Reddit reviews Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child

My nearly five-month old went through this too. Their sleep develops into a more adult sleep cycle around 16 weeks so that they get REM cycles just like we do. Before 16 weeks they just went into a deep sleep right away, but now when they awake during the lighter phases of sleep, they don't know how to put themselves back to bed.

What worked for our family was moving our little one to his own room once we got the ok from our pediatrician. We also moved his bedtime earlier, starting the routine (bath, massage, book) at around 5:30pm and having him in his crib asleep at 6pm.

He was waking up every 2 hours before we made these changes, now he only wakes up once or twice a night to feed.

ETA: https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/151136145X

This book is super helpful. Also, at 4 mos, assuming your kiddo is at a healthy weight, he shouldn't be waking up >2x for hunger.

I vaguely recall this phase. I can't remember what solved it, but know it will pass...and please for the love of anyone who hasn't read it yet, read this book. This man works miracles. 100% that's how I got through dropping the second nap. and every other sleep crisis we've had.

healthy sleep habits, happy child

Not really a CIO primer, but helpful - Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child was amazing for us...and almost everyone I know.

We started with 'gentle' CIO at 6 months. In the crib, after 5-10 minutes of crying I'd go soothe her, rinse repeat.

It worked, then she got a cold so there was more soothing and cuddles and when we tried to go back she figured out that 5 minutes of crying = mom, so we upped it to 10-15 minutes. Worked, then travel, figured that one out so 15-20 minutes. Same, so we were forced to go hardcore.

Basically, anything can disrupt her sleep - sickness, travel, family in town, etc - and we have to spend 1-3 days getting back on track when things settle down. I don't go in for anything and she will eventually put herself to sleep. It sounds awful (and well, it requires wine and a shower) but if I go in for the incremental soothing she just goes longer that night and for the following nights and it's worse for everyone. She'll cry herself out in 30 minutes or so and be golden until the next sleep hiccup.

I'm not sure, but I'm seriously considering just doing the hardcore sleep training at 6-7 months with our next baby. It's really just whether you want to rip the band-aid off fast or slow.

>so I take her downstairs and let her watch tv while I doze on the sofa

This was me until my favorite sleep book told me that it was the root of the problem. They get excited for tv and wake up earlier and earlier to watch it.

There is NO tv in our house before 10am anymore. EVER.

We also started ignoring her crying between 4 and 6 am - basically the hours between up with a nightmare/diaper/whatever and a reasonable amount of sleep to get overnight (11 hours is my number, but I prefer 12). Worked like magic for us. She started to play quietly in her room until as late as 9 (oops!).

This is a good book to read about children and sleep. Developing good sleep habits is very important.

I'm only about 5 months into the experiment, but Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child has been useful. We checked a bunch of baby books from the library, and these were the only two that we ended up buying just to have on hand.

I have a six week old and we've had pretty good luck with swaddling and then rocking him to sleep or putting him in the stroller and walking him around to sleep, then putting him into a baby swing to sleep.

Also we've been following the tips in this book.

https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/151136145X

Edit: last night he set a new record, slept 8 hrs straight!

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child was my bible for my first. I still use it, and my daughter's turning 3 next week. It really helped me through the 100 Days of Darkness. I read that book every day. I read it to reassure me during sleepless nights that, eventually, we would sleep again. My husband read it to our daughter to help her fall asleep. I consulted it at every milestone and life change. If I could rate it higher than 5 stars I would.

Another one I like is the Wonder Weeks book/app. It's fascinating and seems to be accurate.

My daughter fought us in a similar way and for us it was actually a earlier bedtime rather than later. She was overtired. I would get home at 6 or 7 and we would eat together and have bathroom then a show. By 9 it was bedtime. We started feeding her right after daycare and started the bedtime around 7. So I don't get to see my daughter much which sucks but her behavior turn a 180. Plus we have a couple extra hours to ourself. We did the same with our 1 year old boy. First week sucked but now it's really worked out. Check this book out. You can flip through it doesn't require a intense read. https://www.amazon.com/Healthy-Sleep-Habits-Happy-Child/dp/151136145X