I'm pretty sure every mom blog has an entry about sleep and how they helped their baby sleep through the night. Well, here's mine.
Anyone who knows Jane, probably knows she has never been a good sleeper. She gave me 2 weeks after she was born where she would be awake for less than an hour and then sleep for three hours with no resistance. It was wonderful and exactly what I needed to recover from labor. As soon as she was 2 weeks old sleep became an issue. I guess she realized there was a world around her that she needed to experience! Also, 2 1/2 weeks old is when she had her first fever and we stayed in the hospital for a couple days. I'm not sure if that contributed to the problem or not.
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| Early newborn sleep was awesome |
Up until a month and a half ago, I would start Jane in her crib about 9pm after about 45 minutes of nursing/rocking. (I know, I know... sleep crutches) and depending on the night she would wake up 45 min-2 hours later. I would nurse her back to sleep and put her back in her crib. Sometime during the night I would give up on the crib and bring her to the Rock and Play next to our bed. The next time she woke up I would put her in bed with me and co-sleep.
Although not ideal, this sleep program actually worked for us for a long time. I got enough sleep even though Jane would wake up about 4-5 times at night, but only because she went right back to sleep after I would reassure or nurse her. Co-sleeping only worked for us because Sam was fine with it too.
When Jane was between 10-11 months old, things got really difficult. She started fighting sleep like never before and she started waking up every hour at night. The real kicker was that when I put her in bed with me to co-sleep she would not go right back to sleep and would start fussing. I thought "Ok, this is really starting to be a problem!" Sam knew it too. He told me it might be time to try cry it out.
Now this was very hard for me to swallow. Both of us had been against doing cry it out and sleep up until this point hadn't really been a big issue for either of us. Basically Jane forced us to try cry it out. Nothing else I tried worked and none of us were sleeping much any more and we were all getting cranky. It was a last resort! Sam could tell it was wearing on me. The night we decided cry it out needed to happen, I cried. It was really hard.
One thing that made it especially hard was that I had always been so adamantly against cry it out. I had to wrap my mind around why it was ok for us to start now. I am still against crying it out for a young baby. I realized it was ok for Jane because she had started to wake up and cry because she didn't want to sleep. I could tell it was not a scared or hungry cry. She was just trying to get her way. I was able to realize this because during the day she had started to throw little temper tantrums when I prevented her from doing what she wanted.
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| It will be ok, I promise! |
The first night Jane cried for about 50 minutes. Sam and I sat on the couch together waiting for her to settle down. Finally she did! She slept about 5 hours straight that first night! Instant results! The next night was better, especially because I had set up my video monitor and I could watch and make sure she was fine and starting to lie down. She cried about 20 minutes off and on and she slept 9 hours straight!! Amazing! I thought to myself, "Why didn't I do this a month ago!"
After the first two nights she would only fuss a couple of minutes and sleep at least 5 hours before waking up. A few days later I started letting her fuss and let her put herself back to sleep when she woke up around 1-2am. After about a week she stopped waking up then and started only waking up around 4-5am.
About 2-3 weeks into our new sleep schedule, I would put Jane down in her crib awake at 8:30pm (after about 10 minutes of nursing/rocking) and she would go to sleep with no fussing and she slept 9 hours straight most nights! Usually, I would nurse her when she woke up around 4-5am, put her back in her crib and she would sleep a couple more hours.
Jane has stayed pretty consistent with this sleep schedule ever since. There are still nights where she will put up a small fight every now and then, but for the most part it's wonderful!
Jane has finally turned into a good sleeper! Hallelujah! I have my nights back. It's a beautiful thing. I can blog or watch a movie with Sam or maybe even play a video game! I love my daughter so much, but a few hours to myself at night helps me be a better mother and more attentive to her when she is awake.
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| Sleep, sweet, sweet sleep! |
There you have it. That's our sleep story. It's different for everyone. Us mothers all need to put less pressure on ourselves and our babies about sleep. If you have a sleep routine that works for you and everybody is happy then don't worry about it. If sleep is an issue and what you're doing doesn't seem to be working then try something else! Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work either, just keep trying. Your baby will sleep one day! Did I mention that she wakes up happy too?
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| I love when my kid is happy! |
Psalm 4:7-8
You have put gladness in my heart,
More than in the season that their grain and wine increased.
I will both lie down in peace, and sleep;
For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
