And, this is the second day in a row that he's done so.
Leopleurodon has always been a crappy napper. I mean, when he was small he would only sleep during the day if he was held. He then graduated around 4 months old to cat naps that only lasted 20-45 minutes max if I wasn't holding him.
I know. I know. You're supposed to put the baby down drowsy, but still awake. All I can say was that I knew that before I even had a baby, it just didn't work. And really I don't know when that's supposed to work--after you go on the one hour walk around the neighborhood just when the baby is starting to calm down...yeah, that's what I thought.
Two weeks ago, I reached the breaking point for bobbing Leo for 40 minutes before he fell asleep at night. Especially because out of the blue he also wanted to be bobbed for another 40 minutes every time he woke up to eat. So I broke out Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child for the second time. Decided that I was going to bite the bullet and try out Extinction at bedtime--which basically is exactly what it sounds like. I kiss Leo on the forehead, close the door, and then its pain and suffering for the whole family before Leo finally falls asleep. It's supposed to be 1 hour of crying the first night, a half hour the second, and maybe 10 minutes the third night.
On night #12, the least he had ever cried before falling asleep was 45 minutes. *insert feeling of guilt and doubt here*
But then I stumbled across this blog. Many interesting and informative points there. But the real game-changer for Leo: blackout curtains! (I know sounds obvious, but there's other stuff there too)
We hung up the blackout curtains before bedtime, Leo only cried for 35 minutes. Next day Leo napped like I was dreaming. Genius!
Tonight, dinobaby only cried for 15 minutes before he fell asleep. And today I ate lunch s l o w l y, not my usual madwoman wolfing down food because I knew I wouldn't need to run in at a moments notice to try to salvage shreds of naptime for my tired kid.
Sincerely, thank you God. You are good.
What has been your greatest sleep challenge? Any silver bullets like blackout curtains for me?What do you think about cry-it-out?
You know our history with Rachel's sleeping right? Yeah, pretty much sucked! All the time! We finally got her to sleep with a modified version of cry-it-out after the regular CIO didn't work.
ReplyDeleteI think it's important that you do whatever works for you and your baby. No two babies are the same, so one-size parenting does not fit all. Glad you found the things that help Leo (and everyone else) sleep and stay sane!
*one magic trick we loved for Rachel is having a fan on in her room to block out household noises.
How did you modify it? Also...any hints on naps? I'm still bouncing him to sleep. It's great that he's napping so well when he does get to sleep, but the dude is almost 20 lbs now...
ReplyDeleteInstead of her crying with us out of the room, I sat next to her crib until she fell asleep, and then left. The next night, I scooted a few feet away from the crib and sat there until she fell asleep. The next night, a few more feet, and so on, until I would just put her in her crib, leave the room and shut the door. (This is the Supernanny technique.) Worked like a charm. If she woke up crying in the night, I would go back in and sit where ever I was sitting when I put her down the first time.
DeleteNaaaaaaaaaaps...hmmm...trying to remember. Ah yes, same technique with naps. Didn't take nearly as long as night time sleeping.
I feel like a noob with Wesley, though. He doesn't sleep through the night, and he can't get a nap in edgewise with Rachel around.