Hi, just recently I saw this program on how to get your baby to fall asleep on his own.
My senario was this: my daughter will fall asleep in my arms, I tiptoe into her room, put her down in her crib. She sleeps awhile, wakes, finds herself alone, stands up and cries for me to come and get her back to sleep. This was happening upwards of 5 times a night. So the next day I felt like a zombie.

This program I watched, stated that you have to teach your child that their bed is the place to fall asleep.
How do you do that?
Easy.

Hold your child 15 minutes before bedtime. Give bottle. Brush teeth. Put baby in crib. CLIMB INTO CRIB WITH BABY. Cuddle baby and talk calmly to baby for up to 5 minutes only. You may sing to baby, or tell nursery ryhmes, or a story. When time is up, tell baby that it is time to go to sleep. CLIMB OUT OF CRIB. Leave the room.
Baby will start crying. Wait 3 minutes. Go in, pick baby up, calming him until he stops crying (max. 2 minutes) tell baby that it is time to go to sleep. Put baby back into crib. Leave. If baby cries, wait 5 minutes before going to calm baby as before. Then 10 minutes. (Honestly, that is all it should take because now baby can picture you in the crib so you have made it a nice safe mommy place.)
Next night, do everything else the same with baby, except climbing into the crib. Sit on the floor beside the crib and do the 5 minutes of talking, story telling, songs, etc.. Then leave. Wait 3, then 5, then 10 minutes again.

It took my daughter 2 nights to learn to get to sleep. After the 2nd night, I did this also at nap time.
This works - I swear that it does. Nothing else worked for me. I tried to "Ferberize" her. She would cry for an hour. Then I would end up getting her to sleep in my arms then sneak her into her crib, where she would promptly get up screaming all over again, because she started to associate her crib with being left alone to cry.

This works. The baby associates mommy with safety and warmth and loving and etc... By climbing into the crib for that 5 minutes, you get the baby to associate those feelings with the crib.

Now after story time, and kisses, not a single peep from her. She rolls over and falls asleep on her own. I am soo happy.

This is a 100% true story. I watched the program last month - and she has been sleeping through the night and napping in the daytime by herself. I finally feel like I did something right by her!

PS. she is 18 months old and was programmed by me at birth to only fall asleep on me. That is now changed and it can be changed for you also.


Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

I don't mean to sound critical, Lynn, but an adult climbing into a crib is extremely dangerous. A crib is not meant for that kind of weight. I believe that you are not supposed to put more than a 40 Lb child in a crib. There are weight limitation stickers on a crib. Take a look and see.
Putting more weight than is recommended could casue a failure of the wood or mattress holder. This could be detrimental to the safety of the crib and could cause the crib to collapse.
I would suggest a rock in a rocking chair, instead of 'lying down together'.
Brad

Allowing a child to get used to falling asleep in your arms is not a great idea. A child must learn to fall asleep on their own otherwise exactly what is happening to you will happen.

Most cribs have a maximum weight limit on them. If you check with the manufacturer, it is usually 200lbs!!!!!!!! Most cribs today are built to last. I am only commenting on the program that I watched.
The lady - her job is to go into people's homes and teach their children to get to sleep - specifically said "CLIMB INTO THE CRIB FOR MAX. 5 MINUTES THE FIRST NIGHT" this way the child starts to recognize that the crib is the place to sleep. My child ALWAYS fell asleep in my arms. Since birth to 18 months old, she WOULD NOT LAY DOWN BY HERSELF. I did exactly what I said to do in my first post, and IT WORKED.
My baby girl now falls asleep and sleeps all night long in her crib AFTER ONLY TWO DAYS of doing "the program"
Please, if you didn't understand my first post, it was very long, read it again. I'm telling you about something I heard about, tried, and give my word that it worked for me.

Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

PS> I would love for anyone having problems getting their babies to sleep to try what I've said to do - then reply to me with the results. Lets make believers out of everyone here!

Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

PSS> please check the maximum weight limit on the crib first so Brad will see that I am a responsible person.

[This message has been edited by Lynn893 (edited 02-27-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Lynn893 (edited 02-27-2001).]

Lynn I never doubted the fact that you are a responsible parent. Hey, if your crib will take 200 lbs go for it. I myself would have a VERY hard time getting in. Although we bought a VERY good 'solid maple' Canadian made crib in '93, the weight limitation is indeed higher than I thought, but not 200 lbs. It reads CSA recommendation of a child combined weight of not more than 45kg, about 100 lbs if memory serves. I am a little to tall to squeeze into such a spot.
If it worked well for your little one, I'm happy for you.
I guess we were lucky, as we used the 5 minute method and the kids slept very well with this process. We would put them down...if they cieid for 5 minutes we would go in and give them a 2 minute rock and put them back down. This time we'd wait another 5 minutes (10) and do the same thing. It took 15 minutes at first but after a week they went to sleep almost as soon as they were put down...unless of course they were not well.
B

Brad:
I also tried the 5 minute method, with both of my little ones. It did not work. With my son, who is now 3 1/2 and sleeps fine, I would put him down, story, sing, the works, leave, And he would begin to scream not cry. I would try to wait it out. When I would go in, he would be so upset that he could barely breath properly, and it would take me an hour to calm him down. So after trying this with absolutely no change in the results for a little more than a week we gave up.
My daughter, who is now 1 1/2, was the same way. Very stubborn. Wanted mommy. would only fall asleep in mommy's arms. Even from a tiny baby. Tried to use the 5 minute method. Would leave her, she would stand and cry. After a minute she would be screaming. After a couple minutes she would make herself sick! Literally vomiting. Then I'd have to change her, calm her, and try again the next night. Same thing again.
We gave up.... until I saw that program that changed my life. (See first post, this thread)
I swear that it worked, where nothing else I tried worked.
Just 1/2 hour ago, I told her it was nap time, walked her to her room, picked her up, gave kisses, put her down in her crib, covered her up, and walked out. She rolled over, closed her eyes, and put herself to sleep within 5 minutes. QUIETLY.

A month ago, I thought that we were going to be giving up nap time, because i was doing the "hold her til she falls asleep, tiptoe her to the bedroom, hope she doesn't wake up when I put her down" routine. If she woke, that was it. She would not fall asleep again until bedtime - but she would be horribly cranky the rest of the day.

Anyway, I seem to have run off at the mouth again, hahaha. Will end this now cause you get the picture that I was trying to draw you. hahaha

Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Lynn,
Thank you so much for your post! I've been looking for a way to get my 5 month old daughter to sleep in her own bed.
Since birth my daughter has slept in the same room with me and my husband. About a month or so ago she became to big for her cradle and we decided she needed to start sleeping in her own bed in her own room. My husband works nights so I started by giving her a bottle and letting her fall asleep with me either in my bed or on the couch. When my husband comes home around 1 or 2am he unwinds and then usually around 3am or so he will try to quietly put our daughter into her own bed. If he doesnt want deal with the possibility of her waking up he will sleep on the couch and let her sleep in the bed. If he does try to move her with in an hour or two she will wake up and realize she's not with me and she starts crying and wont go back to sleep until I put her back in bed with me. I can't do this anymore!! I haven't had a decent nights sleep in over a month. I don't think my daughters crib can hold me but we will figure something out. I also think I've been putting her to be way to late. We don't start our nightly ritual until 9:30pm so she doesnt really end up going to sleep until around 11pm. The one time I tried to let her cry herself to sleep the people who live below us (we live in an apartment) started pounding on their ceiling after about 3 minutes. Of course I didnt start until 11pm and quiet time at our apartment starts at 10pm. Ok all of this babbling to tell you I'm gonna try your suggestion tonight. I will let you know if it works. Thank you.
Jo http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Well Lynn, I can say you did have more trouble getting your kids to sleep than we did! Wow!
I remember my wife waking me up at feeding time for our first...after a week I was a zombie. I said I'll get up with you if you go back to work and I stay home! I was not functioning at work and almost electrocuted myself on a broken pc. of equipment! I know what it feels like to not get your sleep!
Both of our children slept soundly at around 9 months. My daughter had a bad time again at about 18 months...bad cold made her cough a lot. We never allowed the kids to sleep with us 'till they were in a regular bed. They crawl in sometimes after a bad dream and we put them back when they are asleep.
Glad this system worked for you...wow, who would have thought!
Note that you write 'peace' at the end of your notes....sounds like that is what you are FINALLY getting! Happy trails from now on!
B

Hi all: just an update.
My baby girl is still sleeping through the night!!! Yeah! I have never been happier in my whole life then I have been since I first posted this message.
I would like to hear from anyone else who was having sleeping problems with their babies. Did you try my suggestion? Did it work for you?
All replies are welcome

Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Jo24:
how are you sleeping now??

Peace http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

The baby is now 11 months old. Born 9lbs. 3oz. who now is 18lbs. At age 9 months old the mother of baby told everyone including the babies father that her pediatrician told her to take baby off formula that it was time to feed him table food & give him regular milk cold turkey. This baby has not only had at times profuse vomiting episodes after given bottle but since, the baby is put to bed, left screaming until he falls asleep sometimes taking 1 1/2 to 2 hours or more.
The baby wakes up numerous times during night & left in crib litterly screaming. The mother has told everyone including father that the pediatrician told her this new sleeping problem isn't from the new milk & food, that its caused by him not wanting to be seperated from the parents at night.
We are all at wits end. All have talkd to the father & he claims his wife is only doing what the pediatrician tells her & she is in constant contact on the phone with her.
We know something is terribly wrong here. There is also a child who now is 2 yrs. old & dx'd at age 13months with type 1 diabetes.
We know the diabetes doctors have said this child was born with diabetes but one wonders was it brought out sooner, given the fact the mother did the same regament of taking her to off formula at age 9 months, she was born 8lbs. 2oz. & at 13months was only 15lbs.
We at that time had talked to father & he claimed his wife is only following her doctors orders. This problem in past has caused all family members to keep distance but we cannot stand to let anything happen to this 2nd. baby. PLEASE HELP US & as far as HRS they do nothing.? Should we write an annonomous letter to the pediatrician & inform her of the goings on? this mother is cannot be telling the truth. Sorry this is long.

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