Ok. Those of you who know me well, or who pay attention to my sleep deprived posts on facebook, know that Rhett has never been an awesome sleeper. He doesn't cry at night, he just fusses. And fusses some more. And does that every time his binky falls out. All night long.
Now I am new to this whole 'not sleeping' baby thing. Evelyn was a great sleeper. She slept through the night (8hrs + 4hrs) starting at 8 weeks old and by 3 months was sleeping 12 hours straight. She has been like that ever since with the exception of teething and sickies. I have recently realized how lucky that was.
By 3 months old Rhett was sleeping 3 hour stretches...not awesome, but doable. At 4 months old he backslid and started waking every 45-90 minutes! I was pretty much non-functional as a mommy and as a person. I dropped my workouts to a bare minimum. Sometimes I skipped them all-together!
Last week I realized something had to change. I had done some research and knew that Rhett had sleep associations with his binky. I was sure that if I kept it from him I would get even less sleep. So I just let him keep it.
Now I believe in a God that cares about the little things in my life. Believing as I do, I prayed. I prayed a lot. I got the feeling that I was the one who had to fix the problem. Boo. Fixing problems is hard. So I started asking for advice and reading articles. I found a lot of good information, but no solutions for my specific problem. Rhett is a super sweet and mellow baby and the idea of letting him 'cry it out' was not OK with me. I think it has to do with both of our personalities. I am sure it works for a lot of babies and awesome parents, but I didn't think it was for us.
During my search I found a system called Sleep Sense. I read a lot of reviews and pretty much every page on the website. The system offers 'stay in the room' options as well as 'leave and check' options. That was more of what I was looking for. I went ahead and bought in! The e-book teaches about infant and toddler sleep and offers how to's for different age groups. It is a gentle program for teaching baby the needed skills to fall asleep on their own and setting them up for success.
Well, I decided to start during naps that day. I followed her instructions and Rhett went down on his own without his binky in only 20 minutes! It was like that all day. By bedtime (7pm) he went down after only talking to himself for 10 minutes in his room. No tears! He woke up at 10pm and I knew that would be the real challenge. Getting him to go back to sleep without a binky. There was 45 minutes of protesting. Since I was right by his bed I could pat him and keep him 'calm'. Talking to him kept him from getting super upset, but I could tell he didn't like the change from habit. At 45 minutes he rolled onto his side with his little panda and fell asleep. He woke up a couple of times but babbled himself back to sleep in a few minutes. He ate at 3:30am and was up for the day at 6am.
Not perfect, but day two was even better. I stuck with the instructions and he went down easily all day and at bedtime. I didn't even need to sit with him after putting him in his bed! This time he slept from 7pm until 4:45am when he ate. He promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up till 6am. Then he talked himself to sleep again and slept until 7. Bam! Sleeping baby! I feel SO much better. I know there may be setbacks, but it was far easier than I thought it would be.
You can get a free sleep report emailed to you by filling out some basic information here: http://sleepsense.net/ Filling out the report also takes you to a page where you can get the basic system for $20. Next to the babywise system, this is the best money I have spent on programs to help baby learn.
Happy sleeping!
Now I am new to this whole 'not sleeping' baby thing. Evelyn was a great sleeper. She slept through the night (8hrs + 4hrs) starting at 8 weeks old and by 3 months was sleeping 12 hours straight. She has been like that ever since with the exception of teething and sickies. I have recently realized how lucky that was.
By 3 months old Rhett was sleeping 3 hour stretches...not awesome, but doable. At 4 months old he backslid and started waking every 45-90 minutes! I was pretty much non-functional as a mommy and as a person. I dropped my workouts to a bare minimum. Sometimes I skipped them all-together!
Last week I realized something had to change. I had done some research and knew that Rhett had sleep associations with his binky. I was sure that if I kept it from him I would get even less sleep. So I just let him keep it.
Now I believe in a God that cares about the little things in my life. Believing as I do, I prayed. I prayed a lot. I got the feeling that I was the one who had to fix the problem. Boo. Fixing problems is hard. So I started asking for advice and reading articles. I found a lot of good information, but no solutions for my specific problem. Rhett is a super sweet and mellow baby and the idea of letting him 'cry it out' was not OK with me. I think it has to do with both of our personalities. I am sure it works for a lot of babies and awesome parents, but I didn't think it was for us.
During my search I found a system called Sleep Sense. I read a lot of reviews and pretty much every page on the website. The system offers 'stay in the room' options as well as 'leave and check' options. That was more of what I was looking for. I went ahead and bought in! The e-book teaches about infant and toddler sleep and offers how to's for different age groups. It is a gentle program for teaching baby the needed skills to fall asleep on their own and setting them up for success.
Well, I decided to start during naps that day. I followed her instructions and Rhett went down on his own without his binky in only 20 minutes! It was like that all day. By bedtime (7pm) he went down after only talking to himself for 10 minutes in his room. No tears! He woke up at 10pm and I knew that would be the real challenge. Getting him to go back to sleep without a binky. There was 45 minutes of protesting. Since I was right by his bed I could pat him and keep him 'calm'. Talking to him kept him from getting super upset, but I could tell he didn't like the change from habit. At 45 minutes he rolled onto his side with his little panda and fell asleep. He woke up a couple of times but babbled himself back to sleep in a few minutes. He ate at 3:30am and was up for the day at 6am.
Not perfect, but day two was even better. I stuck with the instructions and he went down easily all day and at bedtime. I didn't even need to sit with him after putting him in his bed! This time he slept from 7pm until 4:45am when he ate. He promptly fell asleep and didn't wake up till 6am. Then he talked himself to sleep again and slept until 7. Bam! Sleeping baby! I feel SO much better. I know there may be setbacks, but it was far easier than I thought it would be.
You can get a free sleep report emailed to you by filling out some basic information here: http://sleepsense.net/ Filling out the report also takes you to a page where you can get the basic system for $20. Next to the babywise system, this is the best money I have spent on programs to help baby learn.
Happy sleeping!
I did Sleep Sense with my baby and loved it! So glad you found it and it worked for Rhett!
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