There's a hilarious blog post making rounds on the web summarizing expert sleep advice. It's a must read. The jist of it all is that there are so many opinions out there about what to do and what not to do when it comes to attaining the holy grail of infant sleep and they all basically contradict each other. What's a new mom to do?! The post is fortuitous because since we weren't blessed with a baby that sleeps 12 hours a night (do they really exist??) we recently started "sleep training"- aka letting Cece "Cry It Out".
Asleep in her jumperoo at 8 AM after a particularly restless night
Guess what? It worked and it wasn't nearly as painful for any of us as I thought it would be. It took 20 minutes for her to fall asleep on the first night, less than 10 minutes on night two, and by night three, no crying at all. She still wakes up once or twice during the night, but is getting better at putting herself back to bed on her own (though per our pediatrician's advice, I'm still nursing her once a night). Hallelujah! I can't tell you how happy this makes me. We are all in better moods now that we're getting a little more sleep!
Awake at 1:21 AM, amusing herself
Alseep by 1:41, did it all by herself!
Sleeping soundly at 6:30 AM in her own bed!
Waking up in a good mood!
On a related note, we still struggle with day time naps. However, she ALWAYS falls asleep in the car. Unfortunately as soon as the car seat stops moving when we get home, she wakes up. So we found a solution to this problem. Check out the video below!
Unfortunately we aren't getting stretches quite that long, Cece doesn't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time. But at least it's a whole lot easier getting her to go back to sleep now! Enjoy Ainsley's sleep pattern while it lasts, the one thing that we can be sure of as parents is that change is constant, lol.
Every baby is so different that there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to sleep. I know. I've tried! We're fans of the sleep training method you're using too. We just got Abram sleeping through the night and enjoyed about one week of good rest and now he's started teething which means more night-waking. It's like you said in your reply to Jen, Change is constant. =)
Hahahahaha - LOVE the solution to keeping Cece moving after the car stops so she'll stay asleep! Brilliant idea! I'll never forget our Pedi always told us, anything to get some sleep... I know our kiddos spent most if not all of naptimes in their swings until they were prob. 9 months old! Would have died without those things.
And she will start giving you longer stretches of sleep soon. It takes some time! i hope her reflux is getting better. I'm sure that will make a world of difference too! Can't wait to see you ladies again! xoxoxo
YAY for sleep! Ainsley just started sleeping 8-9 hours/night!! LOVING it!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately we aren't getting stretches quite that long, Cece doesn't sleep more than 4-5 hours at a time. But at least it's a whole lot easier getting her to go back to sleep now! Enjoy Ainsley's sleep pattern while it lasts, the one thing that we can be sure of as parents is that change is constant, lol.
DeleteEvery baby is so different that there's no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to sleep. I know. I've tried!
ReplyDeleteWe're fans of the sleep training method you're using too. We just got Abram sleeping through the night and enjoyed about one week of good rest and now he's started teething which means more night-waking. It's like you said in your reply to Jen, Change is constant. =)
Hahahahaha - LOVE the solution to keeping Cece moving after the car stops so she'll stay asleep! Brilliant idea! I'll never forget our Pedi always told us, anything to get some sleep... I know our kiddos spent most if not all of naptimes in their swings until they were prob. 9 months old! Would have died without those things.
ReplyDeleteAnd she will start giving you longer stretches of sleep soon. It takes some time! i hope her reflux is getting better. I'm sure that will make a world of difference too! Can't wait to see you ladies again! xoxoxo