Sleep Training

5:47 AM
We are trying to sleep train Mary. This involves strict adherence to a bedtime or naptime ritual, early bedtime, and a nap after 2 hours of being awake. This is the child who used to get up at 5:30 and stay up until well past noon, then be up from 3:00 until 10 or 11, when she finally passed out. And, she used to do 1-2 feedings at night. It was so stressful! The baby NEVER slept. So I borrowed a book from a friend, Happy Child, Healthy Sleep Habits , which seemed to have some sound philosophies. The first two nights we tried it, Mary slept soundly all night. I will not go into details about how engorged I was from suddenly skipping 2 feedings, but I did wake up at her normal times, expecting to hear her awake. The last 2 nights have not been quite as successful. Last night she woke up at 1:30. We did not pick her up or comfort her (part of the program is letting then get themselves back to sleep, AKA “crying it out”). This does not seem hard until you remember she is sleeping in the bassinet next to my bed. OY! Jim and I had mumbled discussions about where we could move her so we could get back to sleep. The balcony was mentioned…. She finally fell back asleep, to wake up at 4:30. I fed her then and I couldn’t go back to sleep. The naps are hard to keep up with right now, since she only sleeps about an hour. But the book says once she starts sleeping longer at night her naps will be longer, too. I think we will move her to the guest room (I don’t want her in the nursery with Emma until she can sleep all night). I have to wait until later this week, otherwise my Mom will be sleeping with the baby!