After almost 17 months of bending over backwards to get Rory to bed at night, we finally realized that what we were doing wasn't working anymore. His bedtime was getting later and later and it was always a fight to get him to sleep. So after talking it over with a friend (THANK YOU, ERIN!!!), she made me see that we had a choice here. We could either nip this in the bud now (with maybe a week or two of crying), or we were going to be dealing with this problem for years to come. And I knew she was right.
So I took a deep breath and went right home to tell Hoby that we were starting a bed time routine that very night which something looks like this:
1.Bath and Jammies
2.Bottle
3.Brush Teeth
4.Read 2 Books
5.Kisses/Hugs and off to Bed!
As we were going through the new routine that first night, I braced myself for the worst - I know that my child has a temper that can make our house rattle - and I expected hours of angry crying once we tried to put him to bed. We had already decided that our best "cry it out" approach would be to have one of us sit in the room with him while he cried until he fell asleep because we know he can climb out of his crib and we didn't want any cuncussions. And although it was HARD listening to my little man cry his heart out that first night (along with several upset sounding "Dada, OUT! OUT! OUTs!"), he fell asleep after only 40 minutes. Then, the second night, it was only 15 minutes. The third night was even less.
Tonight was our fourth night (and the first night minus Dada, who is on a business trip), and I'm thrilled to report that it took less than FIVE MINUTES to get him to go down with only a few prostests and almost NO crying. And after I heard him begin to snore, I did the happy dance all through the house (quietly, of course!)
So here's to finally doing something right!!! I may get this parenting thing under control after all...
2 comments:
YEA!!! We recently did something similar. I read a book Jamie Mitchel loaned me.."Healthy sleep habits, happy baby" and took to heart especially one piece of advice, put you child to bed when they are showing signs of drowsiness...don't wait until he's TIRED. It worked. he is sleeping 10+ hours a night on the nights he is in bed by 7. Good job Stacy! Keep it up. This book is awesome if you need any other sleep help, but it sounds like your routine is working great!!
Yeah, Stacy!
We love our babies, but there's nothing, repeat, NOTHING better than an easy bedtime.
Crib: $250
Jammies: $19
Pacifier: $1.99
Silent, overjoyed dancing in the hallway outside your kid's room: PRICELESS.
:)
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