because bella is asleep. and has been asleep. for 30 minutes.
why is this so amazing? well let me start at the beginning (as all good stories do).
at the ripe young age of 6 weeks, bella started sleeping AWESOMELY. and i got cocky. she would go easily to sleep after a bath and swaddling session, and would STAY asleep for 6-8 hours. then she would barely wake up to nurse, and would go back to sleep for another 6-8 hours. she continued to do this for the next, oh......14 weeks! so i became spoiled. i assumed that it could only get better. boy was i wrong.
at around 4 1/2 months, we stopped swaddling. now this could be the culprit of our sleeping demise. but the kid was moving WAY too much to stay swaddled. so we unwrapped her for the last time one morning, and never looked back.
and this was our last easy night. i'm not sure of the exact moment she stopped sleeping well, but a few weeks later, bella had a sweet little visitor who decided to pop in. yes, her first tooth.
fast forward to last week. you all remember my little "breakdown"? well, that was my turning point. i realized that i don't HAVE to have sleepless nights along with frustrating days. i CAN have a baby who sleeps right, allowing me to sleep right, allowing my days to, well, NOT be awful.
so i started researching (because that's what i do best!). i looked up every kind of sleep training i could think of. "cry it out" sounds so sad. but these other mamby pamby ways were not going to get my stubborn-as-a-mule child to go to sleep (what can i say, she gets it honestly. from her father ).
so i talked to a few people, read a few experts, and figured out what would work for us. tonight is night 4. night one was a little rough. she fought like a champion. methodical in her madness. we talked to her, sang to her, shushed her, patted her back, put her on her tummy, etc. and she cried. SCREAMED. for 2 hours. until we reluctantly gave in and rocked her to sleep. i know, i know. don't pick her up, but i'm telling you-the kid was purple she was screaming so hard.
night 2, we spent a little more time "winding down" and she only cried for about 20 minutes. we came in at about 5 minutes, reassured her, sang to her, rubbed her back. and then, suddenly.....asleep. i checked on her after about an hour, still asleep. she woke up at 3:30, but this was welcome after the last few weeks of waking up every two hours!
night 3 was even better. she went to sleep after about 5 minutes and woke up only once at 4:30.
tonight though. tonight, bella got it. this is where that whole knock on wood thing occurs. see, i laid her down, told her goodnight, kissed her, and left. no noise, no crying. she laid there for a few minutes then WENT. TO. SLEEP. i know. a-mazing. now, if she STAYS asleep, this will be the greatest night of my life! and if she wakes up like this in the morning
we will all be happy.
10 comments:
that picture was so cute to put at the end of that post. i hope she wakes up like that too. paxton's "sleepy" comes on him so quick...lol...that BAM...usually when we're holding him in the living room so he just falls asleep in our arms and we put him in the crib. he sleeps between 40 and 90 minutes for 3 naps then his 10 hours through the night is interrupted by a feeding. we're still not starting him on food until he's 6 months. hopefully once we introduce the rice cereal for dinner he'll be going the long haul...lol...but, i'm so glad that things are working with the CIO method. i have seriously worried about trying that out, but its lookin like i might not have to do that. when he's tired..its like "mommy, turn the lights off, get me in my bed..." he still hates light when he's tired...gotta figure out what to do about that one.... but...everything will work out with Bella. for sure. :o)
YAY BELLA! You did it! She's going to be a good sleeper again in no time!
yes! thank you, taylor for your help!! =) and i think this is the perfect timing, like you were saying-i don't think she was quite ready earlier, and i am glad we didn't wait longer. we'll see what happens at the end of the week.
amanda-he sounds like he is a good sleeper. cereal didn't help bella one ounce. we started at 5 1/2 months, and she actually woke up more. bella is just in to everything and can't stand sleeping. lol
This is the method that finally gave us sanity too! Savannah had a purple face episode the first night and gradually got better. We learned that the consistency of her bedtime routine and allowing her to put herself to sleep was the best thing for us all. Now, almost three years later... we've had our ups and downs with sleep, but mostly good nights. I hope your night is wonderful and that she wakes up all smiles like her precious picture in the morning.
Good luck! We did this method with our daughter when she was about 4 months and it didn't work out so well for us. She cried every night at least for a little for a couple MONTHS. But I would do it again in a heart beat because what else could we have done?
I know I've said it before Justine, but that little one is just like you when you were her age. We did the same thing when you were little and eventually you made it through the night. Hang in there!!
sammie-we tried this around 4 months too, and she did. not. stop. crying ONCE. lol. i was like, CIO is worthless!!! but i don't think she was ready then. and we only tried it again, because.....well......we were at our wits end! haha. good luck
and thanks dad.......so, your saying i was awesome. awesome and stubborn. =)
I'm not looking forward to trying this again. Because Alex? Cries for hours. Every night, every time he wakes. It took two weeks last time and he still was only sleeping some nights through the night.
Then he got sick, we cared for him, and now we're back at square one where he thinks he can do whatever he wants.
I don't know if I can do another two weeks of no sleep, but I can't keep getting up with him either.
Damn. Pass me a bottle. Or a babysitter.
i didn't think we would EVER be able to do this either. used to be, bella would. not. stop. EVER. she just cried and cried and cried. we tried at 4 months and it was a disaster. but now, she is a little older, is a little wiser (lol), and we are a little more desperate. =)
So adorable!
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