Sleep Training

Did you ever stop and look at a situation that you were in and think to yourself "Now how in the world did we get here?" "How in the world did things get this bad?" And then you think back over the past say, 8 months, and you can vaguely,through sleep deprived eyes,see the path that led you to your current non-sleeping situation.

I think this all started with unrealistic expectations of how and when a baby "should be" sleeping through the night. I read many books that claimed that babies could be sleeping through the night at 6 weeks of age. Ha!!! Well, maybe that works for some, but for our happy little slightly sleep deprived family, it didn't.

I also think Reagan having unresolved reflux issues can also be factored in to the no sleep equation. We initially had plans that Reagan would sleep in her own crib from the very beginning, and that she would be taught how to sleep on her own. We had plans to have Reagan sleeping through the night at at least 8 weeks of age, maybe 12 weeks if we were part of the "unfortunate" ones!! And then, as we were on our way to sleeping bliss, Reagan started the period of her existance that we try to forget!! Poor baby,screaming and crying and just down right uncomfortable. During this time of torture, we did ANYTHING to get Reagan to be comfortable, which included rocking her to sleep, letting her sleep in her swing (which was a blessing at the time), etc....

So, while we were getting Reagan's reflux issues under control, we were at the same time, unknowningly, creating a monster!! A monster with an angels face, that soon start refusing to sleep in her crib, and only sleeping in her swing with her very very tired mommy or daddy asleep next to her on the not so comfortable couch!!

Ok, so the swing worked for some time, and even though the couch was uncomfortable, at least it was somewhere to rest you head when you were weary!! Then the dreaded day came when low and behold, out of nowhere, Reagan got too big for the swing! I was distraught with worry of how in the world we were ever going to get ANY sleep, EVER AGAIN!!!

So, we started putting Reagan in her crib again, where she would sleep for a while, and then wake up and refuse to go back to sleep in her crib. So what is a parent to do? Well, I will tell you what you do when you are so tired you can't see straight, and desperate. You do the one thing the you swore up and down that you would NEVER EVER do, you let baby come and sleep right smack inbetween momma and dadda in their bed. And, oh how baby loved being all snuggled up with momma and dadda!! She would sleep great, Jeremy would sleep great, but me , not so much, but 2 out of 3 was not so bad, right?

So anyway, soon, Reagan started wanting to nurse constantly during the night, I think that she would just roll over and her food supply would be right there, waiting. So, then she would fuss and fuss until I would (weak one that I am) give in and feed her just to make her happy so she would sleep so we could sleep.

So, this is where we found ourselves, doing things that we swore we would never do, and letting Reagan do things that are not good for anyone in our little household, even the poor dog!!

So, this is where we started, desperate for something to change but scared to try, not knowing the outcome. I think I was more scared than anything that it would not work and then we would be stuck forever with no sleep.

So, this week, we got to a point where we just could not handle it anymore.
I read the book, Sleep Easy Solutions. Pretty much, the basis of the book is to teach your baby how to self soothe. So this week, we prayed about it and decided that it was time to try something, anything!! The book outlined exactly what to do to get your baby to sleep better at night, and take better naps. So, we followed the steps, exactly as they were laid out for us. And this is how it went:

Night 1:
I laid Reagan down to sleep on the first night awake (I usually rocked her to sleep, put her in her bed ever so gingerly, and tip toed out of the room so not to wake her up). She had no idea what I was doing and immediately started to cry, and cry, and scream. She proceded to throw the fit of all fits. She cried as if someone has cut both of her arms off with a saw. Seriously, it was just pitiful. But as she was crying, I realized that she has no idea how to soothe herself to sleep. And it was all my fault,I was the one to blame. The book says to check on the baby in intervals, first in 5 min, then 10, then every 15 minutes until the baby falls asleep. It took Reagan 46 minutes to finally give up and fall asleep, 46 horrible heart wrenching minutes. Reagan slept till about 3 oclock that morning, and then woke up crying. She again cried and cried, this time for about 25 minutes before falling back asleep. She slept the rest of the night until the morning.

Night 2:
I laid Reagan down in her crib. I was ready for another horrible night. I decided to give Reagan a little blanket that my mom made her, a little lovie for her to hold on to. Once I laid her down, Reagn cried for 6 mintutes, and the fell asleep. 6 minutes, thats it!! I could not believe it. She again awoke around 3 am, cried for about 5 minutes, and then put herself back to sleep.

Night 3:
I laid Reagan down in her crib. She gave me a big smile, rolled over, and not another peep was heard from her. She went right to sleep without any fussing or anything. She did wake up a few times during the night, cried for a minute or two, and then put herself back to sleep.

So, this is where we are now. Things are looking up for us right now, and I am so so thankful. Hopefully we can continue this road that we are on, the road to a better nights sleep. It is needed for all of us, Me, Jeremy, Reagan, and also poor Maggie!!

Keep your fingers crossed, and your prayers lifted high:-))