Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sleeping Through the Night Training-Night 1

I knew it needed to happen, but I was dreading doing it...teaching my child to sleep through the night. She usually only gets up once anyway, and only takes about 3oz from her bottle before falling back to sleep.

So it started last night. I fed her at 8:30, put her to bed about 9:30. At 12:30 she was awake and crying. Now she usually goes 5-6 hours at night, so I got up and put her paci in, because she usually falls back asleep when I do that. But last night was different...she wouldn't go back to sleep. So I decided it was as good a time as any to start her training. :)

I switched the noise maker into our room, turned it on really loud, and then retreated to the guest room with my cell phone and pile of pillows.

And there I laid, listening to my daughter scream for an hour and a half.

I did go in every 10-15 minutes to put in her paci and move her back to the correct position in her bed.

At first I said I was going to make her go 7 hours (which she's done on her own on several occasions), which would put us at 3:30am. But by 1:45, my resolve was weakening, and I was just hoping to make it 2:30.

She FINALLY fell asleep about 2, slept till 5:15, I fed her, put her back to bed, she grunted around and fussed in her bed till 6:15, slept until 8:15, grunted and fussed until 9:15, at which time we got up.

Now she's asleep for her nap, and I think I'm going to join her.

I sure hope she's a fast learner!

2 comments:

Joy said...

Wow, I'm very immressed! First, that you're actually training Bridget to sleep on her own. Not many people do that. I did it with Jayla but I had a lot easier time than you! Second, that you actually listened to her for an hour and a half! I really want to know how it goes tonight. My bet is that she won't cry that long. Once she sleeps all night and you get a full nights sleep, it will all be worth it and you will feel great!!

Mary said...

I'm definitely impressed, too, Heidi! I waited until Max was 10 mos. to make him cry himself to sleep, and once he caught on, I was wishing I'd done it sooner. I agree...once you start getting uninterrupted nights of sleep, it will all be so worth it. You can do it! :)