[lady lady]

DD#1 (2yo) still wakes during the night. She doesn't cry - just walks up to my bed where I will just walk her back to her bed tuck her in sometimes I will stay for a minute sometimes I will leave. It has taken about 18 months to get to this point. She day catnapped for the first 10 months of her life ..... and the first 8 months of her life was also awful night time sleeping.

I ditched the dummy at 8 months where she slept through for a blissful 5 months then went AWOL on me again at 13 months until now .....

Admittedly alot of her "issues" where poorly managed by me in desperation to get sleep and also the theory of "ride it out" she will sleep through when she is ready .....

DD#2 is 14 weeks and fast becoming a BAD day sleeper, the last few nights have also started to show signs of moving backwards ..... DD#1 is notorious for interrupting while I am trying to settle DD#2. I'm happy to use TV but after 10 min or so she comes looking for me. If I have the door shut she will bang on it and cry "door open, door open" until I open it.....

I have vowed to seek professional help rather than let this go on again for 2 years as I refuse to torture myself for a total of 4+ years. But am wondering what the best age is to seek help ........

If you have used sleep school - did you wish you had done it sooner or later than the age you did? Is there a right/ better/ more responsive age?

[divineM]

I first tried it at 8 weeks (too early), then at 4.5 months (worked well) for settling problems, then at 8 months (worked well) for frequent night waking. My DD is nearly 2 and still goes through bad patches but I have learnt enough to know how to handle them and she seems to eventually "come good" again. 14 weeks is close to the 4 month sleep regression though so maybe wait a few weeks before you go?

[sophiasmum]

I spent a week at sleep school with DD1 when she was 3 mths old for various issues, it was fantastic, came home with a different baby, don't regret it for a second.

[KRT]

We went when DS was 11 weeks, and it was the perfect time for us because I was about to go off the deep end and he managed to learn to self-settle. However, I think it was very, very early for that to happen.

I think somewhere in the range of 4-6 months would be ideal. You have a baby who has a tummy that's a little bigger so is more likely to cope with feeding every three hours, your baby can develop sleep associations, your baby won't be standing up or trying to crawl in the cot (hopefully)...

Why don't you give them a call to ask what they think?

[Natttmumm]

We did a day stay at 7 weeks which was useless and my name was put down for a week stay. It took until DD was 6 months to get a spot. We went at 6 mths which was a great age as the colic, reflux issues etc were not as bad at that point so it was easier to follow through without second guessing whether she was in pain.
I found the babies under 4 months there didn't get much success and the babies over 1yr were much tougher than the ones around 5 to 6 months. There were a lot of parents with babies around 14 weeks that were frustrated that it wasn't "working"
If you are struggling it might be easier to pay a private person to come to your house and show you a few techniques and come back a few times. We also tried that and found it helped more than anything

[lady lady]

Thanks ladies. I am anticipating the 4 month regression which seems to have started last 2x nights with hourly wakings. This is were it went from bad to to worse with DD#1.

I am currently reading Elizabeth Pantley. I think I will give myself from now to 6 months to see what happens and what I can "train" myself. I'm Ok with waking 3-4 hourly just not hourly for weeks on end......

[KRT]

The key to getting through any sleep regressions is to ride it out without developing sleep associations that you can't maintain. The 4 month one is key as it's the 17 week wonder week (horrendous for us) and it's the point where their sleep changes from baby sleep to adult sleep, and sleep associations can start to develop.

A lot changes from 4 to 6 months, so you might find that she figures a lot of it out for herself. It sounds like you have a pretty good plan for the next two months.

It's horribly hard, especially with another DD to wake you up. Good luck and I hope it passes soon.