Sleep Training

After my post last week, I decided something had to be done with Alessia not sleeping. During my late night feeding sessions I got a lot of Googling done and saw an article that said there were three types of sleepers: good sleepers, bad sleepers, and good sleepers with bad habits.  I immediately knew that Alessia was a good sleeper with bad habits.  She had been a good sleeper for almost two months, but then we got into horrible habits to put her to bed and, in turn, created a monster. 

Between me nursing her to sleep, my mom bouncing her to sleep, and Kevin walking/patting her to sleep, she would NEVER go down on her own.  We didn't mean to create these bad habits, but with everything going on with getting ready for the move, it happened.  And I was the one who paying for it.  I knew things needed to change so I decided to start sleep training.

I used to nanny for a family that had seven month old twins and in addition to me, they had another nanny.  The other nanny would always go and get the babies if they started crying in their crib.  I, on the other hand, would let them cry, at least for awhile.  I always told her to just let them cry it out and never understood why she had to go and comfort them after only a few seconds of crying.  Now I get it...but it took me having my own child to figure it out.  

I didn't want to go full steam ahead with just letting her "cry it out" so I went with the progressive waiting approach (kind of).  I always wait for her to show signs that she is tired: gets fussy, rubs her eyes, yawns, or melts into me when I hold her.  Then I tell her what I am doing: It's time for a nap; Mommy will be here when you wake up; I love you...something along those lines.  I turn on her white noise machine, put the fan on, and leave the room. 

As soon as I lay her down, she immediately cries...every time.  I usually let her cry for about ten minutes before going in and reassuring her that I haven't gone anywhere and that it is time for nap.  I usually straighten her out at this time and give her back a rub.  I only stay for about thirty seconds though.  If she continues crying another ten minutes, I go back and do the exact same thing....and so on and so on.

I've gotten really lucky though.  The longest she has cried is nineteen minutes.  And thank goodness because after that long I was starting to make excuses up: Maybe she isn't tired; Maybe she is still hungry; Maybe she has a wet diaper; Maybe her teeth hurt.  I have stuck to my guns though and that is saying a lot.

Do I want to run in there and grab her sometimes?  Absolutely.  Is this one of the hardest things I've ever had to do?  You betcha.  But I am able to get through it because I know she is crying because she is tired.  And when she wakes up, she is so happy to see me so I know that there are no hard feelings between us.

Overall, I think it has been successful, especially at night.  Since we started sleep training, she has slept 7 1/2 twice (one night she woke up for about 10 minutes but I let her put herself back to sleep) and 8 1/2.  She is no longer taking the 20 min naps too.  The naps still aren't where I'd like them to be, but anything is an improvement.  For now, I am not going to worry about a schedule because we still have people coming in and out for visits and are going to have a time change once we move.  But as soon as we are in our home, I have vowed to get on a schedule that works for both of us.

Someone is a much happier baby when they sleep at night.