Sleep trained!

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.

Sleep training speed bump

So just when I finally gathered the courage to start the sleep training process, and succeeded in getting the baby to fall asleep in his crib during his naps, he woke up with a terrible cold and cough.  And so once again children teach us that life is always unpredictable.  Back in the swing we go until everyone is feeling better.

It Has Begun…

After receiving some great advice from friends and readers I took the first step to moving my baby out of our bed. Last night, after his bath time and his bottle, I put him in his pack n play. I was an experience that helped me learn a bit more about my son’s personality. For two hours he tossed and turned and tried to climb out. I was amazed with his tenacity and perseverance. At six months old, he was trying to figure out how to get out of the pack n play and into my bed. But I did not give up. And neither did he. First he tried to seduce me into picking him up by looking into my eyes and giving me a big smile. And while that ALMOST worked, I stayed strong. Then he yelled at me for about one hour. He didn’t cry. He just yelled, as if to say, “how dare you abandon me?” Then he tried to climb out. All I could do was bury my face in my pillow and laugh. Two hours later, he wore himself out and started crying. That is one sound I cannot stand to hear. Plus I think he was trying to tell me that he was thirsty. I know I would be if I exerted all that effort. So I picked him up, gave him what was left in his milk bottle and he passed out.

We made it through half the night with him in his pack n play. I woke up around 1 AM to pump and found myself counting the hours till 7 AM so that I could bring him into our bed and play. I only made it to four AM. And while he was perfectly fine, I wasn’t. He spent the rest of the night next to us. Tonight we will try again 🙂

And one note about the pumping. I have decided to keep going, mostly because my prince doesn’t seem to like formula. He’s the boss.

I’m In Trouble

Two days ago my husband took baby boy to his monthly checkup.  I’m usually the one who takes him and I really love his pediatrician.  She is a new mom herself and so her advice resonates on a more real level.  We chat as if we are two friends having coffee and talking about our kids.  But I couldn’t go this last time because I had to work.  So when my husband came home and told me his pediatrician needed to talk to me about a few things I was doing, I knew I was in trouble.  And I knew what she was going to tell me.  But I’m not one to shy away from criticism so I quickly picked up the phone and called her answering service.   She called me soon after and after a moment of chit chat she told me what I didn’t want to hear but know is the truth: it’s time to put the baby in his own bed and his own room.  Just hearing those words made my heart sink.  But I know she’s right. My best friend, who is also a pediatrician, has lectured me on this in the past but that was before he was six months old and I thought I still had time.

Now though, I know that if I sleep train him he will soon sleep through the night without waking up and that by keeping him next to me as a snuggle bunny, I was only being selfish.  I promised that I would try to at least put him in his pack ‘n play in my room.  The idea of putting him in his own room, all alone, is just unbearable at the moment.  And what I don’t want to do is go through reading another sleep training book.  So if you would, I beg of you to give me advice.  How did you sleep train your baby?  How long did it take?  And was it worth it? And please, please don’t tell me I have to let him cry.

One thing you should know about me is,  growing up, I was always the teacher’s pet.  I don’t like when the teacher is disappointed in me.  So I have to get this assignment right.  But unlike grade school, I don’t have a clear text book on how to ace this exam.  I hope that you can help.

My Baby Is Sleep Training Me

It’s been weeks since my last post.  My schedule has changed at work, giving me more time to spend with my baby on a daily basis, but less days off during the week.  I now wake up in the morning, spend 30 minutes with my little one, hurriedly get dressed and run out the door.  When I’m finished with work at seven, I get home as fast as I can, run through the door and pick up the baby before he has had a chance to fall asleep.  I then strap on the pump and eat dinner so that my son has some fresh milk to send him off to dream land.  And then I do my favorite thing of the day.  I lay next to my little one and watch him fight sleep until he gives up and finally closes his eyes.  Sometimes I fall asleep before he does and that’s OK, because I need every second of slumber I can get.

Sleep.  I don’t know a single new parent that isn’t obsessed with this issue.  How can we get our child to sleep through the night?  It’s a multimillion dollar industry with hundreds of books preaching just as many techniques.   For every book or article I read, I have found there are others that tell you to use the exact opposite method.  And for every method, you’ll find at least one parent who will tell you it was miraculous and one parent who will say it was impossible to implement. 

As for me, I have given up on the idea of sleep training my baby.  He is now sleep training me.  He sleeps better when he is in our bed.  And so that’s where I put him.  If he wakes up in the middle of the night, I give him a bottle.  My son’s pediatrician, who I hope reads this blog, will be very disappointed to find this out from me.  She has advised me not to do any of the above.  It’s not that I can’t.  It’s just that I don’t want to.  I work all day and so sleepy time is also bonding time for me.  And if he wakes up, even if it’s for 10 minutes, I don’t mind giving him milk because it’s another chance for us to bond.  Some nights, he only wakes up once.  Others, four times.  I no longer check the clock because I have found that if I don’t know how little sleep I’m getting, I don’t feel as tired.

Last night, we decided we would make him sleep in his crib, the one next to our bed.  He is only 27 inches long, but he has found a way to take over most of our bed, leaving his dad and I literally sleeping on the edge.  When he complained, however, I was thrilled and picked him up and put him next to me.  I love that he loves sleeping next to me.  One day, and that day will come sooner than later, he will not want to be with us.  In the mean time, I’ll enjoy every second with him that I can get, even if it means I barely get any snooze.  I just wish we had a king size bed.