Teach your children to sleep on their own
This is a lifesaver for me and I feel even more strongly about it after we were blessed with our 7th child. You see, our 7th blessing does not go to bed on her own. She needs to nurse to sleep and sometimes requires to be attached to me the whole night to sleep 
The other 6 were taught to sleep on their own as early as 3months old. Yes, the teaching period may be unpleasant but it is very short and the pay-offs is tremendous. (Disclaimer : please do not write or comment about how cruel or selfish this is because I just won’t respond 
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With the other children, the moment nap and bed times rolled around, I just need to tell them that it is time to sleep and they would lay down on their cots/beds and just go to sleep peacefully and cheerfully almost always. I do not have to lie down with them for hours and be unable to do the necessary things I need to do. I do not have to stay up late to finish up my work just because the baby/toddler doesn’t want to unlatch and stay asleep.
As I said – because I had 6 who slept by themselves it is even more glaring now that teaching a child to sleep on his own and be able to put himself to bed if he should rouse himself in the middle of the night is very important. Both for the mother as well as the child.
You can read more at Sleep Training Part 1 and Sleep Training Part 2.
So why did you not train no.7? But then again, the sleep training for no.s1-6 was probably the reason why you have no.7. ;D
Sam – I *did* sleep train #7 THREE times and failed all 3 times
She would stand and sleep or sit and sleep for about 15 minutes or so then start crying all over again. The problem was that I missed the window of opportunity when she was 3 months – had loads happening then and then as she was learning to sleep on her own she started to be able to pull herself up to stand! So that was the end of it 
And Sam – you have 4 without sleep training so I would hardly say that having more or less children has to do with sleep training
Totally agree with you, Serene. I also train all my 5 kids to go to sleep on their own from young. I thank God for that. Even when they need to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, they do it on their own, as youngas 4 years old.I don’t think I can function the next day with interrupted sleep every night.
Hello, think my 16 mth old DD and your #7 very similar in this regard except that she usually manages to sleep thru with only 1 night feed. But when nap time / bedtime comes around, she wants to latch for looooong time. I’m out of ideas, so if you have a breakthru, lemme know!!
Hi Serene,
My #1 is 27 months old and takes 1 afternoon nap. My #2 is 5.5 months old and takes 3 naps a day. How and when can you get #2 on the same nap schedule as #1? I need them to nap at the same time at some point during the day so I can get a break!
Simple, you adjust the baby’s schedule so that you can time both their naps – and yours! – together. But this means you know how long your baby sleep each time. By closely observing your baby’s sleep cues and sleep pattern you will be able to adjust her sleep so that at leats one of her naps coincide with the older one’s. All the best!