ORIGINAL POST DATE: April 28, 2016
Oh man, if Sleep Training were a person I would so take them out to a nice dinner, let them order two desserts, and invite them back to my place. I'm 5 days into sleep training and it's like a little miracle. This probably isn't usual but it clicked with Jack after only one night. ONE NIGHT! Why didn't I do this sooner? I guess Jack was ready for it and lord knows I was ready for more consistent sleep. I did some googling on sleep training and picked and chose what I thought was going to work for us and what I could handle emotionally. With a plan in place I steeled my nerves and decided to start!
What lead us to this decision? Honestly, I didn't really mind waking up and feeding Jack one or two times a night, but I also wouldn't turn down a solid chunk of sleep. For me, it more came from the fact that Jack's naps were getting out of hand, only lasting about 30 minutes and I would be rocking him to sleep for up to an hour. It hit me that this is not feasible if I were to leave him with someone else, which luckily I haven't had to yet. I read somewhere that a baby that sleeps well at night will sleep better during their naps and vice versa, so it was time to start sleep training and get Jack on a schedule. Here are the two resources I used: Baby Sleep Training - the Dr. Ferber Method and Typical Schedule for a 6-8 Month Old.
Here are the basics that I followed:
-A solid bedtime routine. We've been playing the same little sound machine music at bedtime since Jack was born and now we've started using the white noise during his daytime naps. At night we change his diaper, put on pjs, put on his sleep sack, I nurse him, burp him, kiss his squishy cheekies and put to him down.
-Put him down awake at night. Sometimes at night I have to jostle him a little so he is awake when I put him in the crib. Luckily Jack is good at this at bedtime, not so much at nap time.
-Let him try and put himself to sleep at bed time and back to sleep in the middle of the night. Wait 5 minutes and go in to reassure him and make shushing noises, but don't pick him up. Next wait 6 minutes and so on. At 6 months they don't need to eat throughout the night, so no night time nursing.
-No pacifiers, blankets, or anything in the crib. We do use sleep sacks though.
The first night he woke up about 5-6 times. I had to go in a few times to shush him and tell him it was ok, and he eventually fell back asleep. The first night was rough but we survived and stuck to the plan. By night 2 he woke up once and put himself back to sleep in about 1-2 minutes. By night 3 he didn't make a peep. Knock on wood, we are on day 6 and he's been sleeping the night! This is the biggest change over the last month but here are some more updates:
-Sitting up on his own. His balance isn't great when he reaches for a toy but he can sit up by himself for extended periods of time.
-Has tried carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, green beans, and rice cereal. Loves them ALL!
-Wants to move. This kid wants to crawl so bad. He is always wiggling all over the place.
-Laughing and making more noises. No distinct sounds but he loves hearing his own voice.
-The itsy bitsy spider is his jam.
-Weighs 19.5 lbs (85th percentile for age, 55th percentile for his height) and is 28.25 inches long (98th percentile for height). His head is back on the charts at 18.13" circumference (99th percentile).
I want time to slow down. I can't believe it's been 6 months. On the other hand I love seeing all the changes in him and I can't wait to hear him say mama and reach out for me. But I bet that little shit will say Dada first.
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