Never Thought I'd Do It...

While I was pregnant I read a bunch of books, especially about babies and their sleep habits. I was hoping to help Olivia be a good sleeper from the very beginning. Once Olivia turned a couple of weeks old she started sleeping really well. Sure she woke up during the night, but she'd sleep a good 6-8 hour stretch most nights, then she'd wake up to eat and then go right back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. She went down for naps fairly easily, but usually didn't sleep for much longer than an hour. But, I was happy with a one hour nap, especially since she was sleeping so well at night.

But then, she turned about 3 months old, started teething, and that was the end of being a good sleeper. In one night she went from sleeping a continuous 8 hours to waking up every 2-3 hours. It was horrible. I figured she was going through a growth spurt since she was eating so much more frequently during the day, so I fed her when she woke up at night, too. But, a week later and she was still waking up all night long! So, read up on all sorts of ways to get them to quit waking up for nighttime feedings. I slowly started cutting down her midnight feedings from 8 minutes, to 6 mintues, to 4 minutes, etc. until I was no longer feeding her. The problem was that she still continued to wake up! I would give her her binky and she'd go right back to sleep, so it wasn't too bad. I figured she'd eventually sleep through those wakeful times.

Well, she did start to sleep better. For the last 3 months she's been waking up around 2am. I pop the binky in her mouth and she's back asleep. Then, she wakes up around 6am to eat so I feed her, and then she goes back to bed for another 2 hours. I am lucky if she naps for 45 minutes twice a day. But she's a very happy, easy going baby during the day. So the fact that she doesn't sleep well shouldn't be a problem, right?

The problem is that lately bedtime has gotten extremely difficult. Yes, she's gotten 2 more teeth, for a total of 4, and yes, she's had a couple of earaches. But, all that aside, bedtime is still bad. It's usually a good 30+ minutes before she's in bed. We never rock her to sleep because all the books say to put her in bed awake. But she can't soothe herself to sleep. Nap times aren't any better. I spend 45 minutes trying to get her to go down for a nap (again, still not rocking her to sleep) only to have her sleep for 30 minutes. Some nights/nap times are better than others, but all in all, she's not a good sleeper. And as for me? Unless I go to bed at the same time as Olivia, I can't get more than 4 or 5 hours of continuous sleep. And since her naps are hardly naps at all, I can't even squeeze in afternoon snooze. And, when in the heck am I supposed to get anything done? I'm jealous of all my friends that get 2-3 hour naps out of their babies!

I never planned on letting Olivia cry it out. Not that I think it's neglectful or anything like that, but I was hoping to help her be a good sleeper without having to go that route. Mostly because I am a wimp and can't stand hearing her cry. It just breaks my heart. I guess part of me does believe that if she's crying she must need something, even if it is just some comforting. Knowing that Tyler is asleep next to me is comforting to me-- doesn't Olivia want/need that same comfort? If not all night, at least to fall asleep? Besides, I read all these articles about how the baby doesn't stop crying because he learns to soothe himself, but because he's learned that his care-giver no longer responds to his needs. ACK! Talk about a knife through my heart! I don't want my baby to think I don't take care of her needs! So, although I considered letting her cry it out for a couple of months, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I was certain I could make one of the other many sleep training methods work for her & me.

But, as I previously mentioned, bedtime is getting progressively more difficult and I would REALLY like a good night's sleep on a regular basis. So, I did it. I resorted to letting her cry it out tonight. I never thought I would do it. It was heart wrenching. There were many moments where I was certain I couldn't stop myself from rushing in to rescue her. It was torture for me.

So, how long did it take for her to fall asleep on day one of the Ferber method? A whopping seven minutes. Yeah, that's right... 7 minutes. I only went in to comfort her once, after 5 minutes, and two short minutes later she was asleep!

If I had known it would be that easy I would have done this months ago. I had heard horror stories of babies crying for hours, the very thought of which made my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. But 7 minutes? SEVEN? That, my dear friends, is totally doable.

Mel, I should have listened to you sooner!

** Disclaimer: no one leave me comments about how wrong it is to let your baby cry it out. Every one has different sleep training methods, and some don't believe in any sleep training at all. I am fine with what works for you, so please let me do what works for me!! Thanks!