Proof our PLS fuss-it-out plan and help save our 2025 :)

We're looking for folk to weigh in our sleep training plan, set to start the evening of Dec 27th.

We're going to start with the Fuss it Out method in Precious Little Sleep. We've done very mild versions of this with success since she was young to get her used to the swaddle, then arms out, etc bc all things considered she's a pretty cheerful baby and we dodged reflux/colic etc so had it easier than many. We are lucky that as long as we put her down when Huckleberry tells us to, and hold the pacifier in her mouth (she has learned the fun game of spitting it out and then complaining for it to be put back in) till she falls asleep (usually no longer then 5 mins needed) she goes to sleep without any fight.

We are now going to use FIO in earnest, with the hope that we don't have to move on to SLIP/CIO, bc we now have a deeply addicted pacifier gremlin that requires it go to sleep and throughout the night (like every 45 - 70 mins, kill me now - actually no need the pacifier is doing that job). We tried the 'paci pull out' method for a night but found it an absurd task to try and tigure out when to pull out so she wasnt too asleep, but also no create an increasingly pissed gremlin on each attempt to pull it out. Our understanding is that bc we don't have a regular bedtime yet (it can be anytime from 745p - 10p), we should do FIO instead of SLIP.

For those that did FIO, please let us know if our plan is sound:

  • We're planning on doing our bedtime routine, minus pacifier (boob, book, diaper/magic suit, song, snoo)
  • Then setting our timer to 20 mins, turning on the baby monitor and going downstairs, and if she's still fussing/crying at the end of 20, going back in and giving her pacifier to sleep. Right?
  • And then do the same 20 min timer for each night waking...? (I just felt the blood drain from my face).
  • Except for her feed at 12:30a and 4am. At those times, we'll put her straight on the boob and if she falls asleep there, fine, we'll just place her back in the SNOO.
  • We're going to give this approach 5 nights to work and then if it doesn't, I guess try SLIP/CIO?

Questions:

How can we work around not yet having a set bedtime? Her nap lengths are so variable (increasingly just 34 mins long, with an occasional 1-2 hr buggy nap), so we haven't been able to consistently hit our 8pm target for bedtime. (The parent working at the moment doesn't get home till 7 and wants baby time and to help with bedtime, so 8 is the best fit for us).

How can we try to land on a consistent bedtime, given her naps are 'a drunken mosquito,' as put in PLS? :D

Context : Baby Girl is 19 weeks old and rolling front-to back and back to front, and breastfed. She almost entirely sleeps in her SNOO (now, arms out), with occasional buggy naps and carrier naps. We loosely followed the Happiest Baby 5 S's and so she's used a pacifier, which works really great to help her fall asleep, and for about a month she was sleeping 7 - 10 hrs straight and we daily praised the sleep gods for their bounty. But then she got covid and was in hospital for 3 days and a couple weeks later got a bad cold and those things, combined with the 4 mo regression, are i think what turned her into a pacifier gremlin that demands that it be put back into her mouth all night.

Edit to add sleep schedule: She normally wakes up for the day (as in for that last 2 weeks) about 6:30am. Sometimes this is her up for the day, sometimes we can feed her back down till 8:15am. Her wake windows are 2 hrs long, unless she show signs of being sleepy earlier, and she has 3-4 naps a day.

Thank you for your input, everyone! Happy Christmas/Hanukkah to those who celebrate!