We have not been having good nights at our house lately. For the past month or two, if Brad and I had a hard time getting Noah to go to sleep, we would just put him in the bed with us. He almost instantly starts snoozing and when you are exhausted, it’s just SO much easier. As I’ve said before, I swore my kids would never sleep in the bed with me! And it wouldn’t be that bad if (1) we didn’t have 4 people in our bed-that’s Brad, me, Noah and Bella! (2) Noah wouldn’t wake up when our alarm clocks went off and (3) Noah didn’t have to be cuddled in order to sleep!
To get Noah to sleep, we have always rocked him and sang to him. Usually he will fall asleep in about 20 minutes. We then tip-toe into his room (where his music is already playing) and ever-so-carefully lay him down in his crib and then PRAY he doesn’t wake up. He might wake up once, sometimes twice and you have to start the process all over again.
Nowadays, we walk into his room (he will be dead asleep with his mouth open), lean over his crib to lay him down and the screaming begins!!! Or if we are lucky, he stays asleep then but wakes up at midnight. We rock/sing for 20-30 minutes, try to lay him down, and the screaming starts again. I can’t even remember the last time we slept through the night. Brad has been so good about getting up with Noah, but it’s starting to take a toll on him BIG time! Not to mention that Noah is SO big now that I can barely stand on my tip-toes and carefully lower him into his crib without hitting his hand/foot on the crib and waking him up! AH! Sucks being 5 foot tall sometimes!
ANYWAY, I say all that to say this. We have decided to try sleep training. I never really thought about it until I read Karen’s blog last week. Then I asked several friends about it and they ALL said it worked for them! So I’ve been researching the Cry It Out method like crazy. We have decided to start sleep training on Saturday….Noah will get his 9 month shots on Friday and I don’t want that to interfere. We are going to follow the 3 b’s….bath, bottle, book routine and set his bedtime at 7:30pm. And as of right now, I’m thinking of only checking on him every 10 minutes (maybe 5 if I can’t wait that long!).
So I need advice! Anything you’ve got, I’m all ears!
And because no post is complete without a picture…
5 comments:
We did cry it out and the biggest thing I can say is he will be ok! No matter how much he cries, come the morning it will all be ok. Sometimes I had to just turn off the monitor and put the pillow over MY crying face for the 40 mins it took but today he sleeps beautifully and even plays alone in his crib from about 6 to 7 every morning until we get him up. Good luck!
Good Luck! We had to do something similar with naps, I set a timer for 10 minutes and didn't go in until then.
We also bought a video monitor recently and I love it - sometimes Aedan wakes up at night and "talks" to himself. It's so nice to just look at the screen to make sure he is okay.
Also, just know that it will probably get worse before it gets better as far as the length he cries- but it will get better!!
Good luck!! We followed Baby Wise which is kind of the same thing. It has the EASY method - eat, activity, sleep, "you" time. I remember those nights when we were trying to teach Drake to soothe himself to sleep. Now, he is a wonderful sleeper (12 hours/night with 2 naps). Of course, now that I've typed that...j/k
Does Noah take a paci, thumb or any type of lovey? Whatever you do, keep it consist, and he will learn to go to sleep on his own. And, you won't be getting up in the middle of the night. :-)
When my daughter was 3 months old I had to go back to work, working 3rd shift. My husband was the only one with her all night. He was always so tired that it was easier to put her in the bed with him so that they could both sleep. We also got her into the habit of taking her into our room and laying down to get her to sleep and then carefully getting up, walking to her crib, and laying her down.(exactly what you are doing now) As she got older (and bigger) we realized we had to do something. We did the cry it out method and I checked on her every 5 minutes. She was putting herself to sleep in her crib in about a week and it never took her longer than an hour or so to go to sleep. Once we got her going to sleep in her own room and had her on a schedule she started sleeping through the night. Now, she is 2 years old and sleeps in a toddler bed. She puts her self to sleep at 8:00 and wakes at 7:30. If you stick to a routine,Noah will learn and he will be so much happier(you will too). YOu just have to be persistent. Good Luck. Let us know how it goes. :-)
Hi Allison! I am so flattered to read that I inspired you! Please let me know if you ever have any questions about the sleep training. It worked great for us!!! I have never heard of anyone say that it didn't work for them as long as they were consistent in their method and routine. Just remember as he is crying himself to sleep, to keep your eye on the prize = a good night's sleep! I can't tell you how much better all three of us feel at our house. Jeff and I even watch TV at night together again in the evenings instead of taking turns trying to get Jillian asleep.
Best of luck!!!!
Karen
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