I know lots of you have been wondering how the sleep department has been going. Well I got 4 sleep books from the library, most notibly "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" by Elizabeth Pantley and "Solving Your Child's Sleep Problems" by Richard Ferber. If you don't know about these methods, well they are OPPOSITE AS OPPOSITE CAN BE. Night and day. One was written by a guy. One was written by a girl. One was written by a doctor. One was written by a mom. One seemed cruel. One seemed compassionate.
I still don't know which is right for my child but here's what we've been doing the last 4 days.
Attempt nursing him to sleep. This used to work even though I realized it was wrong. It still does work SOMETIMES and I want to break him of the habit so I don't have a 4 year old who needs my boob to go to sleep. If Blaine is still awake after nursing, which he has been each of the last 3 evenings and many of the last few naps, pat his back, tell him it is time for sleep and lay him in bed.
Day 1: Let him cry 5 minutes, go in for 2-3 minutes to soothe, then cry 10 minutes, then soothe, then 15 minutes subsequently. He never made it all the way through the 15 without being asleep.
Day 2: Let him cry 7 min, go in to soothe, let cry 12 min....never made it. Asleep 1 min into the 12 minute stretch.
And tonight? Asleep in 6 minutes with no going in needed :)
Who knows what the future will bring in this next week but there are DEFINITELY improvements so far!
What to work on next? Keeping him asleep longer for naps! I guess there is a sleep stage transition from 30-45 minutes that he can't get past w/out waking up. We'll work on that!
5 comments:
So happy it's working for you! We're still holding down ok at night after reading a few books. He sleeps so many hours at night, I'm not sure what to ask for during the day!
Yay for improvement!!!! We are still working on improving nap times as well...so far I have not found anything that works consistently. I read briefly about something called wake to sleep where you kinda wake them up a little bit right before they normally wake up from the sleep cycle. That supposedly resets the cycle. I have been too afraid to try it so far!
I would love to hear how this is going for you. How is he crying.. is it hysterical, and then coughing? That's what Sophie does. I REALLY want her to learn how to soothe herself to sleep. Please keep giving updates :)
yep; exactly what sophie does! crying and coughing and sounds like he is going to die of a heart-attack at any minute. soooooo hard to listen to!! he does it in the car now too so i have a pair of earplugs in every vehicle (we only take like 10 minute trips but listening to that in an enclosed space is enough for hearing damage, i swear!).
today's naptime is not going well so far. :(
Oh my goodness, the car is the WORST when you know you can't pick them up. I've tried something new... got Sophie a sleep sack (like baby sleeping bag!).. she loves it and it kind of signals bedtime. Last night we bathed her, read 2 books, put her in her sleep sack and then laid on our bed with her. She was out within 5 minutes. So, it's not perfect but were getting there.. at least i'm not rocking her for half an hour. It worked for nap time today too. Here's hoping it continues.
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