BEST Age to Start Sleep Training, Should You Wake a Sleeping Baby & Breastfeeding From 6-12 Months

The Doctors Bjorkman are a board-certified OB/GYN and Pediatrician couple who have shared their recent experience of TTC, pregnancy, birth, and life as new parents with their first baby. This week they continue their new weekly series -- Sunday Q&A, where they answer your questions.

0:00 - Intro
1:12 - Recap of thoughts on sleep training techniques
1:48 - What age can you start sleep training?
3:10 - When can you stop overnight feeds?
6:43 - How much should your baby breastfeed after starting solids?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Intro Music: A WAY FOR ME - Nicolai Heidlas by Chem Ocampo

Keywords: pregnancy update, the doctors bjorkman, third trimester pregnancy, pregnancy, obgyn, labor, c-section, breastfeeding, newborn essentials, baby sleep

[unerevuese]

For our own mental health, we ended up sleep training our baby. We also have moved to his crib at night and he sleeps 5+ hours. We closely watch him with our monitor and feed him as much as we can during the day. Has gained a lot of weight and our pediatrician is happy with his progress.

[tessaerlandson]

Tomorrow I return to work after 6 months of being home with my baby and I've been crying all night. This video is just what I needed. I hope everyone reading this has a great week!

[elizabethanderson]

Could you all do an episode on babies and colds/flu etc? I'm on my third baby and still struggle with treating colds and flu effectively. My first child had RSV at 5 months old and scared us quite a bit and I'm always worried something like that may happen again. As we head into fall/winter it is on my mind.

[oneheaart]

Thank you so much for answering these questions. I’m 38 weeks now with my baby and these are all the questions I had prior to my little coming. Thanks doctors!

[jessicakirk]

We started very gentle sleep training at 3 months, only because that's when our daughter started to self soothe, so I wanted to give her opportunities to practice those skills. No more than 3 or 5 minutes at that age. And it was hugely beneficial. She got so much practice in and put herself to sleep twice in a few weeks.

I'm glad that I researched but also, most importantly payed attention to my individual baby and what she was showing me that she was capable of doing. The main thing was not rushing in every time she fussed or cried and give her a few minutes to try to figure it out herself.

Your baby is going to cry or fuss learning any new skill but do you want short term crying or long term crying? That's basically your decision. My niece is almost 4 and still sleeps with her parents and has cried a lot due to waking up and not having their parents there. She had cried more, collectively than my sleep trained 7 month old has.

[ferretchick]

Thank you for picking these questions! They address right where I'm at with baby and was the reassurance I needed!

[PW]

Thank you so much for answering my question, great info!!

[SisterSanMiguel]

We started at 2 months and she’s been crib trained since then. Sleeps about 8-12 hours. Gave me a huge peace of mind

[poorniwanasinghe]

Very helpful video. Thank you so much 🙏

[savannahs]

So what do we do 2-4 months? Possible to sort of sleep train? Sleep prep?

[Amanda-ztfu]

I know sleep training can stir up alot of emotions and opinions from people 😅 y’all are brave to tackle it, but I appreciate it!

[MsSavvyChic]

You two look SO happy in this video! Thank you for the helpful tips on sleeping…

[kimbershark]

My son is 3 weeks old and was born at 37 weeks. I have both a bassinet and a mosses basket that I have in my bed. He doesn't have any issues falling asleep on my chest, however anytime I try to put him down whether it be in the mosses basket or his bassinet he cries and gets extremely upset 😢 😞 so I usually have him sleep on me during the night. I'm trying to break this habit, but it's easier said than done. I co-slept with my daughter the day she came home from the hospital. She was a day late. So totally opposite of my son. This was also 17 years ago! So I feel like a brand new parent all over again. My son also recently got circumcised 4 days ago. So while family is saying I should put him in his bassinet/mosses basket and let him cry 😢 I feel in my heart he's not ready and it would be too hard on him emotionally right now. So my question is. When should I let him "cry it out" or self sooth until he falls asleep on his own and not on me? Also I'm currently not producing a lot of milk so he's been getting 90% formula and 10% breast milk. Im trying to pump to increase my milk but its hard when im holding him constantly. I pee holding him, clean holding him... you get the drift 😐 it's just really hard for me to see him get so upset. Oh also he isn't the best with breastfeeding. It doesnt help that my nipples are inverted too 😕 And now he literally does one or two sucks and he gives up and starts crying. I watched another video that said if babies are using medium flow bottle nipples they can get a bit lazy with the boob. They're so used to not having to work for the milk. Nipple shields are great but when he doesn't suck long enough to get anything out he gets upset.

I hope all this made sense. It's kinda all over the place. Like my life is right now 🙃 😆 🤣

Praying you see this and can help me, because lord knows I need all the advice and support I can get 🙏 Thank you so much ♡♡♡

[lydiasmith]

I know you two have mentioned your dogs! Do you have any special tips for introducing baby to the dog? Did you train your dog on anything new before hand?

[pinkblossom]

You know why everyone loves you guys? Because you guys are so honest🌹 You are so honest and really helpful. Thank you creating this channel and videos. I tell everyone about your channel 😊

[Breanna_says]

Thank you sooo much because this cleared up soooo much me being a first time parent. My mother was trying to get me to start sleep training our new born and I felt like that was a little aggressive because this is the stage where she’s trying to eat as much as possible and focus on gaining weight. I feel A LOT better reading other comments and listening to this as well. My daughter is 3 weeks now and she sleeps very well thru the night wakes up every 2-3hrs for feedings during the day time sometimes I would have to wake her up but other than that she’s a foodie like her parents 😂

[UnderTheSameSun]

Ill start sleep training as soon as theyre born.

[jenkha]

My daughter is 7 months and has always struggled with sleeping throughout the night. We can’t seem to get our pediatrician to help us with answers for this. She keeps telling us to sleep train, but I don’t think that’s the issue. She falls asleep on her own between 7:30-8 pm, but she wakes up at 11 pm and is ready for the day by 4/4:30 am. What are the questions we should be asking our pediatrician?

[robyn]

I very gently sleep trained my son when he was around 5 months. Up until 5 months naps were a struggle as he mainly contact napped on me. It took maybe 2 weeks to get him to nap in his crib. He is 7 months now and naps 1.5 hour in the morning and 2-2.5 hours in the afternoon then sleeps 11 hours straight at night. I followed Taking Cara Babies tips. But maybe I am just blessed with a good sleeper lol

[annaberzitskaya]

I struggle with convincing myself that sleep training does no harm to babies, and there are a few reasons for that:

1. Numerous cases exist where studies that were widely promoted were later proven to be false.

Remember how pediatricians used to recommend placing babies on their stomachs to sleep?

Given the ongoing replication crisis, it's challenging to fully trust even "evidence-based information."

2. My heart cannot accept the idea that a little creature who spent almost a year in their mother's womb would be ready to sleep by themselves in a strange and unfamiliar environment.

I understand the benefits it would bring to the family to have a good, uninterrupted night's sleep, but it is incredibly difficult for me to convince myself that it is for the best to leave my loved one to soothe themselves.