Sleep Teaching: Part 1

sleep teaching night number one: April 10th

I wrote this post April 11th

For about a month Dominick has been fighting sleep and it seemed like we were up most of the night. When my mom was here there was even a night I took him to the living room to sleep on the couch (granted I think this was because he wasn't feeling well). I knew the time was coming and had discussed it with Ryan for some time that we needed to start putting Dominick in his room and sleep training him. He kept begging me to wait until after May 2nd when he tests for Staff. He figured it would be best to continue what we're doing to get the most sleep, even if it wasn't a lot we were still getting some. I complied for a few more weeks before finally throwing my hands up and telling him we were going to sleep teach and it was happening that very night. Ryan wasn't thrilled, but our entire house was exhausted. Most afternoons when I would pick D up he would be so tired we would spend more time fighting with him to stay awake than actually playing and we were all exhausted. It was time, we were all ready.
A few weeks ago Kit posted about sleep teaching E. I book marked the posts to go back on (because remember we weren't going to start trying until after May 2nd), but knew it was going to be happening. After a pep talk from Kit, talking to my mom and a few other of my friends that day I figured I had to at least give it a chance. To say I was completely at ease with this decision would be a complete lie. I was dreading night time and a ball of nerves, but we did it and I know that eventually he will be an all night sleeper. So on the first night this is what we did:

+bedtime schedule (we've already had this in place): bath, lotion, pajamas, book
+nursed Dominick; keeping him awake (before he would fall asleep most nights while nursing)
+we told him we loved him and to have sweet dreams
+I laid him down in his crib awake and gave him his teddy bear and covered him up
+turned the lights off and walked out of his room

I just want to say that he did cry for about 3 minutes. He had a rough day teething and barely napped at daycare; I'm not sure if this was the reason or not. He ended up sleeping until 3:15 where he woke up and cried off and on. I went in at the 15 minute mark and laid him back down (he was standing up). He cried for 15 more minutes, but was able to go back to sleep until 6:30 this morning. When he woke up he was happy, ate better than he has in a very long time and seemed really well rested.

I'm not sure every night will be like this, but I'm glad that we have started this now (even though it probably should have been done sooner). Now that he's 7 months, I know that he doesn't HAVE to nurse at night and that it was most likely a comfort for him and a routine. As everyone said, in the long run it'll be better for him and for us. Now on to day 2.

Total Crying Time: ~33 minutes
Total Sleeping Time: 9.25 hours

in the morning after a good nights sleep

Part 2 Tomorrow!