Sleep Training at 17 months
Has anyone had success with sleep training at 17 months especially if you tried it previously and it didn't work? We did sleep training with our daughter about a year ago and it did help a lot. She moved from sleeping on us to sleeping in the crib (a real life changer). She still struggled with naps and the first part of the evening and sleeping through the night. She's improved in those areas as well over time but at nap time and when she first goes to bed she will sleep for 30 minutes exactly and then wake up and not be able to put herself back to sleep. If I go in, I can almost always hold her and get her to sleep and sometimes just patting her on the back works. It doesn't matter how tired she is. This always happens. When we did sleep training last year we let her cry for an hour and sometimes longer at night but she just got more worked up and either didn't go back to sleep or it took over an hour even after a month of this. She will occasionally sleep through the night or wake up and be able to quickly go back to sleep but often she's up sometime between 2am-4am and I have to put her back to sleep. It can take two hours to get her into a deep enough sleep that I can also relax and sleep. She's either asleep with me in bed or I've managed to get her into the crib. I don't expect anyone to have the answer but wondering if you have any experience with something similar with sleep training or working with a sleep consultant. I'm skeptical of sleep consultants because they all seem to say some form of 'put the baby down drowsy, check on them periodically, let them cry and magically they will learn to sleep'. That said, I'm probably going to hire one so would love any recommendations and any stories from people who've been here!
Parent Replies
We did ferber sleep training at 18 months and it worked, so I don't think yours is too old. www.thebabysleepengineer.com is a very nice sleep consultant we worked with and she had lots of ideas. The chair method is nice for older kids. That said, I agree sleep consultants seem to have a blind spot for kids outside the norm and if your kid is really struggling despite you following all the protocols it's worth investigating if there's a medical or other issue that makes the formula not work (our neurodivergent kid has a much harder time settling, for example, and we got tired of letting him cry or lay awake staring into the darkness)
Hi, that sounds exhausting! My advice would be to give Cry It Out another try but prepare to be 100% committed to it. I sleep-trained my baby at 4 months this way and it was really hard to never go in to soothe. But if you are not 100% consistent, it undoes all of the kid's learning and creates uncertainty (and stress) for them. That's my take on it. Also, at that age I feel like not getting enough sleep can create sleep disruptions. You might try moving bedtime earlier (depending on how much sleep your child is currently getting each night). Just an idea. Good luck.
But if you want expert advice, I highly recommend Arlene (www.GentleTouchSleepTime.com) - she definitely gives personalized advice. Another resource I like is the Huckleberry website and sample sleep schedules by age.
Here's a suggestion. If you child wakes up exactly 30 minutes after falling asleep try being in the room ready to sooth with voice or patting her back as soon as she stirs. If she does not wake all the way up she may go back to sleep faster without ever waking all the way up. You may find she needs you less and less help and eventually will learn to put herself back to sleep at the 30 minute mark without any help from you. I don't have any suggestion for the 2 am part, just lots of empathy.
Good luck.