I did it! I’ve been meaning to write about it but I was worried that it might be too good to be true but we are on week three of having a sleep trained baby! Thank you to everyone who gave me their advice. It was a major source of encouragement and support. In the end I used a combination of various techniques that I’ve outlined below in case any other parents may be interested.
-First night- I used the shuffle method, standing next to his crib and tapping him until he fell asleep. That night he woke up almost every hour, but I didn’t picked him up until 5 AM. I would just go in and tap him until he fell asleep.
-Second night- I continued with the shuffle. He slept a 5 hour stretch and then woke up every hour. I didn’t picked him up till 5 AM.
-Third night- I decided to see what would happen if I just let him cry for 5 minutes before I went it to tap him. After the first five minutes of crying I went in to tap him for a couple of minutes and the walked out again. The second time I waited 10 minutes before I went in. By the third time he as asleep before the 15 minutes. He only woke up once that night.
-Fourth night- at that point I knew he was capable of self soothing so I decided to go for the full on Cry-It-Out method. He cried for 15 minutes and fell asleep. That night I put him down at 7 PM and picked him up the next morning at 6 AM. He woke up several times but went back to sleep after just 5 minutes of tears.
That has become the norm for most nights. But it’s not always like this. There are nights that he wakes up and refused to go back to sleep. On the nights he doesn’t fall asleep within 30 minutes, I go in and comfort him. And if he has a cold I will also nurse him and put him back in bed. Some mornings he is up by 5 AM. And that’s just fine. It’s still a major improvement from where we were.
His naps still need work. One step at a time.
Parents, I know there is a lot out there about whether or not to sleep train. And it’s true, there are children who are not trainable for whatever reason. From my experience it’s definitely worth trying. If it doesn’t work, my heart is with you because I understand that exhaustion.
realmomsofocanddc 