NOT sleep training?

Question

Hey guys so I know like 93% of all of my questions revolve around sleep (sorry 🤷🏻‍♀️) but here's another. My 7 month old has started a new game he likes to call "Wake up every hour after using to sleep all night." That's not an exaggeration either, he's up every hour now. So I've talked to a lot of seasoned mommies and they all say the same thing, CIO/sleep training. So my question is does it make me a terrible mom to not sleep train or CIO? Yes, I'm exhausted and frustrated but I hate hearing my boy cry and want snuggles or something I'm depriving him of. However, after several weeks of continuous sleep deprivation, its crossed my mind. But the end result is always the same, I just can't do that to him. 
Am I bad mom for doing this?
Will this ever change to normal sleep?
Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this?

Answer

I tried sleep training on the advice of the health visitor. A week of hell later and I've stopped. We got to 15-20 mins of crying before sleep and I just couldn't do it anymore. We now have colour changing lights, soft music and I hold him/dance slowly with him. He's asleep in 10-15 mins, no crying or trauma. I've decided like everything else we've had issues with (bottles,cups, etc) he'll do it when he's ready. He used to refuse to take anything except the breast - he's now using sippy cups for water and BM and has no boob during the day - it took days to get him to do it. I figure if after a week he's still fighting the sleep training, he's just not ready

Answer

My opinion is you are doing a disservice to your baby by not teaching self-soothing methods. There are very gentle sleep training approaches I would explore if you are opposed to CIO. Unless you want a 2, 3, 4 year old you need to soothe to sleep then I would look into different options in order to see what works best for your family. Your whole family will be better for it including a well rested little one!

Answer

Well shoot. That's a tough question. It doesn't make you a bad mom to consider it! I think the best approach uses your MOMMY gut to help you. It will tell you how much crying is too much crying. My son woke up every 40-90 minutes from 3.5 months until 7 months. That's 3.5 months of beyond crappy sleep. It crossed my mind like every day to let him CIO lol but somehow it just didn't seem right for us. He DID cry. But we went into him every 1-5 minutes and I held him lots and just ... followed my heart. At the end of the day 1) your baby isn't trying to do anything malicious, he's just trying to figure it all out.. and 2) life is SO short. These moments feel eternal, but your baby is going to be a baby for such a short time. Don't be shy to just enjoy holding him, comforting him. Being his mama. It's tiring and that sucks but I enjoy it. At least, that's how I see it. Good luck!

Answer

I really disagree with sleep training - babies cry because they are trying to communicate, and it teaches them not to. It's fine for most babies but for some it can be really damaging. Sleep is developmental - you wouldn't force your baby to walk before he was ready so why try to force sleep?
I get why people do it - my boy goes through phases where he's up every hour and if I was working I would probably have died by now! But he wouldn't respond well to being left to cry and I couldn't do it to him. 
There are gentler sleep training methods (pick up put down) if you are really struggling but often they will get you to breaking point and suddenly start sleeping again once a tooth comes through or a growth spurt is over

Answer

I just want to mention that my sister went on a missions trip to Ukraine and visited orphanages. Some orphanages are silent. Babies in orphanages stop crying because they have learned that no one responds to their cries. No one meets their needs when they cry. I'm against the cry-it-out method. A baby's only way to communicate their needs is to cry. I want my child to know that I am here to meet his needs, even if all he wants is a hug or to know that I'm here for him. I've never known an adult who still cries for his mommy every hour at night! My son will eventually sleep through the night when he is ready!

Answer

you're not a bad mom! you care! just gotta figure out why he's waking up and fix it... is there a new environment he is sleeping in? is there more food in his diet so he might be getting gassy? is he going through a growth spurt?
the big thing is people spend a lot of time with getting babies to sleep through the night then have a bunch of issues night training when it comes to potty training  where they expect the kid to all the sudden wake up and go to the bathroom...
lots of adults wake up to potty/get a drink wjen needed... i think expecting a baby to sleep through the night is selfish tbh...

Answer

I cannot do CIO it either. Lilli has woken every 2 hours from birth still apart from a few nights of a four hour stretch. I asked her Ped and he said he could never do it with his kods so he would never recommend it to his patients. I also asked if I was setting her up for a lifetime of bad sleep habits and he assured me that I was not. He also said its just her way lol.

Answer

My daughter slept like an angel until she started teething, maybe that could be a reason, try some Tylenol it works wonders. If not try putting the baby to bed half awake,  they learn quickly that way. At least my daughter did

Answer

Our pediatrician referred us to a long term Australian study that shows out of cio, immediately responding and getting them all the way asleep, and pick up put down, cio is the most effective and didn't increase separation anxiety, mood disorders or affect independence. I still don't know if it's for us, but actual science, evidence based studies make me real happy :)

Answer

I've always let my daughter kinda make her schedule, it works for her and she's easy going. Recently she's played the up at night game and I didn't want to sleep train or CIO either. I've tried different sleep sacks and sound machines and that's helped a ton. She's also teething so that doesn't help.

NOT sleep training?

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