Sleep Training

Since she was born I've heard "You have to teach your baby how to fall asleep. Make sure you lay them down awake so they can learn to put themselves to sleep." When you hear this you don't really realize that a baby has to 'learn' how to fall asleep. I guess I always took for granted how to close my eyes and go to sleep. Well, she had kinda fallen asleep on her own when we laid her down a couple of times so I figured we were ok. She seemed to sleep pretty well for an 8 month old. Then Val decided that she needed to train Toby to sleep. It sounded awlful, but was really working for them. I examined Francesca's sleeping habits and decided that they weren't too bad and she would be fine. Then I started noticing that at night she would eat and not fall asleep. We were then allowing her to play around till she was moody and then Dom or I would hold her, read to her and sing and eventually she would fall asleep. Most nights it wasn't till about 10:00 or 10:30 that she would go to sleep.

So we realized that she didn't have a great sleeping habit and we should start helping her put her self to sleep. Last night (7/25) was our first try at it. We would bathe her, read to her, cuddle and then put her in her crib. We knew she was tired so hopefully this would go smoothly. We we were just kidding ourselves. After laying her down she would immediately stand up and start crying. Sometimes she would take it to the next level. We waited 3 mins and then went back in. I did pick her up and tried to soothe her. We then went in every 5 mins or so, comforted her, laid her on her back and then walked out. After 45 mins I went in and when I laid her down I got close to her and comforted her. She almost immediately went to sleep. YEA! success! One night down. She woke up around 2ish but was able to go back to sleep before waking up around 5 to eat.

Today I tried to do the same for nap time. She was tired, but not willing to sleep. I tried for 30mins and then gave in and let her come out to play. She eventually went to sleep while eating. Tonight Dom was on call so the duty was mine. I gave her extra time in the bath, but knew she was somewhat sleepy. I read to her, fed her and read one last book. She was very tired so I was hoping it would go better. As soon as I had her hovering over her bed she started crying. She has learned in 2 days what is going to happen. She was upset at first but after only 30mins she was asleep. The last time I went in she had sat down on her own and was not standing up to meet me. So hopefully she will eventually learn to sit, lay down and then fall asleep all by herself. We will take it one night a time. I know we will all be thankful when she has learned to fall asleep.

The next night was even better. She cried for about 15 mins and the second time we went in and laid her down she fell asleep. Then the two nights after that she only fussed for 3-5 mins.

SUCCESS!!!! We've been doing this for close to a week and she has really responded well to her bedtime routine. While we are reading to her she has really calmed down and I think is starting to associate all of these activities with sleep. Now when we lay her down we don't have to go back in and calm her down. Lets hope she keeps this up.

Now we will work on her waking up during the night and learning to fall back to sleep then and naps during the day.