Baby Sleep Training

Lillian overall sleeps very well, and she always has. But it had become apparent to us that she was associating sleep with her pacifier. She would fall asleep with it and would wake up throughout the night crying until we ran in and put it back in her mouth. Most of my evenings, I would rock her to sleep and make sure that she was really asleep before putting her down. Then I would hover and wait for her to cry once her pacifier fell out. I would do that until it was MY bedtime, all the while, Brian was keeping himself busy downstairs by himself. After all of the traveling we have been doing, we returned home to Cincinnati and Lily’s sleeping was a complete mess. She wasn’t napping for more than a half hour 2-3 times during the day, was really fussy when putting her down for the night, and woke up about every hour or two throughout the night crying for her pacifier. Unhappy Momma, unhappy baby. Something needed to change!

After reading a lot, and finding help in the Teach Your Baby to Sleep group on BabyCenter, we decided on a modified cry it out (CIO) method. I never thought I would be the type of harsh, terrible person that would just let my baby cry, BUT, at this point, I am very familiar with Lillian’s cries and knew that her cries at bedtime were because she was, in fact, tired! We decided that we would put her down and when she starts not just fussing, but really crying, we would wait for 5 minutes before going in to soothe her. To soothe her, I would pick her up and calm her down, then when she was drowsy (BUT NOT BACK TO SLEEP), I would put her back in her crib. If she were to cry again, we would then wait 10 minutes and would up the wait period by 5 minutes each time, maxing out at 30 minutes. During the wait periods, I had the monitor on to make sure that her cries continued to just be her tired/frustrated cry and nothing more. The next night, you are to start at 10 minutes, and so on.

Night 1: Total cry time: 40 minutes. Didn’t make a single noise until she awoke at 7am the following morning!

Night 2: Total cry time: 45 minutes. However, her cries were more half-hearted. They weren’t filling up all of the colors on the monitor during the 20 minute wait period! Quiet all night long until a small cry around 6am because Andy was being loud and excited about his breakfast. But she quickly quieted down within 5 minutes and I didn’t have to go in to her.

Night 3: Total cry time: 25 minutes. Slept peacefully all night long. When I went in her room at 7:30 am, I see her feet  up in the air and she’s just happily hanging out.

Night 4: Total cry time: 10 minutes…then she slept for a half hour and cried for 40 minutes. Boo. I blame the thunderstorm.

Night 5: Total cry time: 10 minutes, for real this time!

This has been by NO MEANS easy! It’s incredibly hard. I often cry along with her. When I would have her in my arms during the soothing period, I so badly wanted to keep her there all night long! Then, since she would fall asleep so early, I missed her! I realize this is my first step of letting go – and it’s happening at such an early age! I have been so used to being around her almost every minute of every day unless I was asleep and now I have this free time at night with her just a few feet away from me and I can’t be with her – it kills me! But I know that this is what I have to do to make her a happier lady during the day and, in turn, the time we spend together during the day will be more pleasant! And now Brian and I have a few hours each night to hang out! Win-win-win!

3 Comments

Leave a Comment

Username (required) :
Email (required) :
Web Site :
Comment :