My no-cry sleep sheep solution

[Nickel+3]

This is for you if you do not believe in CIO

So with my first, I nursed him to sleep. It was a love/hate thing. I loved that he didn't have to cry or be alone, but sometimes it would take hours... and I mean HOURS before he would fall asleep for good. And twenty minutes later, he would wake up It would get to the point where I literally had no milk left, and I felt like I just wanted to scream/throw something because I didn't want to have anything sucking on me anymore.

I decided to try something different when my second little one came along. Because with a busy toddler running around, I do not have time to lay down in bed for hours nursing my baby to sleep.

I am not a huge fan of following "methods" because what works for one child might not work for another. So I made up my own method. I wanted to share with you ladies because this has literally saved my sanity.

I bought a Cloud b Sleep Sheep(thank you amazon and swagbucks ), so basically a sound machine. But you could use a recording of a vacuum.

My system:

Nurse baby until he is full, burp him, and give him a little more milk to get him drowsy again. Lay him down in his cradle drowsy. Turn on the sound machine (in my case, a Sleep Sheep) and leave the room. If he starts to cry, I pick him up get him drowsy again (nursing or rocking) and lay him down awake again. Repeat until he goes to sleep on his own. Personally I don't believe in letting a baby cry to go to sleep. But that is just my own opinion. Take it or leave it


How it worked for me:

I only use this during the day and when I put Fox to bed. At night, when he wakes up, I bring him into bed with me. The first nap I tried this with, it took nearly 2 hours, and then I gave up and let him fall asleep in my arms and then layed him down. The next nap, another two hours later, but he went to sleep in his cradle on his own. Night time took about an hour but he eventually went to sleep on his own.

Mind you, this may take hours, but a baby has to sleep and they will go to sleep eventually, just hang in there.

After working hard on this for a few days, he got to the point where I can lay him down awake, when I know he is tired of course, and he will go to sleep.



This may not work for everybody, but I just wanted to share that it is possible to teach your child to feel safe, secure, loved, and confident enough to go to sleep on their own without them crying.

[robinbird74]

thanks for posting this. what so many parents don't realize is that it is possible to help your child learn how to fall asleep kind of on their own but if you do it the gentle way it may not be fast. (This coming from someone who still lays down with 2 year old dd and 5 year old ds at bed time.) I really believe some babies are naturally inclined to fall asleep / stay asleep on their own more than others. You've got to parent the child you got. with empathy and kindness! by the way, i love that darn sleep sheep - it's next to my bed though-no child of mine ever fell for it

[*Peanut*]

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[MamaWillow]

Thanks for posting this! I too am still trying to conquer the sleep issue with my 21 month old DS, in fact, I just left his room after almost an hour and half trying to get him down for a nap. Finally he is asleep! I often think about when I have another how I will deal with the sleep issue...I don't think I could handle the hours on end of nursing and sneaking out etc. I'm glad to hear that this actually can work!

[dshoop]

I can totally remember saying that exact thing to my husband about going crazy if anything sucked on me for even one more second. My nipple would almost feel numb and I was gonna scream! That's when he got to cry himself to sleep. He wasn't actually nursing, just using me as a pacifier. Those nights/days are soooo hard. Someone who hasn't been through them would have NO IDEA of the mental and physical drain. I would nurse my lo's and then lay them down drowsy. This worked for us.

[hippiemama86]

When I was prego I went to sleep every night listening to an ocean waves cd... and when ds came along, we got him a Cloud b Sleep Sheep too... it has an ocean waves setting. Still works wonders for us, and he's 10 months old! I LOVE mine... def a must for a new mom, along with a boppy and a good carrier/wrap.

[*Peanut*]

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[jveprek]

Originally Posted by robinbird74 thanks for posting this. what so many parents don't realize is that it is possible to help your child learn how to fall asleep kind of on their own but if you do it the gentle way it may not be fast. (This coming from someone who still lays down with 2 year old dd and 5 year old ds at bed time.) I really believe some babies are naturally inclined to fall asleep / stay asleep on their own more than others. You've got to parent the child you got. with empathy and kindness! by the way, i love that darn sleep sheep - it's next to my bed though-no child of mine ever fell for it

My thoughts exactly! We brought our sheep to the hospital. AWESOME for drowning out hospital noises!

[Arabesque]

DS has my sound machine. Unfortunately it doesn't drown out the sound of the train that goes by at 2 am.

[b'smom]

The sleep sheep has been very successful with DS2. Now at 17mos, I turn the machine on and he'll yawn and put his head on my shoulder. For him, it has become a signal that its time to sleep.