Monday, September 17, 2012

Sleep Training, take 104!

Isn't my boy just so beautiful when he sleeps, 


He has an internal clock during the day when it comes to naps, by 8.30am he sleeps for an hour/hour and a half and again at 1.30 he sleeps for about 45 minutes. 


I am lucky when it comes to A being able to sleep anywhere, he doesn't need a cot or a pram, he will just sleep when he is tired, on anything, no matter where we are, how many people are around or what sweets he's eaten, he will just pass out and has a deep, motionless and quiet sleep.


Then night comes and I don't know, my beautiful sleeping boy flies out the window and I am left with a little monster. He is 10 months old and still wakes every 2 hours. I have been co-sleeping since he was born, at first it was easy for me and then I being just as attached as A and it was easier to just turn over put his bottle in his mouth and slowly but surely it became a nightmare.

His bedtime kept moving up and some nights I still had a bouncing baby at 10pm and he became a very unsettled sleeper, always moving, kicking, punching and MOANING all night long. This on top of the fact that I have to sleep facing him and cuddling with him else he throws himself onto my back. I was left feeling more exhausted and more irritated and feeling like I just wasn't cut out for this. I was at my last straw and then he started this weird zombie thing, he will sit up, now I'm never sure if he is awake or not, he will swing back and forth and then pass out in one direction, 3 seconds later, he'll sit up, swing back and forth, then pass out in another direction. He does this for an hour!

I couldn't do it any more.

So I reached out to a lady I know was an expert at getting kids to sleep, Michelle Kemp wrote me a post last week, Help your baby sleep right now, the sensible way. With a guide on how to get your baby to sleep.

I started that night, I went all out and even moved A's cot into his own room. 

At 7pm I gave A a bottle put him in his cot and when he was finished with his bottle, I left the room.

The guide said 20 minutes, I lasted 10 minutes of A's crying and went in and patted his back and that was it he was asleep. 

Next day, 3 minutes of crying and he just went to sleep on his own.

A week later he goes to sleep either straight away or he sits quietly till passes out.

He doesn't sleep through, he still wakes every 2-3 hours, still need to figure this part out, I probably should ignore his cries coz he wakes for nothing but because he is used to space he sometimes lands in weird positions so I am nervous about it. Some nights he lands up in my bed at 4am when it's been a long night of wake ups but in general he is in his cot and in his own room.

This being a miracle. From 7pm I have free time, for me to get what I need done or just SIT around, have a long bath, paint my nails or catch up on my blogs.

I am still sleep deprived and I am going to start working on some how getting him to sleep through but I have a few extra hours an evening to myself and I don't wake to every groan and foot in my rib.

You can buy Michelle Kemp's book Two weeks to sleep over at Amazon, her method worked for me so far and had big changes in 2 days. If you do read it please let me know if it worked for you and any comments you have.


5 comments:

  1. Loving your new look Jessie! And can so relate to your post..Been there, done that, with sleep training! While Hamza (2 yrs old) goes to sleep on his own and no longer wakes every 2 hours, these days.. our mornings seem to start somewhere between 3am and 4am and the sleep deprivation is getting to me too!

    I guess no matter how old they are, sleep will always be a distant memory for a mom

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  2. Well done :)... its so hard putting them in their own room. Funny enough currently my 3 year old is the one who keeps climbing into our bed at night, but i think this has alot to do with the new house and also that he can sense baby is about to come. Just need to stick it out. :)

    But really Well done!

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  3. Blergh! Sleeping - its a nightmare isnt it!

    Jack actually has a similar day time routine and for the most part its easy to get him to go down!

    Even at night he falls asleep easily and quickly but still wakes up 3/4 times. Then one night D got gatvol so said he wasn't going to check him (we take turns) and we argued about it - by the time I decided to go Jack had fallen asleep so when he woke the next time I waited a bit - he cried but then fell asleep again.

    Anyway its now about 2 weeks into this and he wakes less but he still cries and has a big moan each time. I was really hoping that by now he would figure out we aren't coming and stop waking. Even though I don't get up I still wake up :-/

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  4. How is it going Jess?

    When I found out I was pregnant for the second time around the first thing I did was read the Baby Whisperer. It gave me some invaluable advice on sleep training and we started with Zoe when she was a few days old and because we started early there was no crying. It really was the best thing we could have done for ourselves. Sleep deprivation is pure torture.

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  5. Hello there! What is your opinion on promotion campaigns of any kinds placed on personal blogs?

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