sleep training Archives - My Life: A Work in Progress

Sleep training update: We’re seeing progress!

26 January, 2013 3 Comments

First of all, I really don’t like the words “sleep training.” He’s my baby, not my dog. Is there another word/term for it? If you haven’t read any of my previous posts, our son slept in our bed with us until he was past the high-risk age for SIDS. I’d read all the info saying it could be dangerous to sleep in the same bed with your child, and we had a little bassinet…but the first two months of his life, that kid did NOT sleep, unless he was sleeping on my or Daddy’s chest. When he was about 4 months old, I went through several weeks of torture (more so for me, than him, I think) to get him to fall asleep in his crib. It was finally starting to go better; then came the holidays. For about a month and a half, we had guests staying with us, on and off, sleeping in my son’s room. So we moved him back in with us.

Anyway, I started off almost two weeks ago now, by co-sleeping with my son in his room (in the spare bed). After 3 nights of that, I started moving him in the middle of the night into his crib (I stayed sleeping in the room). This past Monday, I started putting him in crib to start with, and I slept away from him with Hubby in our bedroom.

The first night he cried for about 40 minutes. I felt terrible, but just kept going in and checking on him, picking him up, patting his back, whispering to him…basically comforting him in whatever way I could other than giving in and taking him back to bed with me (which is what he wanted).

The second night he cried less. The third night he cried for maybe 15 minutes. Last night he didn’t cry at all.

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, I have enough experience with babies to know that he might just turn around and say, “Psyche!” tonight or tomorrow night or a month from now and start crying again. But last night was wonderful. I can hope that tonight will go just as well, can’t I?

Sleep training…again

6 January, 2013 4 Comments

When my son turned 5 months, I started orienting him to his crib and his own room. Some days went better than others. Eventually, he and I both slept longer being away from each other. My husband snores, and I wake up often. I also go to bed late. All of that combined, Baby J woke up often when co-sleeping with us. Thanksgiving rolled around, and we had guests staying with us for a few weeks…all the way until the New Year. The guest bed is in Baby J’s room, so he co-slept with us.

Tomorrow I’ll start orienting him to the crib all over again. Through my previous experience and through a book I’ve been reading, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night: Foreword by William Sears, M.D. (Pantley),
I’ll be doing it differently this time. I’m going to co-sleep with him in the guest bed for several days, then start moving him to his crib in the night, while I continue to sleep in his room. We’ll also implement a strict bedtime and wind-down routine. We kind of got away from that during the holidays and being out of town this last week.

baby sleeping — Baby J napping in his swing.

I’m a little scared of these next couple of weeks, because I know it’ll be rough…but in the end, we’ll all sleep better, so it’ll be worth it. I also have to start getting him to nap during the day without his swing, but I think I’ll save that one for after we get him used to the crib.

I’d love some advice to make this process smoother. Do you have any no-cry tips for me?

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