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Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

I made Jasper a moogle outfit modifying a lamb costume I found.


I wish I got a better picture of the wings. They came out really well. They're detachable and poseable.


I had to hem up the arms and legs since its actually a toddler costume so I can take them out and he can wear the outfit again next year!

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Hungry Squirrel
Jun 30, 2008

You gonna eat that?

Alterian posted:

I made Jasper a moogle outfit modifying a lamb costume I found.

That is the best thing ever.

FishBulb
Mar 29, 2003

Marge, I'd like to be alone with the sandwich for a moment.

Are you going to eat it?

...yes...
No single thing you do to a kid is going to scar them for life at 2. Heck probably not ever. If you're trying to teach consistent discipline and want to stick with it you did and congrats. That said if you took her anyways it wouldn't have unravelled all your discipline work either. It's not about single events but the over all cumulation of your parenting.

AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur
Trick or Treat Fail over here.

It was raining. A lot. Tim started the festivities off by somehow breaking a glow stick and getting it in his eye. He reacted as expected--by screaming and freaking out for a while. Liam pooped all over the inside of his costume--between that, and running full bore through the rain and through every sidewalk puddle, I just gave up and threw it out when we got home. He refused to wear the dino hat anyway.

They got an overflowing large mixing bowl worth of candy from about a dozen houses, on account of there being so few kids out in the weather.

Tim was a shark. This is the first non-dino year we've had, so that was something.

PS Alterian, seriously adorable.

tse1618
May 27, 2008

Cuddle time!
I dressed Adeline as Yoda, my mom crocheted her adorable hat. Whenever we take her out with her Yoda hat on we get so many compliments!

Sockmuppet
Aug 15, 2009
My husbands little brother. Yes, it's home made. I requested a one-eyed version for my daughter for next year, hopefully she'll be walking by then and they can be a matching pair!



This is my tiny bee, who found an even tinier bee. They're bzzzt friends :3:

Oxford Comma
Jun 26, 2011
Oxford Comma: Hey guys I want a cool big dog to show off! I want it to be ~special~ like Thor but more couch potato-like because I got babbies in the house!
Everybody: GET A LAB.
Oxford Comma: OK! (gets a a pit/catahoula mix)
Just wanted to give a big thanks to all the goons in this thread who helped me explain death to my five-year old. I took this thread's advice, and explained that when something dies, it returns to Nature. A little bit goes into the air, a little bit goes into the animals, a little bit goes into the trees, etc. My son now believes that when he dies he will come back as an owl. :3:

very sparkly
Dec 24, 2004
867-5309
A little late to the Halloween chat, but wanted to contribute Avery's homemade hand-me-down dinosaur costume to which we added a tutu just for fun. She had a blast seeing all the trick or treaters and "giving out candy".



Beaucoup Haram
Jun 18, 2005

Halloween isn't really a thing here in Australia, but my partner decided she wanted a photo of our 13 month old in a cute costume, so here you go:



As far as actual content, any tips for a family expecting number 2 in 5 months ? We've got a little boy on the way.

Beaucoup Haram fucked around with this message at 06:58 on Nov 4, 2013

VorpalBunny
May 1, 2009

Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog
My little dinosaur and cow, ready for trick-or-treating.


I bought both outfits at Goodwill last year, and this is the second Halloween in a row my son has worn his dinosaur suit. My little girl will be rocking it next year, no doubt.

This was the first year my oldest went trick-or-treating and he didn't want to stop. It really wasn't about the candy for him, it was more about wandering around looking at decorations and seeing all the people in costumes.

FCKGW
May 21, 2006

My youngest son is 9 months old and he's still not sleeping through the night. He'll wake up 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night. My wife will go in and pick him up until he falls back asleep. However the moment his head hits the crib, no matter how out of it he is, he'll start bawling again. Repeat a couple more times until he finally stays asleep, wake up in a few more hours when he cries and start the process again.

Any ideas? My oldest didn't have this issue. Youngest is breasted while oldest was bottle with 50/50 milk or formula.

newts
Oct 10, 2012

FCKGW posted:

My youngest son is 9 months old and he's still not sleeping through the night. He'll wake up 2 or 3 times in the middle of the night. My wife will go in and pick him up until he falls back asleep. However the moment his head hits the crib, no matter how out of it he is, he'll start bawling again. Repeat a couple more times until he finally stays asleep, wake up in a few more hours when he cries and start the process again.

Any ideas? My oldest didn't have this issue. Youngest is breasted while oldest was bottle with 50/50 milk or formula.

We have the exact same issue, so I'd be interested in any advice too.

Also, can anyone recommend any multi-chapter or longer books that would be good bedtime reading for a three year old? We're almost done with the 'My Father's Dragon' series and I don't have any good ideas for what to read next.

Alterian
Jan 28, 2003

Jasper started having sleep issues around that time that he's now almost out of at 11 months. He was teething, going through separation anxiety, growth spurting, etc etc. He'd usually wake up around 11pm hungry and it wasn't too hard to get him back to sleep. Then he'd wake up anywhere between 4am - 6am hungry and unable to go back to sleep in his crib so we'd bring him in our bed and he'd fall back asleep pretty fast and sleep until 8am.

lady flash
Dec 26, 2007
keeper of the speed force
We also noticed recently with the weather change that he didn't like the cold crib. We dressed him warmer and it seems to have helped. He still wakes up but it's easier to put him back in his crib. Except for the 4am and after but that's always been an issue and we just bring him back to our bed then.

Sockmuppet
Aug 15, 2009
My little bug is 4 months old, and needs either the boob (nighttime) or being wheeled around in her pram (daytime) to fall asleep.
The daytime pram thing is annoying, since it means all her naps involve me leaving the house, which does mean plenty of fresh air and exercise, but makes it impossible to get things done around the house when she's asleep. But it's less of a concern than the nighttime boob, since that makes it impossible for anyone else but me to put her to bed and/or get her back to sleep if she wakes up. (not talking about nighttime feedings here, just the initial bedtime.)

Complicating matters is the fact that she refuses pacifiers and bottles. She's become dependant on suckling to fall asleep, but only the boob will do.

Any advice on how to break that habit with as little crying as possible? We've just started her on tiny portions of cereal at night, and I'm thinking that'll give us a good opportunity to begin a new nighttime ritual where she gets cereal, boob and is then put to bed as a separate activity from eating her evening meal, starting with a bootcamp where my husband puts her to bed and sits with her while me and my seductive milk scent goes somewhere else.

I'm sure there'll quite a bit of crying, but I'm hoping you guys have some tips for minimizing that.

Or is she too young for all of this? I'll resign myself to being her nighttime pacifier for a few more months if that's the case.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
http://kellymom.com/bf/normal/comfortnursing/

Nursing to sleep is normal. It can suck, but it's the way of life for many people. It's a small portion of your life as a parent and it ends. You can also try things like the No-Cry Sleep Solution for other options.

Also, 4 months is very early for solids. The AAP, among others, recommend exclusive breastfeeding through 6 months.

http://www.llli.org/faq/solids.html

quote:

You will know that he is really ready to start solids when:

•he is about six months old
•he can sit up without any support
•he continues to be hungry despite more frequent nursing which is unrelated to illness or teething
•he has lost the tongue-thrusting reflex and does not push solids out of his mouth
•he can pick up things with his finger and thumb (pincer grasp)

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/solids-sleep/

quote:

The idea that solids will help your baby sleep is an old wives’ tale that has been disproven by medical studies. Feeding your baby solids or formula in an attempt to make baby sleep longer is not a good idea for several reasons...

Lullabee
Oct 24, 2010

Rock a bye bay-bee
In the beehive
My 8 month old gets 3 3.5oz purees and 4-5 breast feeding sessions a day and still doesn't really sleep through the night. Boob is how he goes to bed, but occasionally I can feed him then his dad holds him til he falls asleep. Maybe try that?

But yeah, food doesn't really cause kids to sleep better, sorry. He'll sleep a solid 4-5 hours but then wake up wanting to nurse. He gets 7-8 feeds in 24 hours.

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005
Once mine was old enough to sit up, I would read him books in my lap until he was exhausted and took the crib as a blessed relief (usually about 45 minutes of reading). I eventually adapted that system into just reading to him while he laid down in the crib and would just fall asleep while I read to him. That system went a bit haywire when he started pulling himself up and standing in his crib. What I do now is just let him stand and play while I read to him, and when he starts to do his sleepy fussing I turn off the light and lie him down, and he usually just rolls around and gnaws on his lovey a bit until he decides that yes, he really does want to go to sleep. This is not with a "sleeper" baby, he has always been a two 40-minute naps/day baby and a guy that fought sleep with everything he had.

Wife still nurses him back to sleep 2 or 3 times a night, because nursing for 5 minutes is a million times less disruptive than trying to soothe back to sleep and night wean and all that.

At 4 months I imagine swaddling and the 5 S's is still the best option for soothing to sleep without nursing.

Papercut fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Nov 4, 2013

Mnemosyne
Jun 11, 2002

There's no safe way to put a cat in a paper bag!!
My 16 month old still only sleeps through the night about 5 nights a week. Some kids just sleep better than others. I'm just waiting it out, he's unlikely to keep it up forever.

On the other hand, I know that starting babies on purees earlier won't help them sleep, but now that my kid is older, what he eats before he goes to bed definitely impacts his sleep. If I feed him fruit before bed, he will almost always wake up crying and wanting to nurse in the middle of the night. If I feed him oatmeal, he sleeps through around 75% of the time. But then if I don't eat something late at night, I wake up in the middle of the night with my belly rumbling too, so maybe it just runs in the family.

Sockmuppet
Aug 15, 2009
Oh, the food isn't to make her sleep better, she sleeps very well and wakes up to eat 2-5 times a night.
We just want to introduce her to flavours and the concept of food while she's very accepting of new tastes.
http://www.oslo-universitetssykehus...ris%20taste.pdf

She's getting a tablespoon of very runny cereal made with breastmilk, half a teaspoon of mashed vegetables and fruit, and gets to suck on an apple if I'm eating one, etc. She's very much exclusively breastfed still, the food is just for fun amd training.

It'd just be nice if she wasn't completely dependant on the boob to go to sleep in the first place. She regularly wakes up a few times right after she's put to bed, and she eats herself silly and spits up because nothing but boob will do to get her back to sleep, even though she's stuffed to the gills already.
It'd be great if my husband could be a part of bedtime by helping her get to sleep when she just wants comfort and isn't actually hungry, but so far she's resisted his every effort. I thought maybe a tiny bit of cereal could help in making "evening meal" and "falling asleep" two separate activities.

Ah well, I suppose we'll just have to keep trying to get her to fall asleep by other means, hopefully something will work before she's off to university ;)

Lucha Luch
Feb 25, 2007

Mr. Squeakers coming off the top rope!
It doesn't matter how I trim and file Rorys nails, he always manages to claw the poo poo out of everything. What the hell?! They're down to the quick and smooth!

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

If you figure it out man let me know. Ben's nails are perpetually sharp regardless of length.

UltraGrey
Feb 24, 2007

Eat a grass.
Have a barf.

Sockmuppet posted:

She's very much exclusively breastfed still, the food is just for fun amd training.

Except if you've already started to introduce solids, she isn't exclusively breastfed.

Professor Bananas
Feb 16, 2011

Sockmuppet posted:

My little bug is 4 months old, and needs either the boob (nighttime) or being wheeled around in her pram (daytime) to fall asleep.
The daytime pram thing is annoying, since it means all her naps involve me leaving the house, which does mean plenty of fresh air and exercise, but makes it impossible to get things done around the house when she's asleep. But it's less of a concern than the nighttime boob, since that makes it impossible for anyone else but me to put her to bed and/or get her back to sleep if she wakes up. (not talking about nighttime feedings here, just the initial bedtime.)

Complicating matters is the fact that she refuses pacifiers and bottles. She's become dependant on suckling to fall asleep, but only the boob will do.



My kid is one year old and an awful sleeper. We actually wheel him back and forth in the buggy at home and he falls asleep for a good period of time, so we can get stuff done or have time off. Have you tried that?

He also still genuinely feeds during the night, and is just now reaching the stage where if he's not hungry and just wants to suck that he will go back to sleep after a small grumble. But he feeds properly twice during the night even though he eats more solids than the ladies at his nursery have ever seen a baby his age pack away (that's the other thing, solids before bed is a bit of a myth, it may not help at all).

Generally I'd expect a 4 month old to sleep badly. Sorry, I know it seems hard, but try not to believe everyone who says their baby is sleeping so much better than yours because honestly it's natural for them not to sleep through.

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

The only person I know who has a baby that's about 3.5 months that "sleeps well" also ignored the wake ups and crying for several nights so the baby eventually gave up :(

Lucha Luch
Feb 25, 2007

Mr. Squeakers coming off the top rope!

sheri posted:

The only person I know who has a baby that's about 3.5 months that "sleeps well" also ignored the wake ups and crying for several nights so the baby eventually gave up :(

Oh jesus that's.. that's pretty depressing :(


Rory's 7 months now. He wakes at 11, 4, and then up at 6 or sometimes 7. We did the no cry method, and now he'll usually go to sleep on his own. The bedtime routine is wipe down or bath, then bottle, story, song and cuddles in the rocker (~10 minutes) and then he gets set in the cot where he'll babble to himself and play with the seahorse or his soft elephant and then just go to sleep. He got to that about 3 weeks ago, and it's pretty manageable. I know he's going to change up his sleeping habits, especially if we have to be somewhere the next day.. I think he's teething now (noticed a little nubbin poking at the gums, unholy amounts of chewing and drooling)... it's just part of having a baby. My friend with an 8 year old assures me that I will sleep through the night again some day, and I don't *think* she's lying.

Still, I think I sleep better now than I did the last few weeks of pregnancy. Just keep telling yourself this too shall pass.

tse1618
May 27, 2008

Cuddle time!

sheri posted:

The only person I know who has a baby that's about 3.5 months that "sleeps well" also ignored the wake ups and crying for several nights so the baby eventually gave up :(

My baby only woke up once at night starting at 6 weeks and started sleeping 8-10 (once even 11.5!) hours a night at 3 or 3.5 months and I never ignored her cries. She was always just a good sleeper.

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

tse1618 posted:

My baby only woke up once at night starting at 6 weeks and started sleeping 8-10 (once even 11.5!) hours a night at 3 or 3.5 months and I never ignored her cries. She was always just a good sleeper.

I'm not saying there aren't babies that are good sleepers at young ages, just that they are few and far between. :-)

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









sheri posted:

The only person I know who has a baby that's about 3.5 months that "sleeps well" also ignored the wake ups and crying for several nights so the baby eventually gave up :(

I don't know about your friend, but that's a very uncharitable way to describe it. But CIO/Ferber is a holy war level discussion topic in various places so I'll leave it at that.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
Oh? How would you describe ignoring a crying newborn that is likely hungry or scared? That is a 14 week old baby. Barely a person. Why and how a parent could choose to ignore the cries of an infant at that age is beyond understanding.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









Chickalicious posted:

Oh? How would you describe ignoring a crying newborn that is likely hungry or scared? That is a 14 week old baby. Barely a person. Why and how a parent could choose to ignore the cries of an infant at that age is beyond understanding.

Like I said: uncharitable. I think it's best to assume everyone loves their child and wants the best for them.

It's not as simple as ignoring, you're listening very carefully, and being very quick to hit the window where they're ready for sleep but not overtired (~5-10 min, when they're getting glassy eyed). Then you put them down, and if they grizzle you listen - a baby that's putting itself to sleep will cry a bit... be quiet... cry a bit less... be quiet for longer... cry even less... be quiet for even longer... and, eventually, sleep.

It's very apparent when they're not in that cycle, or are hungry, or are scared - it's a different sound, and goes up in intensity not down - and then you go in and calm them down.

This was five years ago so the details are hazy, but it worked very well and she settled into a routine in a couple of days. Her psyche: unscarred.

skeetied
Mar 10, 2011
I'm pretty sure that even the biggest proponents of CIO (including Ferber himself) do not condone doing it to a 3 1/2 month old infant.

Chickalicious
Apr 13, 2005

We are the ones we've been waiting for.
At 3.5 months, a baby is right in the middle of the highest risk for SIDS. There's a reason they wake up multiple times a night. Also, a mother's milk supply can tank spectacularly if a baby is not fed on demand. This where you start to hear "oh, I just couldn't make enough milk." If you don't feed your baby, your body says "well, it doesn't look like you need that milk, so let's stop using up resources to make it." Forcing an unnatural sleep pattern on a young infant has far-reaching consequences beyond psychological ones.

Chickalicious fucked around with this message at 06:04 on Nov 6, 2013

Axiem
Oct 19, 2005

I want to leave my mind blank, but I'm terrified of what will happen if I do

tse1618 posted:

My baby only woke up once at night starting at 6 weeks and started sleeping 8-10 (once even 11.5!) hours a night at 3 or 3.5 months and I never ignored her cries. She was always just a good sleeper.

Our child was similar. She's always been a good sleeper, once we could get her to sleep.

However, getting her to sleep is sometimes hard, even at 17 months. The other night, she was up several hours past her bedtime, and we had to just let her cry herself out to exhaustion--whenever mom would be near, she absolutely had to be with mom, and when she was, she didn't want to sleep, just climb all over mom. Despite her being obviously tired. So as I said, we let her cry herself out the longest we've ever done so.

And then she woke up 6 hours later full of energy and no worse for the wear. We're trying to be better about hitting that right window of getting her to bed.

sebmojo
Oct 23, 2010


Legit Cyberpunk









skeetied posted:

I'm pretty sure that even the biggest proponents of CIO (including Ferber himself) do not condone doing it to a 3 1/2 month old infant.

3-5 months is actually what he recommends.

quote:

In a nutshell, Ferber says you can teach your baby to soothe himself to sleep when he's physically and emotionally ready, usually sometime between 3 and 5 months of age.

He recommends following a warm, loving bedtime routine and then putting your baby in bed awake and leaving him (even if he cries) for gradually longer periods of time. Putting a child to bed awake, says Ferber, is crucial to successfully teaching him to go to sleep on his own.

Parents are instructed to pat and comfort their baby after each predetermined period of time, but not to pick up or feed their baby. This routine is called "progressive waiting."

The suggested waiting time, which Ferber charts in his book, is based on how comfortable you are with the technique, how many days you've been using it, and how many times you've already checked on your child that night.

After a few days to a week of gradually increasing the waiting time, the theory goes, most babies learn to fall asleep on their own, having discovered that crying earns nothing more than a brief check from you.

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

sebmojo posted:

I don't know about your friend, but that's a very uncharitable way to describe it. But CIO/Ferber is a holy war level discussion topic in various places so I'll leave it at that.

No, I'm not being uncharitable. She's a person in the mom's group I went to when I was off of work in maternity leave and she let her baby cry without responding for who knows how long at night. The baby learned no one was going to come and respond to her needs at night when she asked in the only way she knew how (crying/fussing) so eventually she quit asking to have her needs fulfilled. That's pretty much the process for CIO right? It's not like a baby learns to "self soothe" in two nights, they just give up, which is pretty much what you copied and pasted says too.

sheri fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Nov 6, 2013

Sockmuppet
Aug 15, 2009

Professor Bananas posted:

My kid is one year old and an awful sleeper. We actually wheel him back and forth in the buggy at home and he falls asleep for a good period of time, so we can get stuff done or have time off. Have you tried that?

Generally I'd expect a 4 month old to sleep badly. Sorry, I know it seems hard, but try not to believe everyone who says their baby is sleeping so much better than yours because honestly it's natural for them not to sleep through.

Again, I'm not expecting her to sleep through the night at all, I was just looking for tips on how to break her dependance on the boob as the only thing that will soothe her to sleep for her initial bedtime, because now she eats herself silly and spits up all over herself if she wakes up repeatedly before finally falling properly asleep, because she ends up eating more when she's just looking for comfort. She has refused pacifiers since birh, none of my husbands rocking and shhh-ing charms work, and when I try, she starts rooting and crying because how dare the boob lady withhold the delicious boobs that are right there gimme gimme!

We live on the third floor in an apartment building, but during the worst autumn rains I've seriously concidered lugging the pram up the stairs and wheeling her back and forth on our tiny veranda for her daytime naps. It's the next step.

Greycious posted:

Except if you've already started to introduce solids, she isn't exclusively breastfed.

I just meant that she wasn't eating solids in place of breastmilk. We're just introducing things as in letting her taste lots of stuff. The last two days her experience with solids has concisted of sucking on a piece of mango and a piece of apple. It's awesome to watch, she goes absolutely bananas for any and all flavours we expose her to. I'm hoping it'll stick for when she's going to start properly eating.

Professor Bananas
Feb 16, 2011

Sockmuppet posted:

Again, I'm not expecting her to sleep through the night at all, I was just looking for tips on how to break her dependance on the boob as the only thing that will soothe her to sleep for her initial bedtime, because now she eats herself silly and spits up all over herself if she wakes up repeatedly before finally falling properly asleep, because she ends up eating more when she's just looking for comfort. She has refused pacifiers since birh, none of my husbands rocking and shhh-ing charms work, and when I try, she starts rooting and crying because how dare the boob lady withhold the delicious boobs that are right there gimme gimme!

We live on the third floor in an apartment building, but during the worst autumn rains I've seriously concidered lugging the pram up the stairs and wheeling her back and forth on our tiny veranda for her daytime naps. It's the next step.

Same! On all of that. I gave up with the sucking to sleep thing, tried everything, gave up and just tried to roll with it. Basically I just accepted that my evenings were going to involve being a human soother and set myself up with a kindle/ds/netbook to still get a bit of time off. I know plenty of people who think that's crazy but at the end of the day, I think it's been right for both of us. He overate a little at night at about that age too and had spitup/wind afterwards but that does calm down fairly quickly. He's a pretty secure little boy now even though he's at full time nursery, and I think part of that's because I spent so much time comforting him at night when only boobs would do. Everyone's different though, you just have to do what's best for your own kid - I just want to let you know that if you don't break the habit, it's survivable.

We live on the third floor and I've always kept the buggy in the flat (I purposely bought a light, sturdy one with big wheels so I can bump it up and down with kiddo in it if I have to) and honestly if I hadn't cottoned on to watching TV while wheeling him to sleep I think I'd have gone insane. He still sleeps longer in the buggy than anywhere else, as it's a comfy hammock shape.

(It's one of these, just to show off my weird pushchair: http://www.micralite.com/products.php?productid=3.)



Edit:

sebmojo posted:

having discovered that crying earns nothing more than a brief check from you.

Good god that is so depressing. I could maybe handle doing that now knowing that he's older and can cope, but at that age no way. And thinking about it I still wouldn't, I don't want him to learn that at all.

Professor Bananas fucked around with this message at 11:43 on Nov 6, 2013

sheri
Dec 30, 2002

Sockmuppet posted:

Again, I'm not expecting her to sleep through the night at all, I was just looking for tips on how to break her dependance on the boob as the only thing that will soothe her to sleep for her initial bedtime, because now she eats herself silly and spits up all over herself if she wakes up repeatedly before finally falling properly asleep, because she ends up eating more when she's just looking for comfort. She has refused pacifiers since birh, none of my husbands rocking and shhh-ing charms work, and when I try, she starts rooting and crying because how dare the boob lady withhold the delicious boobs that are right there gimme gimme!


Well, you could try nursing her until she is super drowsy but not quite sleeping and then remove her from the breast, and either hand her off to your husband for rocking or place her in her crib/wherever she sleeps and see if she'll drift off. My son will sometimes fall asleep in about 10 seconds without a peep if we hit the right state of drowsy when putting him down.

I'd start by getting her super drowsy and try rocking/singing/whatever to get her the rest of the way to sleep. If she falls asleep at the breast, wake her up slightly so she realizes she's not on the boob when she falls asleep.

You may need to leave the house the first few times. Just remember, if she is crying while being rocked etc, it is not the same as cry it out if someone is actively comforting her while she is crying.

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AlistairCookie
Apr 1, 2010

I am a Dinosaur
With all the sleep chat, rather than resurrecting the CIO vs. not debate, I'd like to recommend The No Cry Sleep Solution.

It's a good book. It's all about [gently] teaching babies to self soothe, as well as undoing any sleep habits that are causing everyone grief. Sheri, above, is on the absolute right track with nursing until drowsy, but not quite asleep, and laying them down a little awake and letting them finish falling asleep on their own. Gradually, they will be able to be laid down more awake and self soothe to sleep.

I'm just talking about helping little ones fall asleep peacefully on their own; not how to get a 3-4 month old to sleep through the night. They still need to wake up for a feed--or at the very least, should not be discouraged from doing so. If they're a good weight and sleeping through on their own, then more power to you! The book also talks about good nightime feed habits like no talk, no play, no lights. Just quietly feed (and change as needed) and right back to bed.

Also, get a seahorse. "Training" babies on it starting at day one is best (I think), but the same principle applies and you can start any time. Get one and play it every time you are soothing them to sleep. Every single time. Every nap, every bedtime. When you're feeding, rocking, walking, shushing, whatever--play it. They will start to associate the sounds of the music and water with being comforted and being sleepy. Then, when it's sleepy time, you can start the seahorse and the sound of it will make them sleepy--because of the association. One day, you will be able to feed, give a cuddle, lay them down awake and start seahorse and walk away. No cry, no fuss, no unhappy. My boys learned to press the tummy and start it back up themselves to soothe by about 6 months. Also, get a lovey. Anything--little blanket, small stuffy, whatever is safe for your aged baby and you are comfortable with. My boys each have blanket-stuffys (where their top half is a stuffed animal, and their bottom half is a tiny blanket.) Something they can have for comfort and do the same thing as seahorse--cuddle them with the lovey when you're nursing, walking, rocking, whatever. So they associate the cuddly presence of that thing with sleep and comfort.

All this "trains" a baby to actually self soothe, not just training them that crying gets them nothing. No where in the No Cry book does Pantley say that you shouldn't go to your baby. (Hearing them give a bit of a fuss, and waiting a minute to see if they work it out on their own before going right in, is very different.)

I remember one night, when Tim was about one (just before or just after his birthday), I woke up because I heard seahorse on the monitor. He wasn't making any noise, so I went in his room to shut it off, figuring he had rolled over on it. He was laying in bed, on his tummy, looking through a softy book by the light of the seahorse. He looked at me and just said, "Hi", and went back to Elmo. I just gave him a pat and left him to his book. :3:

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