a baby can be trained? I have an almost 6 month old. She always falls asleep with a bottle in her mouth. I want to break her of this habit. Do you think it's OK to feed her, wake her, then lay her down and let her self soothe (cry it out)?

My main issue is, it's easy right now and I don't want to make more stress for myself, but I think it will be better for her in the long run. If she is tired and doesn't need a bottle, I have to work to get her to sleep, bouncing, walking, keep putting pacifier in her mouth, etc. She will eventually fall asleep this way, but it's way easier to give her a 2 oz bottle and let her fall asleep that way.

I think at home, if she fusses, they feed her, even if she just ate an hour prior. They just assume she's a little piggy. I think she's just tired, but they don't know how to get her to sleep without a bottle.

[gumdrops]

Also, how long do 6 month olds normally nap? She naps for 2 hrs in the morning and I usually have to wake her up, and I always have to wake her after 2.5 hrs in the afternoon, I think she would sleep longer if I let her. Her morning nap is in the same room that all the kids are playing, so it's not like I allow her to get into a deep sleep. Her parents keep making comments that she doesn't sleep well at night, so I feel like that's my fault for letting her nap so much. I hate having so many insecurities and not being confident in the decisions I make!

[Cat Herder]

I don't sleep train infants other than "Lay in crib awake. Lay on back. Once they can flip alone, they can sleep on their stomach. No bottles, toys or blankets in cribs. Blanket sleeper, only. Move to crib at signs of sleepiness. If still awake in 20 minutes, back down to floor."

Infants do not have a sleep schedule, here. I do not purposely wake infants other than diaper change or changing for going home. I do not make the room dark or quiet for infant naps. It would only make later transitioning harder. They naturally start following the toddler schedule as that is the only time the room is dark, the sound machine is on and there is quiet. Some days they sleep more, some days they sleep less. Only they know how much growing they plan to do that day.

I transition to mats and schedules at 12 months. Most beat me to it on their own.

[Ariana]

You can sleep train at 6 months. I would do checking at least every 15 minutes but not pick baby up. Just say a soothing “night night baby time for bed”. I would also do a small routine before laying in their crib, maybe rock them while singing twinkle twinkle and then place in bed.

I followed a loose schedule with my own kids at this age. They went for nap an hour after waking in the morning, two hours after waking from first nap, then 4 hours from last nap to bedtime. You don’t limit their sleep and depending on the child it might look more like 1hr-1.5hrs-3hrs type thing once you get to know their sleep cues.

[Mom2Two]

Maybe consider changing her eat schedule rather than her nap routine. Maybe feed baby big bottle when she's awake/alert (right after nap/diaper) rather than getting sleepy. If you are introducing new foods, awake/alert would be a good time for that too.

If baby seemed to want more bottle when getting sleepy, maybe give some then switch to paci for nap? ???? I would prefer to put a baby down with something in the tummy anyway. I would hope they would sleep longer if they aren't hungry.