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Thursday, October 13, 2011

I'm totally going to jinx myself... (sleep post!)

About two weeks ago we moved a twin mattress into Keevia's room and put it on the floor. That night she climbed up on it, laid down, said night night and closed her eyes. I asked her if she wanted me to lay down with her and she said no. She went to sleep that night by herself in her dark room. And the next day for naptime. And the next night. And the night after that. No tears.

I was in SHOCK. This is the child I have to snuggle to sleep, that usually takes from 20 minutes to over an hour. We put the twin bed in so I could lay down with her and then get up when she fell asleep (usually goes faster than me rocking her in the living room).

The 4th night we went to my husbands parents and spent the night. I laid down with Keevs and got her to sleep in the room we sleep in. She went down easy, but slept really poorly that night.

The next night we were back home, and when I suggested she go to bed, she started screaming. I ended up rocking her to sleep that night and several nights after. A few times she fell asleep sitting up in my lap. Then I started laying back down with her.

I don't know if she was scared of her bed, or her room, or whatever, but even with me laying down with her she would scream. Now, as I'm sure you all know that I am VERY against cry-it-out when it comes to baby (BABY as in 2-6 month old baby) being in a room by themselves, in the dark, "teaching" themselves to soothe to sleep. I've never been against in-arms crying however, and we've done it numerous times over the past two years. Laying down with her, with her sobbing, is the same to me as me holding her and her crying. So for about two to three nights, I laid down and had her cry for 5-10 minutes until she gave up and decided Mommy meant business and it was bedtime. She'd then drift off to sleep. The 4th night there was no crying.

Night 5 I tucked her in, and then sat at her feet. Crying started again, I soothed her, talked to her, sang to her, and 15ish minutes later she FINALLY calmed down, then fell asleep a few minutes later. Night 6 she cried for about 5 or so minutes, then went on down. Night before last she cried for a minute or two, wanting me to lay down with her. I kept telling her I was sitting at her feet and wouldn't move til she fell asleep. She went down pretty easy. Last night I told her it was bedtime and she set off for her bedroom. I went to fill up her sippy and she popped her head out of bedroom door and said "C'mon Mommy!" I told her to go climb up in bed and I'd be right there. When I went in, she was snuggled on her pillow. No tears. I stayed in there 5-10 minutes, then I told her night-night and went in the living room. She drifted off on her own.

I plan on keeping it up... we're doing so well right now, and I'm so happy about it. I honestly won't do anything different with number two. The only reason I made a push for getting her to go to sleep on her own is that my back cannot take packing her 28lb dead weight, especially with a burgeoning belly. I didn't figure we'd be going to sleep on our own quite yet, but I'm pleased with it!

Now to just tackle potty-learning!

2 comments:

  1. Good for you! I hope she continues to do well and doesn't regress when baby comes. *fingers crossed*. Not trying to curse you or anything. every time we had Conner settled in a routine, we moved. This last year has been crazy and with two extra babies to get to sleep, we just haven't had the energy to fight him too hard on bedtime. Not going to lie, he's been cosleeping more often than not. And honestly, I'm mostly okay with that lol. THe twins are in a crib in our room and in our bed while nursing but that's about it so we're not overly cramped. And it does help that casey gets up at 3:30am to leave for work so Conner and I have more room lol. I can *not* wait until the twins stop teething and are better able to sleep through the night so I can move them to their own room and get them all in good sleep routines that don't involve my bed. haha. I refuse to move the girls until they're done teething b/c I"ll be darned if I'm walking down the hall in the middle of the night to fetch babies rofl.

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  2. I wish I could be a mom like you.

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