The Joys of Sleep Training Part One: Night Training

I knew from day one of Mr Noah entering the world that I would have many many MANY sleepless nights. But to my surprise around 8 weeks he started sleeping through the night! I remember the first time it happened... I woke up in a panic thinking something was wrong! I quickly checked the bassinet and there he was sound asleep. I contribute two things to him sleeping through the night....One, I created a nightly routine that included a bath and nursing cuddles in the rocking chair to help him unwind. Two, I followed the nap routines from the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child. This book is AMAZING!

Can someone make room for me? 

After a few weeks of sleeping through the night I decided it was time to transition him to his crib. Mr Noah was sleeping so well in his room....all night long... till the day my husband asked "can the baby sleep with us tonight?" Since my husband works crazy hours he doesn't get a lot of time with the little man. I said yes not knowing I was opening up the biggest can of worms! That one night turned into every night....

Fast forward 4 months and Mr Noah is STILL IN OUR BED! Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against co-sleeping. It is very sweet and comforting to have the little man in bed with us but no one was getting a good nights sleep. And not only was Noah in the bed, our lovely over weight cat was too! I re-read my book and kept telling myself "tonight is the night we are going to sleep train!" Then the day would end and I was too tired to start. This went on for about a week until one afternoon while watching a rerun of  Super Nanny I realized that if I didn't get his sleeping under control now, I was going to be in big trouble when he becomes a toddler.

Part of our nightly routine, watching the tub fill up

So that night we started....we did our nightly routine but instead of going into our bed he went straight to the crib. It was heart breaking! Mr Noah cried for 30 minutes straight but it felt like 5 hours! He kept giving me looks like 'why mama! why!!" But I didn't crack. I sat in the rocking chair in silence waiting for him to fall asleep. My husband would peak in every few minutes. He hated hearing him upset but I told him we were doing the right thing. Not only will we get a better nights rest but so will the little man.

The next night he only cried for 5 minutes then fell asleep and by the third night I laid him down with his little lovey blankie and he put himself to sleep with no tears!! I felt like throwing a party to celebrate.

We weren't out of the woods just yet. We still needed to get through the whole night without waking to comfort feed. He had gotten so use to having access to his milk at anytime while co-sleeping so he expected it to continue even though he was sleeping in his crib.  At first I would just go in the room and rock him back to sleep then after a few days I started just putting his paci back in his mouth but not pick him up. It was working but I was still having to get up in the middle of the night and help soothe him. The book talked about letting them cry it out. I was so scared to try this at 3am. I didn't have the willpower to not give in. I finally took my girlfriends advice and the books advice and I didn't go in the room when he woke up. I watched on the monitor as he looked around while fussing a bit, waiting for me to come in. After 5 minutes he gave up and went back to sleep! It was another miracle!!! And last night he slept 12 1/2 hours!!!

Happy baby after a full night of rest 

I am so happy that I finally bit the bullet and followed through with the sleep training. A well rested baby makes a well rested (more friendly to be around) mama.

Stay tuned for Part Two: Nap Time :)