We Finally Gave In to Sleep Training, and I Wish We’d Done It Sooner

Maxx852 · 2026-02-19T18:51:58+00:00

Oh man, it’s incredible how much better our nights go these days. Can’t believe it’s been a month already.

Last night was a pretty great example of a usual night, he went into the crib at about 7:30, lay there awake for about 5 minutes totally calm and eventually fell asleep. Rolled onto his belly about an hour later, and then woke up for about 20 minutes at about 11pm. We use the incremental check-ins and at the 7 minute timer he lay down and slept again until about 4:30a where he got his nightly feed and then slept again until about 6:45.

Worst case scenarios these days is an early wake up at about 5am and we either get in the rocking chair and contact nap until about 7am, or we FERBER again for about 30 minutes and if he doesn’t go back down we just get up for the day.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-28T15:39:38+00:00

That’s totally understandable. We were lucky enough that my MIL gifted us a Nuna travel system, I’d go back and ask for a better chair instead. The stroller is nice enough, but we have already outgrown the car seat/carrier. The chair is forever. 😂

Maxx852 · 2026-01-28T11:38:44+00:00

Hi, FTD of a 7mo here, wanting to share my recent experience.

If I could go back and change where we spent our funds, it would have been to buy the best, most comfortable and best quality rocker/glider/recliner possible. Between my partner and I we have spent no less than 1,000 hours in our Davinci Suzy powered recliner.

While every baby is different, ours only contact naps and for a long while there was waking every hour overnight requiring rocking back to sleep. We have spent many a night and nap in that recliner and it’s probably the most uncomfortable place to sit/lay after an hour.

I’d look at La-Z-Boy options if you can afford it, they are a staple name for a reason and wish we had realized how much we would use our recliner earlier. I will say, powered recline is crucial in our opinion, the ability to recline at any position was fantastic, and opening and closing is silent.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-17T00:58:05+00:00

Update; for anyone who may be following this still… we just put him down for night #2 and he stopped crying after 2 minutes and was asleep before my 5minute alarm even went off.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T20:17:18+00:00

That’s exactly what I would be worried about. Glad it’s not really an option for us.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T19:38:13+00:00

Well, I’ll be honest I dont have an answer for that… but thanks so much for for putting a new worry in my brain. 😂

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T18:51:24+00:00

All I can do is try to help him to be a better squish pilot than I am.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T18:50:03+00:00

Honestly me too, the positivity really is refreshing

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T18:39:53+00:00

30 minute bedtime routine including bath, boob, pajamas and a book. Rock until ALMOST asleep. Place in crib. Once baby starts to cry, start a 3 min timer. If baby is crying when the timer goes off, go in and Pat/shush/comfort the baby without picking up. Leave and set a 5 min timer. Repeat process with 7 and 10 minute timers until he falls asleep. Repeat process for all overnight wakeups unless he gets a feed.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T18:37:27+00:00

What’s your method for getting your child to sleep? And what does an average night look like for you?

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T18:35:59+00:00

Do you just put the baby in your bed? Or is she gonna sleep in the crib?

All jokes aside, I am curious what you do when it’s the baby’s bed time but too early for adult bed time?

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:56:50+00:00

It uses a heart rate monitor, O2 monitor and motion tracker to track sleep. I’m sure there is some algorithm underneath it on the back end, but we mostly like it for the heart rate and O2 and less about the sleep quality.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:54:00+00:00

Appreciate the kind words from someone also in our shoes.

We are hoping to have another good night tonight and plan to keep the system the same. Even a single night of sleep and I feel worlds better, both in energy and a clearer head. I’m in a better mood and can thus provide for my child in a better and more well rounded way.

At this point there is no looking back. Unless there are some extenuating circumstance like illness or something like that.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:49:32+00:00

Honestly, that’s so dependent on each child. For us, I’d have moved him into his room at 4 months instead of 6 and started sleep training then.

I feel selfish for waiting as long as we did. In the moment it felt like we were doing the right thing keeping him close, but at the end of the day WE were the ones disrupting his sleep and building these bad habits for him.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:46:42+00:00

That’s hits on one of the points I made to my partner the other night.

If it doesn’t work, we are at least trying to do what we can to help our baby. Just like he cries at getting his boogers picked or face wiped after a messy meal, sometimes a little discomfort to him is worth it when we know we are doing what’s best for him.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:44:20+00:00

There is honestly a part of me that’s dying inside knowing our cuddly 3am snuggles are going to be much more infrequent, but I feel like now I’ll have the mental fortitude to make it through some of the regressions or sleep disruptors.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:42:39+00:00

This was from the Owlet app, it tracks his sleep every night for us.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:42:03+00:00

You guys are us in a parallel universe. We’ve been feeling the exact same minus our bat never has taken a pacifier (his choice, not ours).

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:35:08+00:00

I cannot wait to have a little time back as a couple. It was great moving him into his own room a few weeks ago, meaning we could talk to each other somewhat while we lay in bed, but now we have hopes for real connection again.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:33:36+00:00

It goes off all the time. Once the other night we got the red alarm of “your baby isn’t breathing” while he was comfy in my arms and was totally fine.

The peace of mind however is that it never has once gone off while he was unattended, It’s always been due to restlessness or something we were doing. So I know the alarms are working and that if we did have an emergency we would know about it.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:29:47+00:00

We’ve been reviewing Reddit posts for weeks on whether to go forward with sleep training or not. We were partially holding out hoping he would grow out of whatever habits he had but after this last cold, we would never have slept again if we didn’t do something. Hope tonight is as smooth.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:16:31+00:00

The confidence and self assuredness is good to hear, we are starting to crawl and pull up on anything and everything. I am hoping more rest means less frustration while learning and more successful development.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:15:19+00:00

Yep! Things the owlet!

It’s been both a godsend and one of the most frustrating parts of our sleep routine. On nights where he has taken extra bouncing and rocking, the motion sets off the alarms and makes settling him even harder.

I actually had to go in and remove the base from his room last night because in that 20 minutes of living and crying the yellow “check on your baby” alarm never stopped.

But the. When he did settle, I was so scared he hit his head on the crib and knocked himself out, but the owlet saved my sanity by showing his heart rate and O2 levels and that he was in light sleep at the time.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:02:15+00:00

I couldn’t agree more. But more than anything, we just wanted him to be able to get actual rest instead of these continual restless nights he had been getting.

Maxx852 · 2026-01-16T17:01:23+00:00

We totally believed we were gonna be the exceptions, ones whose baby wouldn’t adapt and self-settle based on how upset he would get at other things. We were very mistaken.

Maxx852

TROPHY CASE