# Thoughts on Tracy Hogg's "pick up/put down" technique



## t2009 (Sep 1, 2009)

Hello!

I am new to the Mothering community... sleep issues are driving me to seek advice.

DS is actually a decent sleeper at almost 5 mos. Well, he doesn't nap more than an hour ever (sometimes just 20 minutes) but at night he typically only wakes twice. He sleeps in his crib in his own room (transitioned from co-sleeping about 1 1/2 month ago... and for personal reasons we don't want to return to that arrangement aside from snuggling in the mornings).

Problem is that when he wakes at 2 to nurse it takes an hour or more to get him back to sleep. He doesn't want to play but will not go down without waking/crying. I have to bounce him for quite a while after nursing before attempting to lay him down (even tho he seems to fall asleep while nursing).

Up until a week ago this was fine (tho sleep deprived I love cuddling with DS at night). But now he doesn't quite fall asleep in my arms ever--we never get to the point when his pacifier falls out & he goes totally limp & he continues to squirm for a long time... So it's like my holding him is keeping him from falling asleep but he doesn't quite yet know how to fall asleep on his own.

We repeat this at 4 or 5 (tho sometimes he simply refuses to go back to sleep then & is just up for the morning (with bags under his eyes...).

Which brings me to Hogg & her "middle of the road" "sleep training" technique. Anyone have thoughts on her pick up/put down strategy? (She advises parents to pick up their baby when he cries and put him down once he stops... repeat until he finally puts himself to sleep.) I can't figure out if it's just as bad as CIO and if it actually will work. My pediatrician (who I love but who also advocates CIO) thinks that this is more confusing for the baby than CIO.

Also, I'm not sure how much to buy into Hogg generally as I'm not a fan of her strict schedules and feeding advice. But I'm tempted by her sleep advice... it seems reasonable enough but I'd love to hear from other moms, not only on Hogg but your own experience/advice. Again, I wouldn't even be considering ANY sleep "training" except that we're at this strange developmental moment where he's not falling asleep deeply in my arms but can't yet fall asleep on his own.

Thanks & apologies that this is long!


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## LadyCatherine185 (Aug 12, 2008)

sleep deprivation is rough. 5 months is also a really hard time for sleep. I agree that the 'pick-up, put-down' method sounds more 'gentle' than CIO, but also can be very confusing to little babies.

Have you read The No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley? It has some great tips/advice for gently helping babies sleep.

Just wanted to say also, at that age my DS would only nap for 15 minutes or so at a time. He also woke 10-15 times per night...

Even if you do not want to bedshare, perhaps you could move the baby's crib into your room? That way you don't have to do as much waking up.








good luck!


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## MeAndVee (Sep 12, 2007)

We tried PUPD method. Didn't work for us. I know some moms who swear by it. But like CIO if he gets a cold or hits a milestone and you put him to bed differently you will have to do PUPD all over again. Your child will learn how to settle himself when he is developmenatly ready to. My son learned to sleep on his own at 13 months. It seemed to take him forever! He co-sleeps with us now, but for those 3 months that we used a crib all we had to do was sing his bed time song and lie him down and he was done til 8 am! Bliss. That day will come for you too.


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## Meems (Jan 8, 2007)

I am very anti CIO and have read parts of Hogg's book. Personally, I don't think I could do it w/ a small baby. I just think it would be hard as a mom to do. A good friend of mine did this w/ her then 3 mo old and after 3 wks, had an entirely different baby- sleeping wise, that is. She is still a great sleeper. I envy that her babe goes down so easily w/ so little fuss or none at all. I think that if you want to do sleep training, Hogg's is better than the others.


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## lolar2 (Nov 8, 2005)

I had a friend who is anti-CIO, who said it worked well for her. For me, it sounds harder on my back than just carrying the baby around, so I never tried it.


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## babymaggie (Nov 11, 2007)

it made things worse for us.


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## Cartesia (Mar 26, 2008)

We've been doing a modified version very recently and it seems to work -

I nurse or bounce LO till he is sleepy then put him in the crib.
I then do pat/shush and he will either fall alseep or start to get agitated. If he fusses I pick him up for less than a minute and then put him down again to pat shush. Usually it only takes a few pick-ups. At the worst, it was about 20 but he never cried.

If he starts crying I stop doing this and nurse him to sleep.

I'm liking this way of doing it because I KNOW my LO can fall asleep with pat/shush - he has done it dozens of times. For us the pick-up seems to be like a re-set button that allows him to try laying still again.

BTW, my DS is 9 months old and can crawl and stand - I am not interested in forcing him to lie down or to sleep. This method works because it seems to help HIM decide to lay quietly. Again, personally I WOULD NOT DO IT IF HE WAS CRYING ABOUT IT.


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## Nillarilla (Nov 20, 2007)

It worked with my ds but he was an easygoing baby. With my dd not so much. It makes her really angry. I guess we do a variation. I hold her until her body relaxes and her eyes start to close and then I put her down and lay a hand on her or pat her if she's restless. If she starts to fuss I pick her up and do the same again. She doesn't ever really cry during this though.


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## clevelandmama (Apr 10, 2008)

I never tried it. Just a thought - when you go in to nurse him, do you turn a light on or change the environment at all (other than you being there)? With dd I found that the least change (in light, sound, position, etc.) the better - if she needed a diaper change or we needed to turn the light on for any other reason it seemed to take her a lot longer to get back to sleep.

Good luck!


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## SS7221 (Sep 13, 2013)

In response to your post about trying out tI am going through the same exact issues. What worked? What approach did you end up using? Thanks so much.N


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## llwr (Feb 24, 2009)

I did PUPD with my first. Personally, I think it's about the hardest thing there is. Just holding is much easier than all that up and down. I guess it helped, but it certainly wasn't miraculous for us. I'm not sure if it's worth it or not. I like that it tried to be kind and respectful by picking up baby when he/she needed it, while giving them a chance to settle in bed, but I'm not sure those ideas really come across in actual process. You might just be confusing them with all that action.

I 2nd the rec for the no cry sleep solution -- lots of ideas and gentler.

You said he's almost 5 months..... It could be the 4 month sleep regression. More night-waking and harder to get back down seem to be the trademarks of it. I personally think it's the absolute worst part of having a baby. The 4 month regression and morning sickness are the only things I'd wish away.


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