Sleep consultant

I have been in your position I didn’t want to do the usual sleep training with my daughter. I found Rebecca through sleep tight baby she was recommend through the health visitor and she was amazing doesn’t use methods that leave the baby to cry. Gives a months support and you give her daily updates on how it is going. My daughter has come such a long way since. If you want to know more feel free to message me

You aren't a bad mum. You are a tired one. Attention is still a need so for me I always went in. How old is baby? (Under a certain age sleep training is not recommended) What's the routine? Personally I found that getting the timings right resulted in better sleep for everyone without anyone being left to cry. Also there are sleep training methods that don't involve leaving baby to cry.

How old is bubba? Are you following wake windows and naps etc x

@Natalie she's just under 7 months old, no set routine bar bedtime for 7 every night and follow wake windows of 2 - 2 and a half hours and milk every 3 hours. Obviously if she's tired or hungry before that I go by her, with sleeping on me she will sleep until 6am-7am

@Amy she's just under 7 months old and I do my best! Sometimes she's tired before the 2 - 2 and a half hour mark so I'll let her sleep, she's on 3 naps usually and first and second I let her have as long as she wants and last I usually cap to 30-45 mins to make bedtime for 7pm x

I’ve worked in child therapy & have a lot of colleagues that are a lot more qualified than me. We were lucky to have a good sleeper naturally, but if we didn’t, I 100% would have done sleep training. Not the cry it out method, but actual sleep training. Teaching my child to self settle & self soothe and breaking the sleep associations. Sometimes a little crying is needed, if it’s going on & on then yes I’d go in to reassure I’m here when you need me, but right now it’s sleep time. Bad sleep is also bad for the baby. Can lead to developmental delays, more illnesses, actually a LACK of attachment. You’re not a bad mum & sleep training is not a bad thing. We have to teach our babies everything, and healthy sleep is one of them

@Amelia this is what I'm worried about that she's in a vicious cycle as she's so grumpy, initiated and tired during the day! I believe that's what it involves that if it's just a little attention cry to give them a few minutes to see and if it keeps going then tend to them, I just can't help but feel guilty, but I know in the long run I need to do something as we're all struggling! Thank you for commenting x

Id try getting her onto a routine based on the clock (using her wake windows to set it). Consistent nap times and bedtime (within 30 mins or so). It's all good and well setting bedtime at 7 but I'd still be trying to make sure daytime sleep is right. 7pm feels quite early to me at 7 months for us it was closer to 8/8.30 so the last wake window was longer (closer to 3 hours) but obviously its different for everyone.

First, I'd like to say that there are plenty of gentle sleep training methods so have a Google of those if you haven't already. My boy was the same and we tried gentle methods and got nowhere so we took the plunge into Ferber a week ago (7 months and 3 weeks) and I'm seriously impressed. He had two nights where he cried a fair bit, 32 minutes and 28 minutes, each with 5 check ins but since then it has taken him less than 10 minutes to go off. Last night he fell asleep in his cot on his own before I'd even walked out of the room! He also slept 5 hours, then 3, then woke every 40 minutes till morning. Huge improvement. I felt so guilty at first but then realised he just needed some help to learn to do a new skill. So proud of him now. Happy to chat on DM if you like

Have you tried reducing the amount of naps she is taking in a day?

Best thing I ever did for all my family xx

I’m training to be a sleep consultant but before this I did lots of research myself and sleep trained my little boy at about 7 months old as he was waking every 1-2 hours in the night for milk. We didn’t do cry it out, just read a lot about how to break associations, sleep cues and wake windows. He has been sleeping through the night since April (obviously there are nights when he’s ill/teething and he still comes in with me 😂) and I can say that we are all so much happier for it. Message me if you need any advice x

So I was super sleep deprived and also had a baby who only slept stretches while on me. And I was 100% anti sleep training. At 4mo her doc recommended a sleep training book that I followed to a T (after ignoring her several times and finally gave up). I’m not gonna lie I HATED the 3 days of sleep training. But she slept so well after wards and so easily. And happily with no crying. It didn’t feel like real life. She’s now 2 and grabs my hand at night and takes me to her bed says good night and tells me to turn off the light and close the door. I would not have been able to be as good and patient with her as I am if I were chronically sleep deprived. This shouldn’t be controversial, do what’s best for your family in the long term , whatever that may look like.

@Rita preach! 🙌 She sounds amazing. I'm just in the throws of sleep training now and he is already so much more content and I'm starting to get more sleep yoo

Find someone who's philosophy matches your goals. I was able to find someone local to me when the 12 months sleep regression hit who would look at small one's current schedule and help me create an altered one based on that.