My baby boy is 7 months and he has been a high needs infant since he was born. He’s demanding for sure and he is very sensitive especially in terms of sleep. He never slept in his bassinet not once, never took to a pacifier unless in his car seat, and has to be rocked to sleep ALL THE TIME. We’ve been co sleeping since he was a newborn but for the past 2/3 months he’s been having multiple wakes throughout the night and just not sleeping well at all. I’m so exhausted from his crying all night and he has absolutely zero self soothing abilities btw so I’m constantly rocking or patting his butt. I want to try the Ferber method but I am very anxious of how he would take to it. I would love to hear of any advice or tips for sleep training a high temperament baby.
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I’m gonna be real with you because I had a HIGH needs, velcro baby too… and I was exactly where you are.
My daughter co-slept with us until 6 months and was waking every 1–2 hours to latch. I’m talking 8–10 times a night. I was exhausted, she couldn’t connect sleep cycles, and naps were terrible too.
We ended up sleep training, but I couldn’t even handle it emotionally, so my husband took the lead at first.
We started with her bassinet in our room, but on his side of the bed. We did timed check-ins:
• 5 minutes — he’d go in, pat her, talk to her, reassure her
• Another 5 minutes — same thing
• Then 10 minutes
The FIRST night, she fell asleep during that 10-minute stretch… and slept 6 HOURS straight. I had never seen that in her life.
Second night — only needed two 5-minute check-ins
Third night — one 5-minute check-in
After that — she went to sleep on her own
What also made a huge difference:
• Consistent bedtime routine (bath, massage, book)
• I stopped nursing to
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