Hi everyone,
So I was wondering if anyone has ever tried sleep training their baby? I have an 8 month old daughter. She would sleep on me or nestled by me until she reached 6 months. I would try putting her down in her crib after she fell asleep, but she would either wake up right away, or fall asleep and wake up hours later. When that would happen I would give in and just let her sleep with me for the remainder of the night. I was just so exhausted I didn't care at the time.
At the moment she still needs to be rocked to sleep before I place her in the crib, and when she wakes up hours later, I stick it out and put her back to sleep and back into her crib each time. If she wakes up too much before I get her, she won't go back to sleep without a bottle. I personally don't think she's really hungry since she has three meals a day and a bottle before bed. I think she just associates the sucking on a bottle to getting asleep. She doesn't like pacifiers.
I have been researching the Ferber Method (which is letting baby cry without picking the baby up out of the crib, comforting the baby by patting it on the back or any other way without picking baby up, and waiting longer to attend to the baby) I am worried and nervous about doing this. I know it's a hard process and can take awhile before the baby learns to self soothe.
Has anyone ever tried this method or have opinions or suggestions? Should I try this method? Will my baby just eventually learn to sleep through the night as she grows up?