Zombie Land – Sleep Training Night 1
Last night was both better and worse than I expected. Bella went down around 8:30 and we are committed to sticking to a firm routine with her; bath or soak, diaper, clothes, nurse, book (which she loved – we did one on baby polar bears) in the comfy rocking chair, then swaddle and bed. That was the easy part. So easy I tricked myself into thinking, “Well, this will be a piece of cake!” She went right to sleep with no fussing. Sam was equally impressed. We settled in for Star Trek and popcorn.
We had a soft night light in her room and seriously – this thing is a miracle. The XOXO Candela Light. I’ve been meaning to mention it on here before because I highly recommend them. (not trying to sell anything, just pass on something that worked for me) It charges during the day on the blue part, and then comes off to glow all night with just enough light to nurse, diaper change, etc, and not wake her. It also turns off on the bottom, and once charged lasts 8-10 hours. This was handy because she woke up every half hour for some reason. I think it was being in a new bed and room for the first time. But she wasn’t screaming mad because there was the tiny light. She isn’t a fan of the dark.
She finally falls completely asleep around 11, and I nurse her once more around 12 and do a diaper change. She falls immediately back to sleep. I head off to bed and am awoken at 3:45am with cries. Which I have to admit, she’s done pretty good with almost 4 hours of sleep. Usually she’s up at 1 or 2 in our room. I stumble into her room and put the paci in, calm her, and she falls asleep. I make the mistake of heading back to bed, because within 20 minutes I am in a coma and she is awake again. Shuffle back in the room, paci in the mouth, patting the tummy while laying my head on her crib side and saying to myself, “I am so flippin’ tired.” This time, she’s really mad. I can imagine her thinking, “NO. Where is the boob, lady?”
I know from past experience with this, picking her up results in her completely falling apart because she’s next to me but can’t nurse. So I don’t do anything but rub her tummy and put the paci in. I have the Lazy Boy next to her crib that I climb into between screaming sessions and fall asleep in with a quilt over me. For the next 2 hours, she’s up and mad about every half hour or more. I lost track of time. There are times when I think, “I’ll give her five minutes to cry and see if she goes back to sleep.” I am sorry to say I was the only one who fell back asleep only to wake an unknown amount of time later to a very mad baby. Like the book says, at 6:30am I take her out, nurse her, put her back in, and go to bed – praying she gives me 1 hour of solid sleep time.
The next thing I know, it’s 8am. She’s cooing on the monitor, and I walk into to a giant, beaming smile from her with one arm out of the swaddle. She’s very proud when she manages to work her way out of that thing, as much as she loves it.
So up go the shades, and after a diaper change we head out to the living room to play. I’m so tired I can barely move, but she seems very happy. Back down for a nap at 9:30, and then off to Grandma and Grandpa’s at 10:30. She took a nap there in my arms (not the greatest scenario but at least she slept) slept on the way home, and is now asleep in her crib. We go pick up Daddy in an hour and a half. If I am not passed out on the floor.
I consider it a success so far – I know she can go six full hours without nursing, and I firmly believe she can also sleep that entire time. She made it to almost 4am without waking, she can make it to 7. Also, her cries were not of hunger, and that’s what I was worried about. I would have caved for those. Hers were cries of, “I hate this.” I can handle that, because I know she’ll fall back asleep and be ok.
Then we start round two. I’m hoping she isn’t one of those kids that figures out the second time around that this is for real, and totally loses it. You know, the first time they can handle because they think it’s new and kinda fun, but only temporary. And the next time they have a meltdown.
