Bennett had always been a VERY good sleeper, I don't say that to brag, trust me, He never had a single "up all night" phase, from day one he was adjusted to night and day, HOWEVER staying asleep, and going back to sleep on his own, has always been a challenge.
He just hit 10 months old, and is finally sleeping through the night (if your child is older than 10 months, this is again not to brag, I am sorry, I know you are tried, I know you feel like a zombie, but it will get better!)
At 9 months old, he was still waking up between 2 and 4 times a night, I had read all the books, I had done all the research, I was pretty sure I was doing everything right, but still, no sleep for momma (even though he eats and falls right back asleep, I spent all night feeling like it was water torture "He is going to wake up the second I fall back asleep") add the fact that the first few months I was exclusively pumping, so he would wake up, take a bottle, and then id have to pump for 20 minutes, finally fall back asleep and he was awake again!
Finally I had enough, I was so tired, I was scared to drive some days. And I wasn't even being a good mom, I just laid on the couch and let him play, so I could trick my body into thinking it was sleeping. I took to social media, and asked EVERYONE for ANY advice I could get, what I got was a lot of the regular tricks "add cereal to his bottles" "have a bedtime routine" "play soft music" blah blah blah...
What we were doing:
He took naps, one 1.5 hours after he woke up, and one strictly at 1pm, after lunch, he was always exhausted and crabby by the time bedtime came, which I thought was great (that has to lead to more sleep! right?)
We had a bedtime routine, at 6:30pm (yes thats early, but babies are wired to go to bed early!) actually let me back up, we have dinner at 5pm, and then a bath, if needed, and then a little play time, THEN bedtime starts at 6:30, change into a night diaper and PJs, lotion up, go into his bedroom, have a bottle, read a book or 10, sing a couple songs, and then into his crib he went, awake but drowsy! He would wake up for the morning at 7am, about 12 hours after he went to bed, which is great, but those 3+ bottles during the night were killing me!
I was actually doing a lot right, but I was missing so many things!!
I took everyones advice, and combined it into one amazing pile of delicious sleep!
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| He even wakes up HAPPIER now! |
What we do now:
Black out curtains: we added black out curtains to his room, actually I lie, we added sheets on top of his curtains (hey we are moving soon, and I don't know what the windows will be like in our new home!) this keeps the room extra dark, and stops the sun from shinning into his room at the crack of dawn, it also seems to keep his room cooler, in the morning, when the sun shines in
Earlier Bedtime: we now start our bedtime routine around 6pm, instead of 6:30, he is much less tired, but he falls asleep much faster!
Bedtime Snack: even though bedtime is just 1 hour after dinner, we have started to give him a bowl of cereal, just to make sure he is nice and full (not stuffed, but full to the brim) he loves cereal, and I don't usually give it to him, so he has started to love getting this "snack" before bed!
Sound Machine: we actually always had a sound machine, I just had it on a timer, that turned off about 30 minutes after I laid him down, which means if anyone makes noise outside, it wasn't doing me any good. We now let the sound machine play all night, and even plugged in a fan, I cant imagine sleeping with such noise, but he is sleeping GREAT!
Later afternoon nap: I now switched his afternoon nap from 1pm to about 2 or 3pm, this sounded crazy to me, but it actually really worked! I wake him up by 430, if he isn't already awake, but this keeps him from getting overly tired before bed! He also has a lot more energy for play time, which tires him right back out, in time for bedtime!
Sing the same songs: we started singing the same two songs every night, right before I put him in his crib, he has started to associate these two songs, with bedtime, I do not sing them before nap time, just bedtime!
I should also say that I totally believe in crying it out, I once heard a child researcher say something along the lines of:
"if your baby chokes on food, you wouldn't say "oh no you choked, and it hurt you, now you can never eat again" or if they were learning to walk, and fell you wouldn't say "you fell and got hurt, you can not learn to walk now" Crying is apart of the learning process, and like anything, babies need to learn how to sleep, just as you perhaps have a routine to help you fall asleep, children need to learn their own sleeping mechanisms"
so I definitely agree with that, Crying is totally acceptable, however in the middle of the night, I can't do it, I am too paranoid that something happened, maybe a snake got into his crib and bit him, or the ceiling fell down on him, or he has a fever, and my mind races (even with a camera monitor) so if you do have to go in, make sure you keep the lights off, and do not talk or make eye contact with your child! keep it boring, so they realize that this is sleeping time, not playing time!
the first night we added these extra bits to our routine, he woke up once, around 5 hours into his night.
the second night, he slept 10 hours, took a bottle and back to sleep
and since then he has started sleeping 11 hours, took a bottle, and back to sleep for 2-3 more!
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