Friday, April 16, 2010

Sleep: In the Beginning

Macy was born a sleeper. At the hospital, the nurses would have to wake her up in the night so she would eat. After coming home, she had one night of no sleep, but then started sleeping at least 3 hours in between each feeding. At night she would even go 5 or 6 hours almost from the get go.

I figured I had it in the bag...my baby would be the world's best sleeper. She started sleeping 9 and 10 hours in her 2nd month, but then the tables turned. When she was 3 months old, she started not wanting to sleep. She would wake up the moment I put her down. This poses a problem because I needed to get things done...and I was not getting in any better shape sitting down and holding a sleeping baby all day. At night, she would wake up again and again, even if she didn't want to eat, she wanted me to hold her. Every night she ended up in bed with me. I was scared that one day she would suffocate.

I knew it was time to do something about this. I started looking around and asking for advice. People said to let her cry it out...I tried twice and she cried for over an hour each time with out going to bed and of course I went and rescued her. I also would be next to her while she was crying...this probably didn't help.

Nursing her to sleep went on a little while longer, but I knew something needed to change. That's when I met up with an old roommate and friend, Kristen. I asked her about her baby's sleep and she told me about Babywise. The point is to teach your baby to soothe themself. I read a little and realized that I needed to be consistent, and stick to this letting Macy cry it out, and have her cry for naps and not just at night. BIG CHANGE...will it work??? Find out...

5 comments:

  1. This is what I did and Clark was sleeping through the night at 3 months. The first little while is tough, but you get used to it and she will too, trust me its worth it!

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  2. Rolene, I'm glad you left a testimonial. It's always nice to hear from people who it's worked for.

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  3. Good luck Michelle! I hope it works for you as well as it did for me. Just stay as consistent as you can. So glad I got to see you and Macy, she is a doll!

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  4. This is like our EXACT story. Good sleep to bad sleep to sleep training. And Michelle, it totally worked for us, Logan is a happier baby when he's awake and he now goes down for bedtime and naps so easily. He rarely cries at all when he goes to sleep now. It is like the greatest miracle of our lives, no kidding. Good luck! Stay consistant and tough and just remember that you are teaching her a valuable skill, you are not a bad mom if she cries for awhile.

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  5. You got this Michelle!!! You are such a good mom. I hope it works out and Macy can get some sleep (as well as you). Let's get icebergs soon! :)

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