Sleep Training and Scheduling

I know I’ve griped to many of you about the bad habits I’d gotten Matthew into. For the first couple months he napped only in my arms, which I loved at first, but then realized: I will never get anything done again… ever! =0 He woke the second I tried to put him down, so I started nursing him lying down in my bed and then sneaking away once he fell asleep. That worked so well that I threw his bedtime routine out the window and started doing it then too! I’d sneak him into his crib after he’d fallen into a deep enough sleep and that worked for awhile, until he started waking up more often needing to be nursed back to sleep all night long. What did I expect?? This kid had no idea how to fall asleep on his own! Now that I was up multiple times a night with him, I was growing more and more exhausted… so what did I do? Bring him into our bed, of course. Seriously, as I write this I’m wondering, “what on earth was I thinking?” I guess sleep deprivation got the best of me.

Alright, so here I am with a 5 1/2 month old baby who exclusively nurses to sleep, won’t sleep in his crib, and wakes up more times a night than he did as a newborn. =/ Yikes! I knew I had to do something to help teach Matthew how to fall asleep on his own, but I was so hesitant to try sleep training because I couldn’t bear to hear him cry. Our pediatrician had suggested night weaning, but to be honest I just didn’t think it would work. However, thanks to Lisa’s post about the success she had with sleep training and Holly’s suggestion in the comments section, I felt motivated enough to give it a try.

Let me tell you, the result has been AMAZING and so much quicker/easier than expected!! I started off by listing out all the things I wanted to accomplish: (1) Teaching Matthew to fall asleep on his own – I made the decision that I would no longer nurse him to sleep, (2) ALL of his sleeping would be done in his crib, unless he fell asleep in the car – He was not going to be allowed back into our bed (a decision that actually made me sad knowing I wouldn’t be able to cuddle with him during the night), (3) Teaching him that nights are NOT for eating – Unless I could tell that he was truly hungry, I was going to rock him back to sleep when he woke, rather than feed him.

I knew I had to tackle everything at once and be consistent if I wanted Matthew to understand and accept the new plan. So here’s how it went: for naps I established a quick routine (wipe down with warm washcloth, read, rock) then put him down tired, but still awake. The first time he cried for 15 minutes, I checked on him twice, and then he slept for 1.5 hours in his crib!! I was so amazed, and this definitely gave me the motivation to keep going. I started consistently doing his bedtime routine (bath, lotion, pjs, read, rock) and just like naps, putting him down when he became drowsy. Bedtime actually involved less fussing because he gets so tired by the end of the day and falls asleep quickly. The first night he woke up twice and I was up for 45 min. – 1 hr. rocking him each time. The second night he still woke up twice but for only 5 – 10 min. of rocking. The third night he woke once, but again we were up for almost an hour. Since then he has been sleeping GREAT! 7pm – 7am + every night! I was so amazed at how quickly he adapted. I still haven’t gotten used to the fact that I can put him down for naps and bedtime awake and he will curl up on his own and fall asleep with out making a peep!

(Side note: I had tried letting him cry it out a couple times previously and it did not work. I think we had to wait until he was really ready and old enough to understand we weren’t leaving him for good. The longest he ever fussed before falling asleep was 15 minutes.)

The sleep training along with introducing solids have all helped him fall into a good daily schedule. Something I’d been striving for since day 1! A usual day for him is…

7-8am wake/nurse

9am breakfast (2 tbs. rice cereal and bottle)

10am nap (30 min. – 1 hr.)

11:30 nurse

12:30 nurse

2pm nap (1 hr. 30 min.)

3:30 nurse

5:30 dinner (2-4 tbs. veggies and bottle)

6:30 nurse/bedtime routine

7pm asleep

Sorry for such a long post… hope it can be of some help to someone! =)