A new survivor

[renee]

For the past 3 months I logged onto this website daily, sometimes more than once, to seek encouragement and feel less alone during the process. I loved reading the "survivor" posts because it brought me such hope that my sons's colic would actually end. Well, I am thrilled to report that my son has turned the corner and has made it through the colic! He has been "colic free" for about a week and a half. He is now 13 weeks old. It was a gradual change, with him giving us a few good days every week. His mood and temperament changed, and he would smile more often and coo throughout the day. But, his sleeping never got better. I actually think it got increasingly more difficult to get him to fall asleep. During the colic, I used to nurse him to sleep and then pace my hallway and pat him until he was sound asleep enough that I could lay him down. It was an exhausting process, especially since he wouldn't always stay sleeping. Well, once the colic ended, he began fighting this process even more! It began taking me an hour or two to put him to bed (both naps and night). I found myself spending ALL day trying to get him to sleep. He was cranky because he was so tired. I decided a few days ago that a change needed to take place, for both our sakes. So, I used the Ferber method and hired a sleep consultant to help with a sleep program. Its been three days, and the change is amazing! My son is happy, well rested, and on a schedule. I am also happier and actually sleeping longer stretches at night. Yes, it was difficult to watch my son CIO, but no more difficult than having him cry on my shoulder while pacing the house for two hours before Ferber! It was the best thing I ever did, and I'm so happy I started him on a good sleep schedule so early!

Be strong, hold on...it WILL get better! And once the colic is over, you will be left with a happy, pleasant baby that you are not going to be able to stop kissing!

[alexmom]

Thank you so much for posting this! I think I'll end up using the ferber method also when he is 4 months old, I'm so scared it won't work with my little one yet..
I think we're pretty much colic free, but struggling with sleep, like you were, and I love to hear that the Ferber method and getting him on a schedule helped!
We're making progress though, and my little guy is sleeping in his crib for naps and the beginning of the night. He falls asleep on his own now, which is amazing, but his naps are too short and he wakes up alot during the night to nurse. He always cries a few minutes before falling asleep, but I guess he just has to do that do unwind... He cries no matter what I do, so I just lay him down, and ge goes to sleep after 1-5 minutes og crying., I'm hoping he will lenghten his naps and night-time sleep on his own, but I'm preparing myself for the Ferber method in a month.

I'm SO glad it worked out well for you!

[alexmom]

Sept 14, 2013 5:43:42 GMT -5 renee said:

For the past 3 months I logged onto this website daily, sometimes more than once, to seek encouragement and feel less alone during the process. I loved reading the "survivor" posts because it brought me such hope that my sons's colic would actually end. Well, I am thrilled to report that my son has turned the corner and has made it through the colic! He has been "colic free" for about a week and a half. He is now 13 weeks old. It was a gradual change, with him giving us a few good days every week. His mood and temperament changed, and he would smile more often and coo throughout the day. But, his sleeping never got better. I actually think it got increasingly more difficult to get him to fall asleep. During the colic, I used to nurse him to sleep and then pace my hallway and pat him until he was sound asleep enough that I could lay him down. It was an exhausting process, especially since he wouldn't always stay sleeping. Well, once the colic ended, he began fighting this process even more! It began taking me an hour or two to put him to bed (both naps and night). I found myself spending ALL day trying to get him to sleep. He was cranky because he was so tired. I decided a few days ago that a change needed to take place, for both our sakes. So, I used the Ferber method and hired a sleep consultant to help with a sleep program. Its been three days, and the change is amazing! My son is happy, well rested, and on a schedule. I am also happier and actually sleeping longer stretches at night. Yes, it was difficult to watch my son CIO, but no more difficult than having him cry on my shoulder while pacing the house for two hours before Ferber! It was the best thing I ever did, and I'm so happy I started him on a good sleep schedule so early!

Be strong, hold on...it WILL get better! And once the colic is over, you will be left with a happy, pleasant baby that you are not going to be able to stop kissing!

If you find the time, could you explain a how you did the sleeptraining? Do you still feed him at night, and are naps fine as well now?
I have used the Ferber method when my older daughter was 6 months old, but I'm scared it won't work with my almost 3 month-old, I think he might be too young. But it's clear to me that the fusiness is due to him being constantly overtired, and I can't take it anymore. Something needs to be done!

[renee]

Yes, I still feed at night . The whole point of the sleep training for me was to teach my son how to self soothe and to stop the associations of me with sleep (I.e., nursing him to sleep or rocking him to sleep). I don't swaddle him either....I hadn't swaddled him for a long time. I did not want to stop the night feeding, because he is only 3 and a half months old and I think he still needs a night feed. Before the sleep training he was waking up ever 3-4 hours wanting to be nursed. Now, he wakes up after 6 hours, sometimes 7! Going o bed at night without I disagreeistance improved significantly 3 days into the sleep training! He rarely cries. Naps are still tricky, but I was told that naps are the last thing to fall into place. Sometimes he'll sleep 40 minutes, and other times he'll sleep for 2+ hours. But, the major difference is that once I lay him down I can now walk away knowing that it's nap time and he will go to sleep...even if he still cries sometimes before falling to sleep.
I highly recommend Ferbers book and not starting the sleep training until colic has passed and your baby is 3+ months old. My LO was 3 months, no longer colicky, and was not going to sleep easily with my help. He was ready to learn how to self soothe.
The sleep trainer suggested a CIO method, but with me stayin in his room. I started out sitting close to his crib and gradually moved further and further away after several days. I know there are a lot of CIO haters, but it works! And, I think my son cried more before I sleep trained him.
Good luck. I'll check back to see if you have any more questions.

[_alexmom_]

(can't log on, have forgotten my password)

Thank you for your answer renee.

Lizzy, my little one has never been swaddled (swaddling is not common to do in Norway). LO is such a terrible sleeper still, actually the last couple of days it has gotten worse. Short naps during the day, and waking up a lot at night. He falls asleep quite easily, but has a hard time staying asleep. But he is colic free, and is mostly a happy baby (but high maintenance).
I'm going to wait until he is 4 months old, and then we're going to try sleep training. I think we'll go for the Ferber Method, it worked like a charm with my daughter, allthough she older (6 mo) when we did it. But for the sake of the whole family, his sleeping needs to improve!! i will continue to feed at night as long as he needs it.

[Amber Lorraine]

Alexmom, if your little one is 4 months old and still not sleeping well, trust me it does get better. My boy didn't sleep at 4 months old more than a 5 hour stratch then up every 1 1/2 hours after that all night every night. He just started sleeping through the night thanks to lizzi's sleep training advice, about 4 nights ago we started sleep training him and hes 6 1/2 months old now. We weaned his night bottle and decided he didn't need a night feeding since hes a BIG boy as it is, he eats enough during the day. We also gave him a lovey small blankie he can cuddle with and that seemed to soothe him or help him soothe himself to sleep. Yours will sleep better soon, sometimes it takes til the 6 month mark though

[alexmom]

Thank you for the encouragement Amber Lorraine
My LO has never slept for longer than 4 hours at a time, and I think that has happened twice.. Mostly he wakes after 1-3 hours ( 3 hours if I'm lucky!),.. He's been using me as a pacifier, but the last couple of days apparantly he wants me to rock him back to sleep throughout the night. He is now 14 weeks old.. I can't live like this for another 3 months, I have another kid to take care of.. My husband helps me out now, but in a month he will have to work a lot more, so I'll be alone with the kids most of the time.
That's why I think we have to resort to sleep training.. And, of course, I really think my little guy needs more sleep than he is getting now!

With my daughter (which was colicky), we sleep trained using the Ferber method at 6 months, and it worked great. Maybe 4 months is to early, and maybe it wont even work, but I think we have to try..

[renee]

Alexmom & Lizzi, 
I started sleep training my son as soon as the colic ended. He had just turned 3 months. Yes, it was on the young side, but it worked! The soothing methods that he relied on when he was colicky ( nursing to sleep, me pacing the house holding him until he fell asleep, bouncing him etc...) stopped working as soon as the colic ended. It started taking me 2 hours to get him to sleep and then he wouldn't always stay asleep. I couldn't live like that anymore. He was miserable and so was I! I don't think either of you need to wait any longer. I'd start the Ferber method ASAP......as long as colic is done. My LO is a great sleeper now. He falls asleep on his own, takes 3 naps a day, and sleeps longer stretches at night. Don't wait. Teach them how to sleep now, u will all be happier!

[raylene58]

Sept 14, 2013 5:43:42 GMT -5 renee said:

For the past 3 months I logged onto this website daily, sometimes more than once, to seek encouragement and feel less alone during the process. I loved reading the "survivor" posts because it brought me such hope that my sons's colic would actually end. Well, I am thrilled to report that my son has turned the corner and has made it through the colic! He has been "colic free" for about a week and a half. He is now 13 weeks old. It was a gradual change, with him giving us a few good days every week. His mood and temperament changed, and he would smile more often and coo throughout the day. But, his sleeping never got better. I actually think it got increasingly more difficult to get him to fall asleep. During the colic, I used to nurse him to sleep and then pace my hallway and pat him until he was sound asleep enough that I could lay him down. It was an exhausting process, especially since he wouldn't always stay sleeping. Well, once the colic ended, he began fighting this process even more! It began taking me an hour or two to put him to bed (both naps and night). I found myself spending ALL day trying to get him to sleep. He was cranky because he was so tired. I decided a few days ago that a change needed to take place, for both our sakes. So, I used the Ferber method and hired a sleep consultant to help with a sleep program. Its been three days, and the change is amazing! My son is happy, well rested, and on a schedule. I am also happier and actually sleeping longer stretches at night. Yes, it was difficult to watch my son CIO, but no more difficult than having him cry on my shoulder while pacing the house for two hours before Ferber! It was the best thing I ever did, and I'm so happy I started him on a good sleep schedule so early!

Be strong, hold on...it WILL get better! And once the colic is over, you will be left with a happy, pleasant baby that you are not going to be able to stop kissing!

[raylene58]

So how was he prior what changed? My son is crank all day mostly and cries if he's not constantly entertained . Then he goes into rages in the pm. All day it's like walking on glass trying to get him not to cry or stop crying. He sleeps in the night . It's the waking hours that are the issue.

Sept 14, 2013 5:43:42 GMT -5 renee said:

For the past 3 months I logged onto this website daily, sometimes more than once, to seek encouragement and feel less alone during the process. I loved reading the "survivor" posts because it brought me such hope that my sons's colic would actually end. Well, I am thrilled to report that my son has turned the corner and has made it through the colic! He has been "colic free" for about a week and a half. He is now 13 weeks old. It was a gradual change, with him giving us a few good days every week. His mood and temperament changed, and he would smile more often and coo throughout the day. But, his sleeping never got better. I actually think it got increasingly more difficult to get him to fall asleep. During the colic, I used to nurse him to sleep and then pace my hallway and pat him until he was sound asleep enough that I could lay him down. It was an exhausting process, especially since he wouldn't always stay sleeping. Well, once the colic ended, he began fighting this process even more! It began taking me an hour or two to put him to bed (both naps and night). I found myself spending ALL day trying to get him to sleep. He was cranky because he was so tired. I decided a few days ago that a change needed to take place, for both our sakes. So, I used the Ferber method and hired a sleep consultant to help with a sleep program. Its been three days, and the change is amazing! My son is happy, well rested, and on a schedule. I am also happier and actually sleeping longer stretches at night. Yes, it was difficult to watch my son CIO, but no more difficult than having him cry on my shoulder while pacing the house for two hours before Ferber! It was the best thing I ever did, and I'm so happy I started him on a good sleep schedule so early!

Be strong, hold on...it WILL get better! And once the colic is over, you will be left with a happy, pleasant baby that you are not going to be able to stop kissing!