My beautiful baby! Since I was pregnant with the little booI was most aware of what I wanted regarding her sleeping. I knew what I didn't want, sleeping in our bed till she was 7, getting out of bed time and time again, and sleeping with a bottle. I knew what I didn't want but did no research to make sure it didn't happen. Our little bundle came home from the hospital and I couldn't bear to be apart so she snuggled with us in bed. We woke the next morning at 8:00 a.m. realizing the baby hadn't peeped all night long! From that day until the 9 month mark she slept soundly. I would rock her to sleep and 12 hours later she would roll over and smile at us. She didn't sleep with us consistently but both Steve and I loved to snuggle with her and occasionally she would be in our bed. If she ever woke up tucking her in with us would do the trick and we would get enough rest to go to work the next day. Needless to say, my first no no became a...well I guess.
At about 9 months she began to hate her crib and after 30 minutes of working to get her to fall asleep the second I would lay her down she'd wake right up. I was incredibly frustrating. I started thinking, ok maybe it is time to try something different. I attempted the cry it out method and after nearly 2 hours of screaming I threw that idea out the window. I couldn't handle it. And my guilt as a working mom was weighing on me. Going to bed is our time together! No matter what I did that day I would get to hug and cuddle my baby until she drifted into dreamland. What else did I have to do that was more important? Nothing, I didn't have other kids to beg for my attention and I was just ready for "me" time, so I would sacrifice a bit of that time and spend it with my sweetie. Soon the phase was over and she was back to a 15 minute get to sleep time and slept through the night.
12 months showed up and the frustration began again. She grew out of it within a month or two. (this summary does not mean it was easy, just that I assume you are getting bored)
Here we are on the cusp of 18 months and we've spent the last 3 weeks with the babe waking up at 11 or 12 and won't stay asleep. We put in the work once she wakes to leave the room and have her scream again. I'm wasn't sure what to do until I remembered my friend Kasey had tried the Ferber method with her little guy and I thought, this might help. I talked to Kasey and she suggested I try it for getting her to bed on her own. I hadn't thought of that, since it wasn't the part of bedtime that bothered me (most of the time). Last night we went through our routine sing a song and say prayers with Daddy. I changed Claire into her pajamas and turned on her fan to then rock her in the chair. As we were rocking I thought maybe just 5 minutes and then I'll try the crying. But her sweet eyelids were getting heavy and I knew it wouldn't be much longer. I rocked her for 15 minutes and laid her down. As soon as I went to leave her eyes shot open and the tears started coming. Claire had made the decision to begin for me.
For those of you who aren't familiar with the Ferber method it requires some crying but allows for interaction with the baby. I let her cry for 5 minutes. Then I went in, put her back in her bed (she's in a toddler bed because she hated her crib so much) and calmed her down. As soon as she was calm again (this is the hardest part) I would leave and let her cry for 10 minutes. As soon as the timer went off I went back in to calm her again. Once she was calm and her eyelids were heavy I wanted to stay in there so bad and help her drift off, but the method requires you to leave again. We started the 15 minute cry period and after 3 minutes she was asleep. I didn't hear anymore crying. We went in later and she was curled up on her bed with Foofa, Mickey, and 3 pillows. This was our first night of it and geez it was not fun, but I hope it helps the little Missy go to bed! I might actually get to have a babysitter put her to bed without lying down with her! I'll let you know how it goes tonight. Hopefully she gets the hang of it quickly, without too much pain!
Thanks for reading this long post. For those who are curious after the 15 minutes of crying you would go in and sooth the baby again. Then you leave and let them cry for 20 minutes, go in and sooth. Then it is 20 minutes from there until they sleep. The next night instead of starting with 5 minutes of crying you would start with 10 and increase the time every night until they can do it on their own.
