Sleep Training

After hearing friends' horror stories about not getting any sleep until their kids were 18 months old, I really wanted to start Aaron off on the right foot. We took the Taking Cara Babies newborn sleep class when he was a week old and I can't recommend that class enough. I learned so much about starting off healthy habits. I also bought the three month sleep regression bundle and that was so helpful as well. So much changes with their sleep habits in such a short amount of time, so that class was very helpful to get a feel of what to do next. 

Aaron was sleeping pretty good, he'd wake up twice a night to eat and Sammy had a system down to take care of him. But then Aaron rolled over on his face in his rock and play and I felt like we needed to move him to his crib. We tried a few nights with no success, so we bought this Magic Merlin sleep suit to try and help with the transition. I couldn't stop laughing when we put him in it.

We also got a baby monitor to watch him in his room which I'm really glad that we did. It helps give us peace of mind and is so helpful when we sit in the living room at night. There are kids that live upstairs and they make a lot of noises and we were running over to Aaron's door thinking he was crying every few minutes, just to find that it was the kids upstairs. I did have nightmares after we bought this because I was scared I'd look on the screen and see something scary in the corner, like in horror movies. 

Aaron slept for five hours the first night in the crib, and then wouldn't sleep in it after that. I got sick that week after we first tried, so we gave up, waiting until I felt better. 

Then Aaron stopped sleeping, getting up every hour and a half, and started rolling over even more. Every time he started to cry just a little bit, I'd run to get him because he was usually like this. 

At that point we couldn't put it off anymore, we had to put him in the crib. I talked with a few friends, and Sammy and I did research, and we decided to do the cry it out method. Whenever I heard about that method, I pictured the parents on Nanny 911 who had seven year olds screaming their heads off while their moms sat outside their doors sobbing while the nanny told them not to go in. That was not what we did. 

The first night we put Aaron down to sleep while he was drowsy but still awake. When he started crying, we let him cry for three minutes. After that we went in, comforted him, gave him his binky, then left. When he started crying again we went in after five minutes, did the same thing. Then it was seven minutes. I cried so hard during that first round listening to him scream. It hurt my heart more than I ever thought it would. 

But then he fell asleep. 

That first night Aaron woke up twice, and we repeated the process. The most he cried was twenty minutes total, with those check ins every few minutes. 

When he woke up that next day, he was a different baby. He was so happy and much less grumpy. 

The second night he cried even less, and we watched as he'd tried to comfort himself. Because of that he'd turn in circles trying to get his pacifier back in his mouth. I found him with his feet through the bars the second night. 

He'll grab his lovey sometimes as well and just stroke the fabric. Sometimes I find him in the morning waving it above him, talking to it. 

One night I found him with his face pressed against the bars, the binky hanging out in the air, furiously sucking on it to keep it in. 

The worst night was the fifth night. For some reason he woke up a lot that night and took much longer to go to sleep. But after that, he's done pretty good. Some nights he'll struggle going to sleep, then wake up at seven. Other times he'll go to sleep right away but get up twice to eat. Either way, we're so grateful that we're getting sleep and that he's safe in his crib. 

I found him like this the other day. I have no idea how he did this. 

I think he looks like a mermaid in this one.