How to Sleep Train a 6-month-old Baby

In my hastily written 7 Month Milestones post I forgot our baby's largest milestone: He now goes to sleep within 10 minutes of putting him down.

I'm aware that by writing the above, I may be jinxing myself to a kid who never sleeps again...and yet, by writing this disclaimer, and by noting that I'm not writing this to brag about our situation, but to benefit others, that the jinxing gods will have mercy on us. HAVE MERCY ON US!!! (You can't be too superstitious when it comes to the baby sleeping.  Seriously.)

So, how did we do it?

How do you sleep train your baby when they're six months old?

Well, here's how we did it.  I believe it's call the Ferber method, but basically it was the first method we read about int Baby 411.  That's a book.  Look it up if you like.  Or keep reading, because in the end, it doesn't matter what the method is called, it freaking works.  Here's what we did:

1. Establish a bedtime routine.

We did this early on - around 4 months - by giving him a bath around the same time, then reading and winding down.  And yet, we still ended up holding him and bouncing on the fitness ball for at least an hour while he slowly cried less and less.

So every night, even while we had established a routine, it took us over an hour to put him to bed.

2. Put him in the crib, say goodnight, and walk away.

It ain't easy, but it must be done.

3. Let him cry/scream for 5 minutes before checking on him.

4. Check on him, but very calmly, very lightly.  Then leave quickly.

5. Listen to him scream for 10 minutes, then check on him again.

6. Repeat step 5 until the baby falls asleep.

They say it can take up to 2-3 hours the first night.  We got LUCKY and he only wailed for 40 minutes.

And ever since that first night, we put him down for naps or bedtime, and he screams/cries for only about 5-10 minutes, then falls asleep on his own.

The TOUGHEST part, of course, is listening to the baby scream after you check on him.  I mean, he freaking GOES CRAZY, so I recommend either ear plugs, or, if you have a large house, DISTANCE yourself from the nursery.

But set a stop watch.  I used my wrist watch so I could see how long he had cried.

Of course, this may not work for everyone, blah blah blah, disclaimer, dischlaimer..,

But, it worked for us.

If you have NOT tried any sleep training, and your kid is at least 5 months old, I highly recommend this method.

As always, good luck, parents. Sleep training is joke, and I pray to the Jinxing gods (see, I haven't forgotten about you!) that you're successful.

-ND