1) Bedtime Routine
2) The Sleep Easy Solution!
3) Daddy check in's at night.
Our sweet and STRONG WILLED baby Boden (we call him Bode) is 7 months today! We've had sleep issues since day one!!
He has always been a super "nosey" baby. I can probably count on two hands how many times he has slept in public setting (shopping, restaurant, church). I see babies sleeping away while in strollers or car seats and then look down at Bode - who might be beyond exhausted but fighting every wink to stay awake and see what's going on!
I am breastfeeding and until around 6 months was feeding him every two hours all through the night. Maybe a few 3/4 hour stretches here and there but for the most part it was becoming exhausting...
- Tried co-sleeping, worked when he was super young but after a while Bode would just stare at us or make noises wanting us to play or wake up!
- Tried a little crying it out - it was so sad and rough on everyone (continue reading for more on CIO (crying it out)...)
- Tried feeding every time he woke up to cry (every two hours), thinking he was actually hungry and things would eventually get better.
Nothing was improving and, in fact, things got worse. Bode was now putting up a fight to go to sleep, napping was a struggle in the day, he was crabby, and my husband and I were exhausted!
My husband and I went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to let him cry it out -----crying it out is not for all babies!------ but our doctor gave us the o.k., in fact she encouraged us to let Bode cry a little, rather than rushing in to feed him the second he wakes up.
Feeding him had become such an easy way to get Bode (along with my husband and myself) back to sleep!
After starting baby foods and reaching 6 months (we started a little before) I decided we needed to do something to help Bode sleep longer than 2 hours at a time. The book I bought, highly recommended, said results in less than a week. So I thought I would give it a try for a week and see if it worked. I truly thought there was no way this baby would ever fall asleep on his own! The few times I had let him cry for a few minutes, I felt like he just worked himself up too much to fall back asleep.
After starting baby foods and reaching 6 months (we started a little before) I decided we needed to do something to help Bode sleep longer than 2 hours at a time. The book I bought, highly recommended, said results in less than a week. So I thought I would give it a try for a week and see if it worked. I truly thought there was no way this baby would ever fall asleep on his own! The few times I had let him cry for a few minutes, I felt like he just worked himself up too much to fall back asleep.
We had already started a bedtime routine that had actually helped a LOT when getting him to sleep! It was the staying asleep for more than two hours that was the issue.
To be honest, I flipped through the book a few times, but after a night of nearly no sleep - Bode had been up almost every hour and a half screaming until I fed him. I knew I had to try something to help everyone get more sleep!
Now here's the meat! The good stuff --->
Chapter Three - Step by Step Sleep - We read it, talked about it, and decided tonight was the night. I actually felt better knowing we had a set plan to follow through the night.
Whenever Bode would start crying in the night we waited 5 minutes, I tracked the 5 minutes on my phone, and recorded the time he started crying on my phone, as well. After the 5 minutes, my husband would go in and say a few encouraging words, "I love you", "you're doing great", "go back to sleep", etc. He would only stay in the room for less than 30 seconds, DO NOT pick the baby up, rub his head, or pat his back! Bode sometimes likes the pacifier at night so my husband would replace the pacifier (this might be a no-no but we did it...). The key here is to try and teach the baby to soothe himself, in hopes that when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can fall back asleep on his own. When we first started Bode would immediately start up crying again. So then the plan was to wait 10 minutes and then repeat the check in. Our check ins were at 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then every 15 minutes until Bode fell asleep.
The first night was rough, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. If I remember correctly Bode needed 4 check ins (one at 5, 10, and two at 15 minutes). Then fell asleep...I NEVER thought it would happen, but it did! We did have to do this again a few hours later, same routine.
***Breastfeeding and trying to minimize the number a nighttime feedings*** If you are breastfeeding, like I was (every two hours or so), it wouldn't make sense to simply eliminate all of the nighttime feedings at once. So you have to do a weaning routine, this is all discussed in the book. I'd be happy to write a blog post about the details and ways we cut back on nighttime feedings! Or I can respond to comments below, as well.
~~~~Results~~~~
By the third night, we saw progress! We were only doing a few check in's per night, I was still waking Bode up for ONE nighttime feeding (which has since then been eliminated completely)!
Now Bode goes to bed around 7:00pm, I wake him up for a dream feed at 10:30pm, and then he sleeps until 5:30am when I wake him up to feed, he goes back to sleep until around 7:30am. We still have the occasional wake up in the middle of the night, if that happens we follow the same check-in routine. Bode usually will go back to sleep right after the 5 minute check in. :) This may still seem like a lot of waking up, BUT THE 10:30pm-5:30am chunk of sleep is LIFE changing! haha!
I know this post was a LOT! But after a few weeks of successful sleeping by a baby who NEVER slept, I felt like I had to share! Letting a baby "cry it out" is super controversial but the two nights we let him really "cry it out" have completely improved all of our lives. Bode is much much more happy, he naps WAY better, falls asleep easier, and with the nighttime feeding schedule we are on now - we have cry-free nights! :)
Please comment below any questions or comments. I'd love to hear other baby-sleep stories!
Now here's the meat! The good stuff --->
Chapter Three - Step by Step Sleep - We read it, talked about it, and decided tonight was the night. I actually felt better knowing we had a set plan to follow through the night.
Whenever Bode would start crying in the night we waited 5 minutes, I tracked the 5 minutes on my phone, and recorded the time he started crying on my phone, as well. After the 5 minutes, my husband would go in and say a few encouraging words, "I love you", "you're doing great", "go back to sleep", etc. He would only stay in the room for less than 30 seconds, DO NOT pick the baby up, rub his head, or pat his back! Bode sometimes likes the pacifier at night so my husband would replace the pacifier (this might be a no-no but we did it...). The key here is to try and teach the baby to soothe himself, in hopes that when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can fall back asleep on his own. When we first started Bode would immediately start up crying again. So then the plan was to wait 10 minutes and then repeat the check in. Our check ins were at 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then every 15 minutes until Bode fell asleep.
The first night was rough, but definitely not as bad as I thought it would be. If I remember correctly Bode needed 4 check ins (one at 5, 10, and two at 15 minutes). Then fell asleep...I NEVER thought it would happen, but it did! We did have to do this again a few hours later, same routine.
***Breastfeeding and trying to minimize the number a nighttime feedings*** If you are breastfeeding, like I was (every two hours or so), it wouldn't make sense to simply eliminate all of the nighttime feedings at once. So you have to do a weaning routine, this is all discussed in the book. I'd be happy to write a blog post about the details and ways we cut back on nighttime feedings! Or I can respond to comments below, as well.
~~~~Results~~~~
By the third night, we saw progress! We were only doing a few check in's per night, I was still waking Bode up for ONE nighttime feeding (which has since then been eliminated completely)!
Now Bode goes to bed around 7:00pm, I wake him up for a dream feed at 10:30pm, and then he sleeps until 5:30am when I wake him up to feed, he goes back to sleep until around 7:30am. We still have the occasional wake up in the middle of the night, if that happens we follow the same check-in routine. Bode usually will go back to sleep right after the 5 minute check in. :) This may still seem like a lot of waking up, BUT THE 10:30pm-5:30am chunk of sleep is LIFE changing! haha!
I know this post was a LOT! But after a few weeks of successful sleeping by a baby who NEVER slept, I felt like I had to share! Letting a baby "cry it out" is super controversial but the two nights we let him really "cry it out" have completely improved all of our lives. Bode is much much more happy, he naps WAY better, falls asleep easier, and with the nighttime feeding schedule we are on now - we have cry-free nights! :)
Please comment below any questions or comments. I'd love to hear other baby-sleep stories!
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