Adventures in Sleep Training

It was time. Time for Caleb to learn not to hate his crib! And to sleep in it for more than a couple of hours!

Ok, here is what I did. I am following the book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. It has a endorsement by Cindy Crawford on the cover. It was recommended to me by so many people I decided to try it. Caleb has been on a terrible schedule. He is with a sitter Wed.-Fri., me on the weekends, and his daddy on Mon. & Tues. Then on Sat.-Mon. nights Jhon would watch him at night since he was going to be off. Well as soon as Caleb would wake up, he would take him downstairs and keep him down there until 6. And then I would try the crib. It was terrible, sometimes he would randomly sleep all night but mostly be up 2-3 times a night. Sometimes more. After him being up 4 times a couple of weeks ago I decided, enough is enough, we are doing this!

So, it is kind of a cry it out method. The dr. first tells about sleep and the science of it and how important it is and how important it is to learn how to go to sleep. You have to put the baby on a schedule. So he is napping around 9 and 1 now. He says to get a nighttime routine. And that people think keeping the kid up later will make them sleep. WRONG! It makes them overtired and a mess! For Caleb's age bedtime is between 7 and 8. Then he says to let the baby cry. They have to learn to soothe and fall asleep. (but not to cry for more than an hour, and less for a colicky baby) But if you do the routine, and rock them until they are almost asleep, then it should help them. Some days I give Caleb a bath. We go in his room, read stories in the rocking chair, then he has 4- 6 ounces, and he starts dozing off. I put him in the crib and he wakes up. I say good night and give him a kiss and leave. I heard him fuss about 3 minutes top for the 2nd & 3rd night. And then he was out. The dr. said do not let them out of the bed until 6am. And not to feed in the middle of the night. The only time to feed or change a diaper is after 4, and to not talk to the baby. Just feed or change and put back to bed.

Here is how night 1 went. He didn't get to bed until 9. He was up at 10. I let him cry 30 minutes. Since it was night 1 I broke the rule not to go to him, but I didn't pick him up or talk to him. I just put my hand on his chest a few minutes and he went to sleep. Exact same thing happened at 2. He was up at 4, I gave him some bottle and he went to sleep. Jhon thought I was a big fat meanie, but I convinced him to hang in there!

Night 2-I put him down at 8. He didn't wake until 3. And he was wide awake. We let him cry off and on for 2 hours, so I broke the rule and we got him out and in our bed at 5. He was still up til 6. Crazy kid, bad habit from being up with dad. He finally crashed out for a bit, but I had to get him up for the babysitter.

Night 3- He went down at 8:30. He woke up at 1, and I gave him his binky and put my hand on his chest. He went right back to sleep until after 6! And when I heard he was awake he wasn't crying, just laying there talking to himself and playing.

Night 4- Slept from 7-5. Dad got him out of the crib. But I talked to my sister and she was told if they aren't crying and are just playing, to leave them and they might fall back asleep.

Night 5-Slept from 7:30-5 We left him and he did go back to sleep until 7:30!!!
Last night 6-slept from 7 til 4. Jhon gave him some bottle. Then he slept until after 7 again!

And since then, it has stuck. He sleeps often from 7-6 or 7-7. Today he was up at 4:30 to eat. I made the mistake of feeding him with us, hoping he would go back to sleep. He wanted to play, so that is not happening again!!

The best part is that I don't have to rock him to sleep and pray that he doesn't wake up when I put him in the crib. He woke up about 90% of the time and cried and I had to start all over. Now, I read him stories, gave him his bottle, put him down, he looks at me, turns his head, and goes to sleep. He doesn't hate his crib anymore!!!

It is quite an adjustment to be home for good around 6:30. I am used to still be out and about in the evenings! It is worth it!