Choo, Choo! All Aboard the Sleep Train!

We have started sleep-training with Colin. What does that mean? Basically it means that we're trying to improve his sleeping and correct some "bad" habits we had fallen into. First a bit about those bad habits. Prior to starting this new regimen, we rocked Colin to sleep for every nap and I nursed him to sleep for every bedtime. If he woke in the middle of the night, we would either rock him or I would nurse him back to sleep. Occasionally he would sleep through the night but that was much more the exception than the rule. Now just about every sleep or infant parenting book/article out there says you should put your baby down when he is drowsy but still awake so that he can learn to fall asleep on his own. And we knew this and of course wanted to abide but whenever we tried it early on while Colin was still quite little, he would cry and cry, even if we stayed right there and rubbed his back or talked to him soothingly. So we gave up trying after awhile. It was just so much easier and less stressful to nurse him to sleep, giving us our quiet time in the evenings before bed to relax and unwind. And when he woke during the night, it was pretty quick and easy to get him back to sleep.

Fast forward to about seven months old. Colin started to get much harder to get back to sleep in the middle of the night, even with rocking or nursing. He had to be nursed/rocked much longer and then would wake up as soon as we gingerly laid him down in the crib. So we'd have to repeat the process, sometimes 2 or 3 times. Not fun at 2 AM! Plus he has gotten heavier and we had to lower his crib mattress so it was getting more and more difficult to lay him down in the crib gracefully. Keeping my fingers crossed that he didn't wake was stressful, especially at that hour. We knew he needed to learn to put himself to sleep and that the longer we waited, the more difficult it would likely be for us all.

So we researched a few books and chose one that we liked called The Sleepeasy Solution. It has a DVD version too that we rented at the library and that we had Ms. Krystal watch (we also bought her a copy of the book). The plan in the book is basically just a cry-it-out method with interval checking. The authors have you go in and check on your baby at 5, 10, and 15 minute intervals. After the 15 minute interval, you go in every 15 minutes after that until your baby falls asleep on his own. When you go in, you don't touch or pick up your baby, only talk to them in a soothing tone and leave the room again within 30 seconds. Sounds pretty horrible, right? We were definitely prepared for the worst - hours of crying and screaming and a very stressful and sleepless few nights, etc.

We started the program last Friday and it has been going amazingly well. Much, much easier than we ever expected. That first night it only took Colin 19 minutes to fall asleep and he wasn't crying all that hard. From there on out it's just gotten easier. He has put himself to sleep at bedtime anywhere in the 2-20 minute range. Tonight it took about 20 minutes but he didn't cry at all during that time! He just stayed up there making a few sounds and moving around in the crib until he fell asleep! Nap times have been just as easy. The book says to expect naps to be more difficult but he's gone right down taking anywhere from 2-20 minutes. The first two nights of the program he woke up during the night. The second night was pretty bad - he cried for about an hour and we did our check-ins per the program. Since that night, he has slept through the night every night!! That's four nights in a row! We have heard him make some sounds but then he puts himself right back to sleep. Absolutely amazing. We are kicking ourselves for not doing this earlier!

We know that there will still be rough nights in our future but we're just so happy that Colin now has this skill! It is a huge weight off of my shoulders. Now if I ever couldn't be here at bedtime, Keith could put him down without me.

Colin in his favorite sleeping position - booty in the air!