Adventures in Sleep Training (Day 1)by Kimmama | More from this Blogger 30 Aug 2009 07:32 PM At 8:18pm my husband put our overtired baby in his crib. It's 8:35, and he's still crying intermittently. Over the past few weeks, our nearly five-month-old son has clearly transformed from an infant with regular naps to a baby who wants nothing more than to play all day. Gone are the days when he would fall asleep whenever he needed to, wherever he happened to be. It's been chaotic! I've never been one to believe in the "cry-it-out" method, so this is hard for me, but seeing my baby so tired all day is even harder. The poor thing needs to learn to fall asleep on his own and he needs more sleep at night. And so begins our adventures in sleep training. I plan on blogging about our progress for all those moms out there who might be as hesitant as I to leave a crying baby in a crib. Parenting is a learning experience and a lot of lessons are learned the hard way. We often have certain ideals that may or may not fit in with our child's needs. My parenting style worked wonderful until my baby discovered that the world around him was more interesting than sleeping. I would always spend a few minutes rocking him to sleep, swaddled with a pacifier. He would fall asleep easily and life was good. I have discovered that the problem with this technique is that I am the only one who can put him to sleep. Furthermore, he's no longer content to be rocked to sleep. It's as though he knows that I'm trying to put him to sleep and he protests. What's the difference between him crying in my arms and crying in his crib? What if holding him is actually keeping him from falling asleep because he wants to play with me? (8:42pm and it sounds like he's asleep.) I have three goals for this week: #1 Discover the magical bedtime window when my son is tired, but not so overtired that he is too agitated to fall sleep on his own. Tonight we tried 8:15pm. Tomorrow we'll try 8pm. #2 Establish a morning nap time and stick to it. We'll start with 9am and adjust as needed. #3 Wake him up at 7am each morning to help regulate his schedule, instead of letting him sleep in until 7:30 or 8am randomly. Our current game plan is based on "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" by Marc Weissbluth, M.D. I'm going to look at a few other books as well until we find a technique that works for us. Learn more about Kimmama  Kim is a freelance writer and stay at home mom to her newborn, Micah. She has been married to her husband, Eric, since 2006. Relevantbaby tags User Comments SarahPirolli (181) 31 Aug 2009 05:00 AMOne thing I have definitely found to be true is that every child is different... and that they change constantly! I looked into lots of different books and techniques and none of them fit my baby exactly. And yes, I had some nights of painfully hearing her cry in her crib, but like you, I KNEW that she was really tired and that the more I tried to hold her the worse I was making it. Hang in there. I know how hard it is and how helpless it can make you feel. It will get better and you will all be happier when getting good rest!  ruthann8 (6378) 31 Aug 2009 07:08 AMAt five months babies still don't have the concept of a schedule. And they don't know the difference between night and day. Try not to worry so much, he will sleep when he is tired. I found that sleeping habits got worse when she was trying to learn something new like, sitting up, dancing, clapping, crawling, walking, and getting on off her rocking horse.  Kimmama |
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