It’s all smiles in this house. We finally feel like we are coming up for air and even feel rested. I even made a list of things to cook to get back in the school mode, am trying to get Logan and me organized for us both to go to school, and am finishing up summer projects.
After trying every suggestion we heard about infant sleep, we finally got Logan to learn to sleep on his own and through the night. And fall asleep for naps on his own too. Hallelujah! What worked? Cry it out. I know, I can’t believe it. It was definitely a last resort, but it really wasn’t as bad as we expected.
The final night of misery was last Wednesday when Logan was extremely hard to put to sleep at 7 p.m. and then woke up two hours after he finally fell asleep at 8:30. We could not get him back to bed and after almost two hours of being awake (it was then after midnight), we put him down to cry. We set a 45 minute limit and covered our heads with the covers. Thirty-five minutes later, he was asleep. It wasn’t perfect, he woke up again a few hours later, but by Thursday morning for his nap, we did it again and he fell asleep within an hour (mostly talking, then crying), same with his afternoon nap quicker, same with bedtime that night within 20 minutes…and he slept until morning when he woke up happy. By the weekend, the crying was minimal and the naps were nice and long.
There are many variations of “cry it out,” but we did the more extreme where we don’t “shuffle” out of the room. We said goodnight, put him down, and walked away. We watched the monitor the whole time, and the crying was around 20 minutes or less each time. For some naps, I went back to pat his back and give him the pacifier, but that was it…no rocking, swaying, etc. He learned to put himself to sleep.
He sleeps happy on his belly, even though he can’t roll to his back yet. I lay him on his back and he quickly rolls to his belly. His naps have been longer too–an added bonus. Breaking the swaddle has not been pleasant, but hopefully we are over the hump!
On Saturday night, he went down with less than two minutes of crying, more like whining, and slept perfectly until 7 a.m. We know there will be many less-than-perfect nights, but we are so happy that he can go to sleep on his own. Glad that battle is behind us!
A good read