Day 79: Sleeping Beauty

I have to say, I was one proud mama today! It all started last week, when we started a new bedtime routine. If you've been following 99 Days of Laughter, you will know all about the frustrations and difficulties we've been having trying to not only sleep longer than 3 hours, but to sleep through the night.

After venting my frustrations out to my friend, she kindly offered me some advice on what she was doing with her baby girl, who is not only a few months younger than Samantha but sleeping through the night! It seems like even though my girl had been getting a good 2 hour nap in the mornings, she was still over-tired. I know how I feel when I'm over-tired, it's almost impossible to sleep, I can only imagine it being even harder for Samantha.

That first night, was SO hard! We moved bedtime up by a full hour and she woke up only a few hours later...I did not go in until 11pm to nurse her. Now, I have to say, I am really not an advocate for the "cry it out" method. I have always been the type to go running to her the moment she starts to cry. So, thankfully, Josh was there to literally hold my hand as I listened to her whine and whimper for 15 minutes and cry for 5 more. Then a miracle happened...she was quiet! She was quiet for another 45 minutes until I went in to nurse her at 11pm.

But, the hardest part happened at some time around 1 in the morning. She woke up! I knew, that if Samantha was anything like her mommy, we were going to have to do this cold turkey. So, being that it had been less than 2 hours after being fed, I knew her waking was becoming more of a habit than a necessity. So, I curled up into a ball on the basement couch I hugged the baby monitor and listened to her whine and whimper for about 30 minutes...then cry and cry and cry for about 15 minutes more.

It was absolutely gut-wrenching hearing her cry and knowing that in less than 30 seconds she could be in my arms being comforted by her mommy! But then it was QUIET! I am quickly realizing that although crying is hard, sleeplessness is much harder! She did not wake again again until 7:15 in the morning!

Now, it has been almost a week of this new sleep routine. Luckily, Samantha hasn't been sick and we've been pretty much house bound with no where to go. This has made it possible for her to take naps in her crib at the same times and I'm sure that has helped to get the routine straightened out.

Needless to say, we are on night 6 and she is pretty much on a schedule now and able to put herself to sleep! Woo Hoo! We are both SO much happier and laughing SO much more together! Now if only I could train myself to fall asleep at a decent hour!

So, if anyone's interested our routine goes something like this:

7:00am - Daddy goes in bright and cheery to wake our Sleeping Beauty and change her diaper. Then I nurse her while he gets ready for work and we head downstairs to play and say goodbye
8:30am-9:30am - Time to go down for a nap (time depends on how she slept, generally closer to 9:30)
10:45am - Time to get up Sleepy Head. I try not to let her sleep past this time or it seems to reflect afternoon nap
1:00pm - Quiet time. I put Samantha in her crib with the lights off. She will either sleep or babble away to the rocking chair for an hour.
3:30pm-4:30pm - If she didn't sleep by 2pm, she will generally nap around this time until I wake her up at 5:30pm
7:00pm- Bedtime! Quiet time, story time, bottle and bed. She usually will play and babble for 30 min, but is usually asleep by 8pm on her own.
11:00pm - Goodnight nurse before I go to sleep!

***Please keep in mind, I am not a sleep consultant and that all babies are different. Also, growth spurts, milestones, illness, travel, etc can all throw off your babies sleep patterns.***