u/Here4Plants2021

I have 2 kids, a 2.5 year old and a 5 month old. I am also a working parent, as is my husband. How do you manage to not sleep train a child with varying sleep needs/schedules and be able to function at work?

I did sleep train my son, who was a terrible sleeper. But I’m debating whether to do the same with my daughter. She’s already a decent sleeper and my son’s schedule is established.

I want to sleep train my 5 month old daughter when we get back from vacation.

I have questions before we start as we did not experience this with my son:

1. Do I absolutely need to take away the paci? I will train her without it, but could I give it back to her for naps in the crib or on the go after she masters the skill? My son did not take a paci and was a power down kid and the power downing definitely made me back track with sleep training.
2. Can we continue to room share until 6 months?

Here is our schedule for reference:
2.25/2.5/2.5/2.75-3. Naps are capped to 3-3.25 hours. Night expectations is 10.75-11 with wakes for feeds. Wake 7am sharp. Bedtime 8/8:15pm. Current routine: boob, bath/wipe down, PJs/lotion, sleep sack, book, song, laid down wide awake with paci.

I want to sleep train my 5.5 month old daughter when we get back from vacation. We are setting up her room now, and she’s been sleeping unswaddled and takes all her naps (except the third one) independent in her crib. Currently she is in a pack n play in our bedroom as we room share.

I have questions before we start as we did not experience this with my son:

1. Do I absolutely need to take away the paci? I will train her without it, but could I give it back to her after she masters the skill? My son did not take a paci and was a power down kid and the power downing definitely made me back track with sleep training.
2. Can we continue to room share until 6 months? I’d like her to be able to fall asleep independently and put herself back to sleep, but our master bedroom downstairs is away from the toddler noise upstairs. Also I’d like to follow AAP guidelines on room sharing until at least 6 months. Plus I’m still nursing her and not planning on night weaning just yet so I can keep up my supply and match her growth spurts.

Here is our schedule for reference:
2.25/2.5/2.5/2.75-3. Naps are capped to 3-3.25 hours. Night expectations is 10.75-11 with wakes for feeds. Wake 7am sharp. Bedtime 8/8:15pm. Current routine: boob, bath/wipe down, PJs/lotion, sleep sack, book, song, laid down wide awake with paci.

My daughter falls asleep independently with a paci. First nap she reliably consolidates. Second nap is all over the place. She almost always wakes after 30-45 min. If I contact nap this one, she connects easily. She also struggles staying awake for this nap and I have to distract a ton after 2 hours. She’ll absolutely fall asleep in a stroller if I let her after 2 hours. Wondering if I’m pushing her too far?

WWs 2.25/2.5/2.5/2.75-3.

Wake at 7am
Nap 1 9:15-10:45 (capped)
Nap 2 1:15-2:15 (capped)
Nap 3 4:45-5:15 (stroller)
Bedtime 8/8:15pm

My daughter is newly 5 months and seemingly needs a change in wake windows every 2 weeks (is this normal?). I suspect she’s going to transition to 2 naps on the earlier side.

Right now. We’re at 2.25/2.5/2.5/2.75. A week ago, these windows were tough to hit, but now they’re a little too comfortable, and that third nap is shortening.

1. Did you push windows past 10 hours total awake?
2. How aggressively did you cap naps?
3. Cold turkey or add in a micro nap instead?

She goes down independently for naps and bedtime but with a paci. Pending formal sleep training after we get back from vacation. Though contemplating doing it before so we can avoid the nap transition confusion?

Meltdown before nap?

My LO will be 5 months in a couple days. Can handle windows 2-2.25 in the morning before nap 1, 2.5 before nap 3, and 2.75 before bed. But that second window she CANNOT handle 2.5. She’s having a meltdown and is desperate to sleep at 2.25. There’s no way she can do 2/2.5/2.5/3 right now and we’ve been 3 naps for almost 2 weeks.

The other issue is that my nanny has been resettling her over and over for nap 2 when she wakes. So say she’ll do a 45 min nap, she’ll resettle and then if she wakes again, she’ll resettle. Part of me is happy that she’s “sleeping off” this extended window that she’s really struggling with, but now this nap is consistently hitting 2 hours with all the resettles and it is responsible for our later bedtime and some decreased early morning pressure.

Do I keep pushing through to 2.5 window or just scale back to 2.25? She needs at MINIMUM 9.75 total wake time to get to DWT range.

She goes to nap and bedtime independently but WITH paci. Will sleeptrain out paci when we move her out of our room at 6 months.