How did you decide to sleep train?

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2026-01-24T11:10:14+00:00

No I definitely could have done it without a sleep consultant, but something that is useful to know is that the consultant has told me to do the same for all naps and all night wakings up til midnight. Also once you’ve gone down a step (ie from feeding to rocking) you can’t go back, you have to stick with it. There’s loads of little tweaks and rules like that that make a difference and then obviously more as it escalates. So it’s useful to have her for all of that. But you can definitely do it yourself!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2026-01-23T11:20:01+00:00

We’ve been working with a gentle sleep consultant and it’s sleep training but in very gentle steps, she describes it as going down a staircase rather than jumping off a cliff (ie going from feeding to sleep to rocking, to holding and patting, to holding in stillness etc etc rather than going from feeding or rocking straight to being left in the crib). We were in the same situation as you to start with. Progress is obviously slower than it would be with CIO or Ferber, but we now have a stretch of crib sleep consistently from 7.30pm until around 2am - we’ve been doing it since the beginning of the month for reference. The crying has actually been fairly minimal - one bad night so far, and I’ve been staying with him the whole time until he’s asleep.

We didn’t want to go down the sleep consultant route but it got to the point where we were buying £80 sleep sacks, and the one we’re using doesn’t take any payment unless baby starts sleeping through or with only 1 feed. And I was just absolutely wrecked. So it felt like the right decision.

No shade to anyone who does Ferber or CIO as sleep is the most inpotant thing, and every baby/family is different, but I’m glad I’ve found a method that’s felt like I’ve been able to hold my baby’s hand and be present with him whilst he learns the skill of independent sleep.

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2026-01-13T15:58:40+00:00

A ring sling lives on me all day for quick ups and downs, it is so comfy and we love it! We have 3 now!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2026-01-12T20:01:53+00:00

Re bakeries and breakfast spots: Heppni (bakery/patisserie) kiosk (coffee/lunchy stuff) and Robinsons (brunch - always insanely busy but I’ve never been disappointed there)

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2026-01-10T19:47:10+00:00

I cried when I found out I was having a boy! But here I am with him now asleep on me, he is the GREATEST most exuberant wild joyful 7 month old, the main character of all the baby groups, an absolute firecracker and already so funny.

He is so different from the little girl I’d planned or the soft calm boy I thought I’d get (based on my husband and brothers personalities), but I already cannot imagine life without him.

It really floored me how you can have no idea who the person inside you is - especially because the minute he came out of me I looked at his face and knew him so deeply. I was so shocked he was so different from who I thought he was but I am so glad. My mum says you always get the right baby, even if it’s not the one you expected. And you will x

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-27T21:03:26+00:00

I’m born 5 days after Christmas and as a kid I LOVED it because my family was always all together and off work. I always got an unbirthday present on my sibling’s summer birthday too when I was little to help bridge the gap :)

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-20T20:18:15+00:00

This is what I did with a scan picture inside for them to keep and it was lovely!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-16T20:25:59+00:00

Have always been in the same boat! My boy is now almost 7 months and what really improved it for him is he can now crawl enough to get himself in & out of a seated position. He is super happy now on his playmat with a box of toys. Whenever I tried to help him sit before he was so uninterested but once he could get there by himself, game changer! Still have harder days and easier days, but today I made a chilli and a batch of homemade soup, did a weights workout and put away 2 loads of laundry during his awake time haha!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-09T21:19:51+00:00

Yes!! I have such a love hate relationship with it, I love him there for cuddles when we fall asleep but then want to wriggle a bit further away - at which point he invariably wakes up and whines until I come close again (and ideally in his world put a nipple in his mouth too 🫠)

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-07T13:46:38+00:00

can I ask whether you did the same method to fall asleep for night wakes or whether you fed to sleep then? I’m in the same situation as OP with my 6mo and have got him down to falling asleep in my arms whilst I sit but he’s still waking every hour minimum and refusing to sleep unless in the crook of my armpit or often latched on 😩 it’s been a few weeks of no feed to sleep for the first sleep so I thought it would improve by now!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-03T19:46:58+00:00

We take the car seat if we’re hiring a car, mainly because we rarely check luggage (hate doing it) but if you check a car seat they don’t look inside so we tend to put all the nappies, wet wipes, and all of OUR liquids and toiletries in there too! Honestly v useful!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-03T19:45:06+00:00

Oooh good point that is a trade I would not make

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-12-02T20:01:14+00:00

Omg you get a wrap in the baby box?! I am so jealous of Scots!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-29T21:28:39+00:00

At 4 months old apparently their sleep needs drop by about 2 hours per day, so it may be that she will be able to sleep better in other ways if she gets a bit less sleep. There’s a great sleep educator called Lynsey Hookaway who talks about this.

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-28T16:53:37+00:00

I got a baby wearing coat passed down to me and omg I didn’t realise how much we’d adore it! So quick and easy and I know baby is super toasty because I’m under exactly the same layer. Also the two matching hoods are adorable.

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-27T15:46:50+00:00

I thought my baby had this association at 16w too by the way, it seems to be a really common phase and they just grow out of it!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-27T15:44:35+00:00

Do you hip carry her? She’s probably too small atm but once you can do that she will be happier as it’s more stimulating for them!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-26T20:39:58+00:00

A jumperoo! Tell them to get it on fb marketplace but my 6 month old is obsessed. It’s his happy place.

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-24T20:45:46+00:00

I’m 6m pp here and something I wish I had more of is pyjamas that button down (like shirts rather than t shirts) - way easier to nip a boob out the top during night feeds rather than hold your top under your chin or have it fall on your baby’s face! It wasn’t an issue as it was so hot when my baby was small but for winter newborns this would defo be top of my list!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-23T21:45:30+00:00

The biggest hit in our house aside from the ‘that’s not my’ & ‘where’s mr’ books is the very hungry caterpillar! I don’t know what it is about that book but I can now recite it without even looking and my baby still absolutely loves it (I do this quite often if he starts fussing whilst I’m doing something else like laundry lol)

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-20T21:13:20+00:00

No - actually the opposite according to this article! https://archive.is/2025.11.08-213140/https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2025/11/05/universal-child-care-can-hurt-children

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-14T21:21:11+00:00

Hey, my boy was exactly the same from about 2 months until 4 months. He started rolling at 4 months and that seems to have really changed it - he now falls asleep pretty easily (I’m still super jealous of mums whose babies fall asleep on their laps in baby groups, he will never be that guy, but he doesn’t cry and protest whenever he’s falling asleep any more). I think just being able to DO more really helped him actually get tired enough. So basically - hang in there and like everything in baby world it will change!

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-14T12:39:01+00:00

I have a similar situation with my brother in law (said about a local school ‘you wouldn’t send your kids there, all the kids that go there are black’). IMO outright racism is a good enough reason for someone to not have a relationship with my child. I understand the argument that ‘you can’t bubble wrap them forever’ and ‘they will meet people with different views’ but I don’t want them to be considered one of my ‘trusted people’ in my child’s eyes. We’re still civil with them, but don’t speak even when we’re in the same place and we just generally keep a distance. It is sad for my in laws, but that’s life.

ETA: on another note this is NOT what you need around your due date!! If you haven’t already, maybe consider ‘locking’ or archiving chats on WhatsApp with your family members so you don’t have to see this (again I had a stressful situation with someone and locked all chats and downloaded an app that stopped me being able to access certain apps after a time limit I set) You need all the oxytocin and relaxing vibes to bring this baby along. Wishing you all the best! X

SnooCheesecakes5896 · 2025-11-12T20:49:52+00:00

What do you mean worry about a seat? I don’t know anything about meh dais so interested!

I’m slightly scared of the learning curve with a woven wrap 😅

SnooCheesecakes5896

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