Any online courses for sleep?

Zascar

We have a 1 year old boy, who about a month ago start sleeping through the night, but quickly regressed and is now waking 2-3 times a night. He's not a great eater so he's probably waking as hes hungry and will usually take a bottle. We obviously try to get him to eat as much as possible all day, but it's hard work.

The sleep deprivation is killing us. I've looked into a few sleep consultants - many are pretty expensive. Before I go down this route, I assume there is a simple set of rules or formula to this. Are there any courses online that cover the basics that are worth doing first?

bee06

Unfortunately it’s not that simple. “Sleep consultants” get away with charging a fortune to sleep deprived parents for that reason. A lot of them have books as well that you could try first. Sarah Ockwell Smith has a book “The Gentle Sleep book” which goes through setting up a good bedtime routine.

Personally, my son went through a terrible patch of sleep around 1 as well. He ended up getting 8 teeth at the end of that month.

fits

I’d agree with bee. Just check the bedtime routine first. But after that I’d say to have low expectations for at least another year. There’ll be good spells and bad but they all sleep through eventually. Mine didn’t really settle down until after two. But they still wake and call now the odd night and they’ve just turned four.

pwurple

It passes. They have developmental leaps that wake them up , or are becoming aware of peeing, or maybe have a little pain they can't tell you about.

Take it in turns if you can, so someone is on baby duty and someone gets a nights sleep. We changed rooms, used an inflatable mattress.

3DataModem

It passes. Each kid is different. My boy slept well from 2/3 months, my girl woke every couple of hours for a couple of ounces of formula. The problem was, they were twins. Just do your best, and remember next month it will be all different (for better or worse).

Blingy

Babogue sleep on Instagram has some good tips and IGTV pieces with help. She also has a paid sleep series but you might get some ideas without paying. Most sleep consultants recommend a pretty strict routine and day time sleep is extremely important.

lazygal

I wouldn't bother trying to "fix" their sleep. Each of our children have had different ways of sleeping. Maybe get few books suggested out of the library but don't be spending money.

Milly33

There is an app called wonder weeks which actually tells you when kids are going through leaps which might be good for ye. Just tells you when they go through leaps and what effects it should have on them. it is good I will say.

We followed the Gina Ford book for both our kids and have to say it is spot on, they go to bed for 8 and dont wake until 9.30 ish.. The little chap just turned one and I do remember a few months ago he started doing something similar. I know it seems like forever at the time but it might pass..

Is he still on formula or bottle? If he is not a great eater and you think it is hunger waking him perhaps you could give him some milk before going to bed and that should keep him happy//

fits

I like Sara Hockwell-Smith's articles on sleep. One about toddler sleep here.

https://sarahockwell-smith.com/2016/02/03/toddlers-all-sleep-through-the-night-dont-they/?fbclid=IwAR1hrQLkfkj2KvVdRYz3MIfPCSS71b4yZBQjeh3i248do4FJJRRRelhOqPk

As for Gina Ford - I burned my twin book rather than risk it ending up in another parents hands. I think she's awful.

Milly33

How come people have such an aversion to Ford, i dont understand it.

bee06

Milly33 wrote: »

How come people have such an aversion to Ford, i dont understand it.

I haven’t read any of her books but from what I’ve heard her approach does fit very well if breastfeeding and can lead to supply issues and breastfeeding journeys ended sooner than they should/wanted. She’s very routine/scheduled based is she? Feed at x time, sleep at y time etc?

fits

In the twins book every minute of every day was scheduled but was also ridiculous with no understanding of breastfeeding. Also there’s no recognition that babies are individuals with differing needs on different days. I expect a very settled baby would be fine on it. But for everybody else you’re just battling your own instincts all the time. Responsive and adaptable parenting is much more pleasant for everyone concerned.

lazygal

Gina Ford has no interest in babies other than how she can make money from their parents. Her advice is atrocious and as fits said goes against any evidence based advice on breastfeeding.

If he's waking up with hunger are you giving him something before he goes to bed.

Something heavy that will last him through the night. A bottle won't cut it and will only result jn a wet nappy and an awake baby.

Milly33

Jes people really do hate her then .. Strange, I thought she was great, somethings you needed to change to suit your own needs but that was just common sense on the parents part.

Regards the breastfeeding part my sister used the method and jaysus she had well a lot of milk, like lots of it... Tried myself but did not have a massive supply.. Suppose it is whatever people think, i just find it funny...

Sure everyone is differant, hope the sleep has got a bit better OP

shesty

She is alright Milly, I mean her approach has its merits if you have children who happen to fit easily into a schedule from day 1.But it just didn't happen for mine, and believe me I am one of the most routine-dependent people around, and my kids are in very good routines.I think just starting from Day 1 and expecting a newborn to fall into a routine is a very big ask for many parents and babies, and can leave a new parents feeling like a total failure if it isn't working for them.Having muddled through on my first, who had silent reflux so any routine was hopeless, I embraced the fourth trimester concept fully for my second and third.I didn't manage BF past about 5 weeks because it just didn't happen for me either, but I ran with the baby as much as possible, although I kept bedtime roughly at the same time every night with a little routine around it from early on.Once they got to about 12 weeks, I started to coax a routine gently into place, but it was one nap in the cot, and one nap in a buggy or something, because I had to get out.. life has to go on.And with time the kids were sleeping fairly regularly and predictably during the day and predictably at night, but they did still wake.

To the OP, the one thing I will say about sleep consultants, is that they generally are dealing with the parents.The child is doing what children do, but the parent is usually the "problem" as a general rule, in how they react.Most sleep advice is quite similar and it is not about forcing the child to fall asleep, it is about what you do to gently aid them to fall back to sleep by themselves, without bottles etc. (We did use soothers -people have mixed feelings about those).So I suspect any decent book would give you fairly good pointers, but it is then up to you to implement them.

ec18

We looked into sleep consultants when ours was a nightmare for the first 8 months awake every 30-60 minutes. At the end we bought the lucy woulfe book (which was useful) and glad we didn't pay for a consultant. They are essentially snake oil sales people. One of out friends went to one and they essentially just got the book in a bit more detail......I've kinda come to the conclusion that they do what they want and will sleep when they're ready to