When to sleep train?

Question

I am having such a difficult time at bedtime with my baby and I feel like I have tried EVERYTHING I could possibly think of. He’s 5 months old. We have a solid bedtime routine (bottle, bath, lotion, read/singing, sleep sack, bed). He’s not a very good napper but he’s usually awake 2.5-3 hours before bed and naps about 3-4 times a day. I’ve tried doing 2 hours, 2.5 and 3 before bed with all the same results. I’ve tried earlier and later bedtimes, same thing. So he goes to bed at 730/8 which seems to be the best time. 
The PROBLEM is he wakes up 1 hour after bedtime like clockwork. Then he’s up every 20-30 mins until 9/10pm then stays asleep until about 1am and again at 530. I totally understand night wakings are normal at his age but it’s the bedtime that’s been issue. The room is dark, cool with white noise. He definitely does not sleep too much during the day. 
He doesn’t take a pacifier at all either.

Answer

I use a variation of the Ferber method for my son and he literally sleeps from 8:30pm to 7:30am, and wakes up once at 3am for a small bottle. Sometimes he’ll wake up at 5:30am briefly, but not always. He takes a 30-45 minute nap at 10am, a 1.5-2 hour nap after lunch around 1pm, and then a quick 20-30 minute cat nap around 6pm. We start the bedtime routine at about 7:30pm. If he needs a bath that night, we’ll do it earlier in the evening before bedtime to avoid too much stimulation. But at 7:30pm we turn down all the lights low in the house, turn off the tv, maybe have gentle quiet music playing or just his white noise machine...I’ll wash his bottles and take out the trash while he calms down for the evening. Then at about 7:45-8pm I get his pajamas on with the lights turned off, aside from his night light in his room. Then I place him in his crib and go make a bottle. Then I feed him his bottle last and rock him in the rocking chair until he’s extra sleepy but not completely passed out. Although sometimes he does just pass out quickly. The trick is to avoid too much stimulation in the routine. Reading a book before the routine is fine, but any play time or singing or activities will stimulate the baby and wake them up more. At least that’s what my pediatrician recommended. I also have a sleep training book that explains avoiding certain activities before bed as well. With the Ferber method, you basically let your baby cry for a predetermined amount of time. The point is to let the baby cry and learn how to self soothe without you interfering too much. By 4-6 months old, most babies should know how to self soothe for the most part. As long as the baby is clean, fed, and safe then it’s okay to let them “cry it out”. I started out letting my son cry for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes if he was still going, I’d walk in the room and quietly tell him “it’s okay, go to sleep.” Without picking him up at all. I would leave the room and let him cry for another 5 minutes. And then do the same thing again. Walk in without picking him up, say “it’s okay, go to sleep”...and so on and so forth. Typically he never lasted more than 5 minutes. But you can go as long as 30-45 minutes of crying honestly. At that point, the child is probably just not sleepy. But they’ll eventually fall asleep if it’s bedtime. My son quickly caught on. He almost never cries or puts up any fuss during bedtime. You can try one thing at a time. May try a bath earlier and feeding your baby the bottle last, without any singing or activities. Just keep it quiet and relaxed.

Answer

I started around 6 months. We used the Ferber method but tweaked it a bit. Taking cara babies is also good from what I hear. My daughter has never been a good sleeper

Answer

I could’ve written this myself... my son is 4 months today and has this same sleep schedule (adjusted for wake times as he cannot stay awake for more than 2 hrs at a time now), waking an hour after he goes down then again an hour later, then again around 2 then again around 5 AM.  I’m sorry I don’t have advice, but I’m posting in hopes someone will respond to give us both some answers.

Answer

Now sounds like a fine time to start sleep training if you are comfortable with it. I highly recommend the book Precious Little Sleep (also the blog and podcast of the same name). It outlines a few strategies with humor so you can choose what will work best for your family.

Answer

We started the day she was born with the Little Z’s program, where she gives you a schedule. Of course with newborns it’s very flexible as sometimes baby doesn’t want to nap or needs more nursing/bottles. You know, it’s just that fluid phase. 
Then at 4 months you start the training... but by then my girl was a pro. She loved her crib and was just so happy to be going to bed like a big girl. Everyone would try to rock her or sing and she hated it - just wanted her bedtime routine, pajamas, sleep sack, and put in her crib. She’s 13.5 months now and still going strong.

When to sleep train?

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