Did you / will you sleep train?

Poll is for the title question - follow up anxiety question is for comments :)

I said no just because my LO is a pretty good sleeper in general. I got lucky.

We had a lady come and stay with us for 3 nights to help/support us. For us it was worth it, but we were at rock bottom. We did it at 6 months and he went from waking every 45mins - 1 hour for milk to waking twice a night, and now he sleeps through aged 12 months (he still has wake ups occasionally and we still occasionally feed him in the night but when he wakes up and cries out it’s because he needs something. He’s happier as he sleeps better, we’re happier as we sleep better and all round glad we did it. The first night he cried for 32 minutes in total before falling asleep and the either us or the nanny went in every couple of minutes to reassure him, but that was the longest he has cried before falling asleep and she did tell us not to let him cry for more than 45 minutes.

I think whether it's worth it really depends on your situation and how well you're coping with LO's sleep (or lack thereof). For me, neither of mine slept particularly well, and still don't tbh although gradually improving, but I have other ways of coping with it and have learnt to function on the sleep I can get. The sound of LO's crying makes me physically uncomfortable and totally overstimulated, so for me the thought of going through that for an unknown length of time just wasn't worth it. I wouldn't completely rule it out for future though. I think if you're at the stage that you're not coping then something needs to change and if sleep training (whatever method you use) works for you and your child then that's a good solution. I'm also a bit sceptical about some of the claims of how damaging sleep training is, given some of the research that it's based on

I think it depends on the baby how they sleep, how they react to training and if they need help to self-settle. Some babies can just self-settle between sleep cycles without support and others can’t and need help re-settling. If they need help, you need to decide if you want to train them or just keep on resettling them until they learn themselves. I’ve got friends that didn’t sleep train and they struggled until the baby was 3+ with hourly wake-ups and dealt with it by co-sleeping (which I didn’t want to do but it worked for them) and I’ve got friends that tried sleep training and it didn’t work and for us it worked really well. If sleep training is going to work for your baby, you should get results within a day or 2 (but getting through that first night is hard because it’s not in a parents nature to leave the baby crying). Our baby we can put in the cot awake and he will just roll over and go to sleep within 2-3 minutes.

Did not sleep train my 3 year old and won’t sleep train my next child either. Sleep is largely due to temperament. My feeling is that I wouldn’t ignore my child’s needs during the day, so I wouldn’t ignore them overnight either. It was extremely challenging for a long time but I have no regrets.

Due March with my 4th. No I won’t sleep train. I did the ferber method with my first and it was more hassle than it was worth and it just put us both through stress. I could have just held her. Instead of going in and out of her room and listening to her cry. Especially since I was/am a sahm. But I was being selfish and wanted alone time when she napped/went down for the night. Didn’t sleep train my 2nd and 3rd baby. I held them. And eventually they slept on their own. 2nd by 10 months. 3rd by at least 1 yr old. When you have kids u gotta sacrifice your time and sleep 🤷🏼‍♀️ If I could go back, I would have just held my first baby as much as she needed

I did with my first and refused to with my second. Honestly, I believe it’s unnatural and more for the parents sleep rather than the needs of the child. I understand that there are situations where it could be beneficial and each parent knows what’s best for their family. BUT not for me and my child’s best interests.

I sleep trained my daughter at 4 months and for me it was worth the anxiety. I had to go back to work after maternity leave soon and wouldn't be able to rock baby during nap and bedtimes. The waking up 4+ times during the night wasn't going to work with my husband or my schedule. Used the Ferber Method and after about 4 days she was falling asleep on her own with one or two wake up a night on average. It was worth it for my family and I.

Absolutely not worth the anxiety to me but especially not the anxiety to my baby.

This app is very skewed. If you want advice about sleep training, I recommend the sleep training subreddit

I sleep trained my first and just implemented good sleep habits for my second so I didn’t need to train her. Best thing I ever did. There was anxiety to start but my fist was so easy to train the anxiety was short lived. He was ready and it only took 1 day.

Haven’t for my first. She’s three years old and still hasn’t slept through the night. Considering it for my second.

i tried but it didn't work, my daughter is 15 months now and been sleeping her full nights since she was maybe 9 months but only beside me 🫠 she absolutely refuses to sleep if im not there

I sleep trained both my kids. It was worth it both times.

No never have I wanted to and tried briefly one day but it didn’t feel good to me internally so I abandoned the mission so to speak. I read up on it tried and ultimately decided against it it’s not something that I personally can do / feel good or justified doing

I sleep trained my twins as part of an overall 24 hour regimen that included all sleep and feeding/meal times. It was the best decision for my family, but I probably wouldn’t have done it to that extreme with a singleton.

I think it's worth it as your day is so dependent on how much sleep you've got and if you have a shit night then the day is just 💩 I think most the time If your baby is over 8/9 months it's more a habit than anything and habits are manageable/can be gotten rid of x

I did and was so angwinst it for a long time but honestly I was at my wits end. It helped from the first day and think was actually what she needed. Started at 9 months... I have a now 18 month baby that still sleeps through the night and settles in between cycles and is a happy girl. I think it also needs to be the right time for you both as I don't think she was ready for it earlier than that Ps I breast fed til 12 months xx

I think it depends on the method but in the end we did a more modified and less intense Ferber and I would wake her to feed her at set times until she didn't want it anymore. Which it took a week and she didn't actually want the night feeds in the end x

Sleep training looks different for everyone but it’s a must in my opinion

No - I educated myself on biologically normal infant sleep, so any type of sleep training was never even a consideration. I have 3 kids currently 9, 6, & 2. We bedshared, and I breastfed them to sleep & throughout the night until 2ish. There were lots of long nights here and there, but overall, bedtime & sleep has never been an issue. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that I've always been present and supported them throughout the night. My oldest is neurodiverse & my second child is incredibly strong-willed.. so its not like they're chill easy-going kids. 😅

We did. I felt awful but we were desperate. Turned out to be the best thing we did. She never cried for more than 15 minutes before she was asleep, and by the third day no crying at all. Now if she had taken more time to settle or cried for longer or not seen any improvement in say a week, we would have stopped and maybe tried something else

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