Sleep Training the babe

I hate to jinx it, but sleep training the babe has been going pretty well so far.

Nicholas is WIPED OUT by a little after 6 pm each night, sometimes even earlier. It’s kind of a bummer because we don’t get to see him all day. He also isn’t on a schedule at day care, I think they start doing “group” naps when he is around 6 months old – which actually isn’t that far off. Whenever we are with him all day, he really seems to be more of a cat napper, sometimes sleeping 40 minutes, sometimes 2 hours, throughout the day. I’ve been tracking his sleep patterns for the last week +, and there is no rhyme or reason to it. The only set thing is that he’s in bed by 7 ish and up by 6 ish – he’s almost always up before 6 though if he doesn’t wake up for a middle of the night feeding.

Here’s what we’ve been doing at night:

A few weeks ago, we started a routine of “bath, bottle, and bed” As soon as he starts to get a bit cranky, we bring him upstairs, turn the lights down low, and start the white noise machine. The white noise machine is supposed to trigger his "calming reflex", and it really seems to do the trick. Since he’s not mobile yet, a bath really doesn’t take very long, maybe 10 minutes max. He usually starts to get upset after the bath though, so I quickly diaper him and rub some lotion on him (I’m hoping he eventually enjoys this, but right now he just becomes a crabby arse!) Then we bring him downstairs for his bottle. He typically falls asleep half way through the bottle and we rouse him awake to get him to finish it. Then we hold him for a little while, make sure that he burps, and then lay him down.

The first night was a NIGHTMARE. He had burped, but apparently needed to burp more. I could tell right away that he was uncomfortable so I picked him up, patted him for awhile, and then he burped again and we laid him back down. I gave him 5 minutes to try and settle himself and it didn’t work. I went to him, kissed him and patted his head, told him I loved him, offered him a pacifier (which he always rejects), and then left him again. I repeated this for almost an hour. He was so worked up that I re - swaddled his arms – that did the trick and he settled himself and went to sleep. It was a rough hour, but I was so thrilled when he finally settled himself on his own. I hated to let him cry even for a minute or two (because I did NOT want to do this), but I realize that it is for the best and I wasn’t “abandoning” him, just trying to get him to realize that he CAN do it on his own (and needs to learn that).

After that first night, it has gotten so much better. I had to do it twice the next night but he was settled within 10 minutes. Last night when I put him down he SCREAMED bloody murder..but only 3 minutes went by, he settled himself, and then was sleeping within 15 minutes.

I haven’t tried to schedule naps yet (because of his cat napping ways) but if he wakes up for night feedings (and he usuall does) he has also been able to settle himself within 5-10 minutes, so I take that as a good sign and a step in the right direction.

This morning was pretty cool to watch – he woke up around 4 am and had completely turned himself around in the crib. He rolls on his side, back, around, it is pretty amazing at how much he is starting to get around!

xoxo