For those of you who were worried (Mom)... Ali is sleeping in her crib!
WARNING: This is a LONG post and may be somewhat of a controversial post, so if you're going to judge me please stop reading now. I'm a firm believer that every parent has to do what is right for them and for their kids. I don't believe that there is one right way to do anything, and I believe that what works for one family may not work for another. Moreover, what works for one baby may not necessarily work for another baby. Sleep is a tough issue for most parents and babies. Some parents believe in Sleep Training and Cry It Out (CIO) methods. Some parents believe in having a family bed and sleeping with their babies. Some of my friends have been fortunate and their babies have been able to sleep in the their cribs from the start and learned to sleep through the night themselves with ease. I'm very jealous of those people. Unfortunately, that didn't happen with us. I'm not here to judge anyone; I'm just telling you what we did.
For our convenience and sanity, Ali slept in our room for the first part of her life because we didn't want to go up and down the stairs every time we needed to get her. We started her in the newborn napper in her pack and play, but she quickly decided that she didn't want to sleep without being rocked to sleep. We moved her to the bouncer for naps and the swing for night time sleep. We knew that at some point, we wanted to move Ali to her crib, stop rocking her to sleep, and stop giving her a pacifier. We chose to do that this weekend and use the CIO Extinction Method to teach Ali to self soothe. I'm not going to lie... Friday night was ROUGH! If it weren't for the support of my good friend Katie and knowing that others have done this before us with great success, I'm not sure we would have made it. The basic theory behind the Extinction Method is that you put your baby down drowsy but awake at bedtime and do not go back into the room until it is time for baby to wake up, even if your baby continues to cry. Ali pretty much cried on and off all night Friday as we watched her on the monitor to make sure she was okay. Todd and I really didn't get much sleep. It was excrutiating and broke our hearts to watch her cry but we knew that we were doing this for Ali's benefit so she would be able to sleep well in the future... short-term pain for long-term gain! Around 5am, I noticed that Ali put her hand in her mouth and started sucking on it. She was learning to suck on her hand to fall asleep! What was truly amazing is that she was her happy usual self on Saturday even though she had such a rough night. When I picked her up on Saturday morning, I was afraid she would be upset at me, but she greeted me with a huge smile. As my friend Katie said, it was as if it didn't even occur to her that we could have come in at any point during the night to pick her up.
During her naps on Saturday, she would cry but eventually get her hand in her mouth and fall asleep. She's a fast learner because by Saturday night, she had it down. After her bath, bedtime stories, and feeding, I put her in her crib at 6:55pm. She fussed a little but put her hand in her mouth and was asleep by 7pm. She woke up around 4:30am and put herself right back to sleep until 6am when we got up for the day. Her naps today have been great, and she hasn't even fussed when I put her in her crib. When we put her down for the night, she barely fussed and fell asleep within 5-10 minutes. I am thrilled to say Ali is happily sleeping in her crib without a pacifier! Ahhh... it feels so good to have crossed another parenting milestone!
WARNING: This is a LONG post and may be somewhat of a controversial post, so if you're going to judge me please stop reading now. I'm a firm believer that every parent has to do what is right for them and for their kids. I don't believe that there is one right way to do anything, and I believe that what works for one family may not work for another. Moreover, what works for one baby may not necessarily work for another baby. Sleep is a tough issue for most parents and babies. Some parents believe in Sleep Training and Cry It Out (CIO) methods. Some parents believe in having a family bed and sleeping with their babies. Some of my friends have been fortunate and their babies have been able to sleep in the their cribs from the start and learned to sleep through the night themselves with ease. I'm very jealous of those people. Unfortunately, that didn't happen with us. I'm not here to judge anyone; I'm just telling you what we did.
For our convenience and sanity, Ali slept in our room for the first part of her life because we didn't want to go up and down the stairs every time we needed to get her. We started her in the newborn napper in her pack and play, but she quickly decided that she didn't want to sleep without being rocked to sleep. We moved her to the bouncer for naps and the swing for night time sleep. We knew that at some point, we wanted to move Ali to her crib, stop rocking her to sleep, and stop giving her a pacifier. We chose to do that this weekend and use the CIO Extinction Method to teach Ali to self soothe. I'm not going to lie... Friday night was ROUGH! If it weren't for the support of my good friend Katie and knowing that others have done this before us with great success, I'm not sure we would have made it. The basic theory behind the Extinction Method is that you put your baby down drowsy but awake at bedtime and do not go back into the room until it is time for baby to wake up, even if your baby continues to cry. Ali pretty much cried on and off all night Friday as we watched her on the monitor to make sure she was okay. Todd and I really didn't get much sleep. It was excrutiating and broke our hearts to watch her cry but we knew that we were doing this for Ali's benefit so she would be able to sleep well in the future... short-term pain for long-term gain! Around 5am, I noticed that Ali put her hand in her mouth and started sucking on it. She was learning to suck on her hand to fall asleep! What was truly amazing is that she was her happy usual self on Saturday even though she had such a rough night. When I picked her up on Saturday morning, I was afraid she would be upset at me, but she greeted me with a huge smile. As my friend Katie said, it was as if it didn't even occur to her that we could have come in at any point during the night to pick her up.
During her naps on Saturday, she would cry but eventually get her hand in her mouth and fall asleep. She's a fast learner because by Saturday night, she had it down. After her bath, bedtime stories, and feeding, I put her in her crib at 6:55pm. She fussed a little but put her hand in her mouth and was asleep by 7pm. She woke up around 4:30am and put herself right back to sleep until 6am when we got up for the day. Her naps today have been great, and she hasn't even fussed when I put her in her crib. When we put her down for the night, she barely fussed and fell asleep within 5-10 minutes. I am thrilled to say Ali is happily sleeping in her crib without a pacifier! Ahhh... it feels so good to have crossed another parenting milestone!
1 comments:
WOW. I love how you started this blog and I am amazed it worked!
LOL I tried the crying method when taking the bottle away but I felt too guilty and gave in. I should of had a friend for encouragement. I wasn't very smart though. I tried it on Armando's birthday. Boy--- was he mad Nate cried almost all night. LOL
Post a Comment