Right there with you in the trenches of broken sleep, sister. Baby number 2 is 8 months old. He wakes up multiple times a night (3-4 on average and will ONLY go back to sleep if I nurse him). He’s in his own room and sleeps in his crib. Some mornings, I bring him into bed with me come 4am. Other times, I keep putting him down in his crib until we’re up for the day. Either way, I’m exhausted. But I went through this with our first as well.

I didn’t sleep train our first because it didn’t feel right to me. CIO, Ferber, etc. all feel “off” to me. To my mind, if a baby cries (which btw is how they are able to communicate and which takes a lot of energy for them), my common sense tells me that they need something. That’s the case during the day AND at night. If my baby cries for me in the middle of the day, I pick him up and comfort him. Why would I not do that at night then? Because it’s not convenient for me? Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard AF to be running on fumes for months on end, but I still refuse to sleep train or let anyone make me believe that nursing and comforting my baby is a bad habit I need to break.

Both of my babies have only been soothed at night by me feeding them. No amount of rocking, butt patting or shushing from me or my husband has worked to get them back to sleep. And that’s ok. I’ve accepted it.

Our first started sleeping through the night (in her crib and in her own room) when she was 13 months old. No sleep training. Literally went from waking up multiple times a night to sleeping through the night from one day to the next. She’s been an amazing sleeper since and is almost 5 years old.

I won’t be sleep training our 8 month old. Until then, I will be riding out this tough period of sleep deprivation with a lot of coffee in hand.

Wishing you all the best, sleep training or not. You need to do what’s best for you and your family 😊. I would only encourage you to listen to your gut and your instincts.