8 month separation anxiety?? Is it a terrible time to try STing?
This is not my first rodeo with sleep training. I have successfully done Happy Sleeper with three babies at the 5ish month mark. It took the typical number of days to stick, but with all 3, naps immediately improved and wakings reduced at night (I typically would continue to cosleeping after first wakeup and then around 11 mos my husband woild do Ferber for approx 2-3 nights to completely night wean. worked every time).
my current 8(!) month old is a sleep horror story. he was following his sibling’s footsteps in that around 4 months our “newborn” type sleep strategies stopped working entirely, so we counted down the day until he turned 5 months to do Happy Sleeper. it. was. a. disaster. This child unlike his older siblings continued to scream bloody murder for bedtime for 50 minutes for 3 straight weeks. I knew he had wacky daytime sleep affecting his bedtime but without the ability to fall asleep independently, I couldn’t fix naps, and with horrible naps, bedtime kept being disastrous. I was caught in sleep catch 22 from hell.
So after those 3 weeks I just decided to try anything to just help him sleep and we gave up on st. So for naps he will literally only sleep with a bottle in his doona car seat. Night’s morphed into me nursing him all the way to sleep and putting him in crib. (Which works 9/10 times).
I have tried messing with wake windows repeatedly as he grows, I’ve tried adding more formula, I’ve tried more waketimw stimulation, I’ve tried less. He is extreme FOMO, extreme high stimulation needs, super live wire and super strong will.
to make it all worse he just entered a “mommy-itis “ sep anxiety phase and it’s strong. I feel like trying CIO sleep waves woild be even worse now than before when he was 5 months??? Is it better to wait? aghhhhhh
typically I do about 3 hr wake windows, 4 before bed. 2 naps, never more than 2 hr 20 min max daytime sleep.