Sleep training

[first time mom]

How early is too early to sleep train a baby. My LO is 11 weeks and also has acid reflux, not sure if that matters.  Although it has gotten better now that she is on medication for it and is not crying every second of the day, I am going crazy with the sleep. She can't sleep on her own no matter how exhausted she is. I have to bounce her around for about 15 minutes and also only naps for about 30 minutes at a time. I'm trying to put her on a routine since it seems to help her, not a very strict one (just basically eat/play/sleep), but it's hard to since she doesn't nap for very long. Also, any tips on sleep training a fussy baby who has acid reflux?

[fbsurvivor]

We kept our daughter upright in her carseat for sleeping (we put a blanket in it) until she was 8 months.  Keeping them upright helps with the reflux and I found my daughter really needed to feel something around her even if swaddling didn't work anymore.

I recommend Elizabeth Pantley's "No Cry Sleep Solution" before doing sleep training, particularly with a fussy baby.  However, I think any routine you can provide will help.

On the napping, what helped my daughter was playing music once she had fallen asleep.  You could also try white noise.  Basically there are different things you do to keep them asleep v. getting them to go to sleep.  It's the same with calming them down.  There are things that calm them down and then techniques that keep them calm.  For instance, if I tried to use music to get my daughter to go to sleep when she's full on screaming, it's not going to work because she can't hear it over the screaming. 

[Hollyadmin]

Both our kids slept in the carseat or swing, or a combination of both. The one thing I've learned in the past couple of years though is there was a study suggesting the danger of babies sleeping in car seats (here's an abc news article about it...please note the baby they open the article with was LEFT in a truck in the winter, she wasn't just sleeping in her car seat).

With Sammy, the second I would put him down on a flat, motionless surface, his eyes would pop open. He could appear to be fast asleep in my arms, but he definitely sensed the change in position!  Harvey Karp suggests that newborns experience the feeling of falling when laid flat, so reflux or no reflux, perhaps a slight sitting position is better? (am just unsure of the safety of it...you know, 'back to sleep' and all that).

With Sammy, we soothed him to sleep in a tight swaddle, then put him in the swing at full blast with white noise...I know bad mommy, we couldn't buckle him in while swaddled. But I was willing to take the chance! That was the ONLY way he would take a long nap and sleep through the night...

[fbsurvivor]

That's interesting about the carseat.  We did ask our pediatricians who said it was fine.  We were always sleeping right next to her, so probably the risk was less and unfortunately it was pretty rare that my daughter slept for more than 2 hours at a time.

I wish I'd seen that DVD!  I was so worried about putting her into the swing without any strap, but I gave into my husband as there wasn't much else that worked.

I have heard of quite a few moms with fussy babies who resort to things like having them sleep on their stomach.  I think you get to the point where you wonder what is more important, sanity, baby's happiness, safety, parent health, etc...  I think if I had to do it again, I probably would have just gone for sleeping on the stomach.  My daughter wiggles so much that I think the suffocation risk was very very small.  It's a tough choice as a mom.

[Mbrown602]

Oh no! Nadia is 12 weeks now and she's been sleeping in a carseat at night for several weeks now. We just cannot get her to lay down in her crib and sleep without her throwing a huge fit. So someone suggested we put her in the carseat in the crib and she finally would go to bed at a decent time.

I googled some of those articles about carseats and read about the boy in Canada who died from asphyxiation. Very scary. I've peeked in on Nadia during the night, and have seen her little head flop forward. She does the same thing when she naps in her swing. So now I'm thinking we should bag the carseat idea. Prior to that, we were co-sleeping for a month but that got hard on me. Last night, I put her in my bed again but I really want to get this kid to sleep in her crib. Any suggestions on how to get her to sleep in the crib? She also has reflux, which may be one reason she seems to prefer sleeping while sitting up.

[sunshinebaby]

You can also prop up the head of the crib mattress.  You can buy a wedge, or even use a folded up towel.