Sleep Training

I have had enough. I have had enough of waking up 13, 000 times a night to a baby that needs to be rocked, fed or cuddled. NOW don't get me wrong...I LOVE rocking, feeding and cuddling with him...but when I get ZERO sleep because of it, it becomes a bit tedious. I LOVE Zach, I love him more than anything. I want to watch him grow, play, love, become a Godly man. But, I also want him to sleep through the night!

So, Monday evening I decided we're going to start sleep training. Monday night was a little rough, he took an hour to go to sleep, was up quite often and needed a lot of our pick up/put down (PU/PD) method. It was a long night and I didn't get much sleep. I can tell you specific details if you want to know, since I am tracking to see if there is any pattern in his wake up times. But we did it. He stayed in his crib till 7:30am the next morning.

Nap time on Tuesday went OK. He slept well in the AM nap for about 45 minutes and went down easy-schmesy. Afternoon nap wasn't so successful. Took a while to get him down and then he only slept for 20 minutes. But since we are following the baby whisperers advice and trying to keep him on a 4 hour eat/sleep plan, it was time for him to eat. So only a 20 minute nap did he have. Jordan and I had an errand to run so we left him with a sitter. Came home, he wasn't the happiest baby, but he wasn't doing too badly. He was happy to see me. We had a good play, he was able to wind down and i put him down for a third cat nap. He slept for another 40 or so minutes.

I was worried about bedtime on Tuesday that it would take a long time, I would have a very upset baby and I would feel my tension start to rise and worried I may just relapse and go back to what works....BUT....he did fantastic!!!!!! He was asleep at night in 5 minutes with just one PU/PD. Almost every time he woke in the night, his soother and a pat on the bum were sufficient. YAY!!!! He woke at 4am for a feed, was back to sleep 1/2 hour later. Had to do 20 minutes of PU/PD at 6am, but then he slept till 8am!!! He then came into our bed for a little snuggle and to let him know we are still there, love him and want to snuggle him. I made sure he didn't fall asleep again so as not to associate coming to bed with me as sleep time anymore.

I know many people who advocate for co-sleeping, not sleep training and letting the child lead. But it just doesn't work for me. I can't/don't sleep well with others in my bed, especially snuggled right up next to me. I need sleep. I need sleep to be a good mom, because otherwise I'm touchy, angry, frustrated easily and it's not a good environment. This new sleep schedule will work for our family.

Nap time today is going OK so far. Jordan tried to put him to sleep, but Zach got way to upset. I know you're not supposed to take over, but I just can't give over my control like that and listen to Zach cry when I know I can stop it. I know, I know, it's not what I should be doing, but I'm working on small baby steps!!

So now, I am praying that sleep just gets better and better. I know we will have minor setbacks and I am prepared for them. I am preparing myself to not give up, continue with our efforts and I know we will be rewarded.

I can do this! Zach can do this! We can be a healthy, loving, SLEEP-FILLED family!!!!