Well, it’s been awhile. But, I’m back!! Last week was mid-winter break and we decided to sleep train Zoey- figured since I had it off so I could deal with losing sleep. In my quest to find a solution to Zoey’s sleep problems, I read several books. I tried “The No-Cry Sleep Solution.” It wasn’t structured enough. I read “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby.” This plan was too structured. I researched “Baby Wise.” It was too harsh. I couldn’t find a method that I 100% agreed with or would work for our family. So, I did what all good mother’s do – I put together a game plan that would work for us. I took bits and pieces from each method and set out to get Zoey to sleep through the night. From the no-cry book I took the advice to not let her cry endlessly. From the book Healthy Sleep Habits, I focused on her “wake-sleep routine.” And from Baby Wise I made sure that she didn’t see me during the night (since I’m the milk supply!).
Here’s what we did:
1) Set a bedtime routine. around 6:30-7pm I start getting her ready for bed. After her dinner, I give her a bath (about 2x a week!), then we go get out PJ’s on, then we call Papa to come read a story (usually Smooch Your Pooch!), then Papa and Zo call me in and I nurse her.
2) We changed the way we soothe her. Usually I would pick her up, sometimes nurse her, and rock her back to sleep. We made a decision to not pick her up. Instead we just rubbed her back until she calmed down, let go so she could sleep. If she started crying again, we’d go back to rubbing her back. And continued until she was out.
3) We decided that she wouldn’t need to eat until 5am. So Luis would take all night wakings before that, otherwise she would want to eat.
Here’s how she did:
First 3 nights were pretty bad. She woke up about 6 times, and each time took about an hour to soothe her back to sleep. Mid-week we were down to 3-4 wakings a night, and about 5 min of soothing (HURRAY!). On Wednesday night she only woke up 1x at 5:45 AM!!! Such a proud momma! However, by the end of the week we were back up to 4-5 wakings, with 15 min of soothing. I think her top 2 teeth are cutting through, so I’m sure that has something to do with it.
I think I expected her sleep habits to change entirely by the end of the week. It didn’t happen so I began to get very frustrated. But I have to keep telling myself, we are making progress. Even if it doesn’t seem like it, we are. Just got to focus on that!
Elizabeth Horn 