Operation “Stay Asleep”

Whew, our plan to get Sammi to go to sleep at night and stay asleep was a success. And not nearly as painful and I feared it would be.

We were always lucky, until recently. The first 5 1/2 months she slept on us or beside us in the co-sleeper, so she never really cried or had a problem sleeping. Whenever she woke up I was there to feed her, so most of the time neither one of us woke all the way up. But then, she started to crawl and I was too freaked out to have her in the co-sleeper anymore. Once a baby becomes mobile you have to get it out of there.

So, I sadly moved her into her own room in her own crib. It was harder for me than for her. Honestly, if we had a king-size bed she would still be in there, or if there was room for the crib on our room she’d be in there. That first night she slept from 7 to 7. How awesome was that? Things went along fine for some time, but then she got an ear infection, then we went on vacation to Egypt where she had to sleep with us or next to us on the floor on her little baby air mattress, then she got another ear infection.

Augh! The days of sleeping through the night were over! It was getting worse and worse. I told Jack that when she turned 1 I was going to wean her from the night feedings, so I needed him to get up and do some of the night wakings. The last month and a half were awful. She started to wake up every hour or so. I would go in and feed her, Jack would go in and change her (because as a guy, he figured there had to be something wrong. Otherwise why was she awake?) Before, she would hold it and pee first thing in the mornings. Now, she started peeing all night long. It was making me crazy! We needed some sleep!

So, it was back to Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, by Marc Weissbluth. I’ve been reading this book all along, because I believe in naps and early bedtimes. Turns out we were already doing everything we were supposed to, just as I thought. She has her naps, she has an early bedtime, and she has a good bedtime routine. Basically, she was just waking up because she knew we would come in and pick her up, feed her, and change her.

Her first birthday came so I knew it was time to take care of this before we all went to the nuthouse. Last Wednesday was the first night of the plan. The book says 4 nights is all it takes. The first night we put her to bed and she woke up an hour later. That first time she cried on and off for about 45 minutes. It was always her whiny cry or her tantrum cry so I knew she was ok. Then she went to sleep. She woke up about the normal number of times that first night, but only cried for 5 or 10 minutes each time. It was pretty horrible listening and not going in to her, but I was expecting it to be worse. Some kids cry for hours. There are some examples in the book and of course, we have watched SuperNanny/Nanny 911 (depending if you are in the States or Canada.) Once again, we were lucky.

The second, third, and forth nights went better each night. By the forth night she only woke up twice and only cried for about 3 to 5 minutes each time. Also, her diaper is dry again in the morning and she pees first thing on waking. Yay!
Last night was the 5th night, the night when the new routine should be established. She only woke up once an hour after I put her to bed, and then she slept until 7! So it looks like we are back to a whole night of sleeping. Thank goodness it worked.

The only thing is now she hates bedtime. We do the whole routine – supper, bath, massage, story time, and then bed. But now, when we get to the last story she starts to cry. She won’t even let herself be nursed to sleep or consoled. So, we just kiss her and tell her we love her and put her in her crib. Even though she is upset she is asleep within minutes – and she still has a smile on her face when she wakes up. Now, we all do!