Scarlett81
New member
hi haley.
so sorry u are dealing w lack of sleep and poor baby has an ear inf on top of it.
ok, i have JUST been through all the cold/ear inf/lack of sleep issues. i have some experience to offer.
to begin with, i went into parenting with alot of exposure-i am from a family of 9 and hubby a family of 8 so we have two moms w alot of exp. one mom did cry it out, one didn't. i think i have a balance of the 2. i went into mom-hood adamently against any type of cry it out.
i know this has been debated here strongly, and i respect moms varying opinion on it, really i do. i'm not here to debate anything, just to relay my situation to another mom.
we wanted to do co sleeping and nighttime bf on demand until 6 months. lo got a bad virus and ear inf at 6 mos, so i wanted to keep her w us until she got over that. the lack of sleep from ear inf, and from a vacation messing up her routine really screwed her sleep pattern. she went from being a great sleeper to getting up every 1.5 hrs starting at 5 months.
i went for a cf checkup and seemingly out of the blue my pfts went from 70 to 48! 48!!!! i freaked. no infection was found and i felt awesome. we concluded that this all coincided with my lo's new awful sleep (or lack of sleep) pattern. I was getting literally 4hrs of sleep for almost 2 months straight. the next doc appt showed no improvement in me. i got a good lecture about changing our sleep routine w baby, or i'd have to get a night nurse bc my health was suffering.
the social worker gave me the Dr. Ferber book. to me, the name Ferber has always= Satan. lol.
First I read the Elizabeth Pantley book-I did all the charting for a month, and I also read the Dr. Sears book. I didn't like the Sears book-I love Dr. sears for lots of stuff, but for me, everything about sleep in that book was basically common sense and stuff i already had tried. I like the Pantley book, but it just didn't work enough for us. There are some great tips in there, though, and i highly reccomend reading it.
So with a sigh i decided to read the Ferber book. I felt that i'd just chuck it if i hated it. My mil said to me that I should just try letting lo fuss a little and see what she did. I have heard so many horror stories of CIO and i just can't do it, so I assumed that is what she'd do....cry bloody murder and it would be awful.
I read the ferber book, and combined things i had read in the pantley book to make my sleep plan for her. I let her cry for 3 mins...but she more like fussed. This prob says more about her personality though. Then for 5 mins...she never went past 5 mins, and it never got to a point where she was really upset.
By the 2nd night she was sleeping 6 hrs, straight. Now she is sleeping from 10-7.
So I'm just saying, you can read these books and alter according to your feelings. Ferber's book says to let cry 5 mins, then 7, then 10...You can do 2 mins, then 3, then 4.....His book says to go up to 30 mins of crying...Before I started I set a limit of 10 mins.
And use your momma instincts...we know the difference betw a scared cry, a hurt cry, a sick cry and a "mom i want to nurse for fun bc i know i can" cry!! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
I also take age into consideration. Personally i feel that up to about 6 mos, a baby needs its mother 24 hrs a day and it needs that 24 a day nutrition too. But my lo is almost 9 mos, is healthy and fat and there is no reason why she can't sleep at night. For her own good, and mine too. My life was getting to the point where my health, and mental state was getting bad....her sleeping makes me a good mom (and wife) too, besides a healthy one.
fyi-I was about to get the healthy sleep habits book you mentioned but since this is working i' not going to. but, i'd look into anything. reading won't hurt...its not like u have to do what each book says. but u read it and have the knowlegde.
Good luck w whatever u decide.
so sorry u are dealing w lack of sleep and poor baby has an ear inf on top of it.
ok, i have JUST been through all the cold/ear inf/lack of sleep issues. i have some experience to offer.
to begin with, i went into parenting with alot of exposure-i am from a family of 9 and hubby a family of 8 so we have two moms w alot of exp. one mom did cry it out, one didn't. i think i have a balance of the 2. i went into mom-hood adamently against any type of cry it out.
i know this has been debated here strongly, and i respect moms varying opinion on it, really i do. i'm not here to debate anything, just to relay my situation to another mom.
we wanted to do co sleeping and nighttime bf on demand until 6 months. lo got a bad virus and ear inf at 6 mos, so i wanted to keep her w us until she got over that. the lack of sleep from ear inf, and from a vacation messing up her routine really screwed her sleep pattern. she went from being a great sleeper to getting up every 1.5 hrs starting at 5 months.
i went for a cf checkup and seemingly out of the blue my pfts went from 70 to 48! 48!!!! i freaked. no infection was found and i felt awesome. we concluded that this all coincided with my lo's new awful sleep (or lack of sleep) pattern. I was getting literally 4hrs of sleep for almost 2 months straight. the next doc appt showed no improvement in me. i got a good lecture about changing our sleep routine w baby, or i'd have to get a night nurse bc my health was suffering.
the social worker gave me the Dr. Ferber book. to me, the name Ferber has always= Satan. lol.
First I read the Elizabeth Pantley book-I did all the charting for a month, and I also read the Dr. Sears book. I didn't like the Sears book-I love Dr. sears for lots of stuff, but for me, everything about sleep in that book was basically common sense and stuff i already had tried. I like the Pantley book, but it just didn't work enough for us. There are some great tips in there, though, and i highly reccomend reading it.
So with a sigh i decided to read the Ferber book. I felt that i'd just chuck it if i hated it. My mil said to me that I should just try letting lo fuss a little and see what she did. I have heard so many horror stories of CIO and i just can't do it, so I assumed that is what she'd do....cry bloody murder and it would be awful.
I read the ferber book, and combined things i had read in the pantley book to make my sleep plan for her. I let her cry for 3 mins...but she more like fussed. This prob says more about her personality though. Then for 5 mins...she never went past 5 mins, and it never got to a point where she was really upset.
By the 2nd night she was sleeping 6 hrs, straight. Now she is sleeping from 10-7.
So I'm just saying, you can read these books and alter according to your feelings. Ferber's book says to let cry 5 mins, then 7, then 10...You can do 2 mins, then 3, then 4.....His book says to go up to 30 mins of crying...Before I started I set a limit of 10 mins.
And use your momma instincts...we know the difference betw a scared cry, a hurt cry, a sick cry and a "mom i want to nurse for fun bc i know i can" cry!! <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
I also take age into consideration. Personally i feel that up to about 6 mos, a baby needs its mother 24 hrs a day and it needs that 24 a day nutrition too. But my lo is almost 9 mos, is healthy and fat and there is no reason why she can't sleep at night. For her own good, and mine too. My life was getting to the point where my health, and mental state was getting bad....her sleeping makes me a good mom (and wife) too, besides a healthy one.
fyi-I was about to get the healthy sleep habits book you mentioned but since this is working i' not going to. but, i'd look into anything. reading won't hurt...its not like u have to do what each book says. but u read it and have the knowlegde.
Good luck w whatever u decide.