Sleepless to Sleepful!

Bedtime can be a nightmare for MANY parents. For us, it WAS great! Bug was a GREAT sleeper from day one, but then all of a sudden, she started to wake up like 4 or 5 times a night and scream until I gave her boob and then she'd fall back to sleep only to do it again a couple hours later. It was exhausting. I tried letting her cry it out...that kid didn't give up...EVER! lol. When we lived at my father-in-laws house for a few months, in between moving back to Winnipeg from Toronto and buying this house, he had cable tv. I watched Super Nanny one day and that's where I learned what I did. At first I didn't like the idea of "sleep training", but I think if you find something that works for your child, then great. And this technique I used on Bug worked for her because it only took 2 days! Seriously! I did this almost 2 months ago, and after those 2 days, things have been golden!! Just STICK TO IT!! Keep in mind that all babies are different, so a different techniques all together may work better for your baby. But with everything else, it's trial and error. Babies are oh so simple, yet oh so complicated sometimes, lol.

Do whatever routine you do in the evening with your child and when s/he's sleepy and calm, make the room night ready and put them in the crib. S/he will probably start to cry right away, so just sit a few feet from the crib kinda with your back to your child, but enough that they can see the side of your face. Do not make eye contact and do not react to the screaming. Sit there facing forward with your side to the crib until your child is sleeping. This may take a long time at first. So just wait it out, it WILL get better. You'll probably notice a difference within days. When s/he's sleeping, leave the room quietly. When s/he wakes up at any time in the night, just go in there, don't say any thing at all, just kiss them, lay them back down and sit in the same place with your side to the crib. Doing this consistently will show them that you're there and s/he'll learn to fall asleep on their own. As the days go on, move closer and closer to the door until you are no longer in the room! Watch THIS VIDEO to see an example.

Now, we have an evening routine that I stick to. I call it The Four B's. Bath. Books. Boob. Bed. After the bath, I read like a dozen books to Adelaide and then I breastfeed her. By then, she's calm and kinda sleepy. So I bring her to her room , turn off the lights and put her in her crib. She cries for a minute and then she goes to sleep and sleeps through the night until about 7 or 8am. If she does wake up in the night, she whimpers for a second but falls back to sleep on her own, so I don't have to get up anymore!

It's amazing how crazy you start to feel when you become so sleep deprived. I wish you many sleepful nights. Good luck and feel free to comment and let me know how this worked for you and your child. But please, before you try this, I encourage you to read this article first just so you are knowledgeable about the other side of it. It's always best to make sure you see the bigger picture, because what works for one baby may not work for another. Listen to your baby.