Today went pretty well, all things considered. It was draining to know that I didn't have backup to trade shifts with me if it took Gwen a long time to fall asleep, but I was determined not to sabotage our progress so far by confusing her and changing techniques. Here are the results:
Up for 3 hours in morning: cried for 27 minutes: slept for 40 minutes
Up for 2.25 hours: cried for 17 minutes: slept for 40 minutes (damn that 40minute hump)
Up for 2.75 hours: cried for 14 minutes: slept for 2.5 hours
That last nap would be the glitch. She got up from her second nap at 1:05, and from then until 7pm (bedtime) was way too long to be awake; plus, she showed me signs of tiredness around 3pm. Figuring she'd have another 40-minute doze, I put her down at 3:30 and she fell asleep at 3:45.
She didn't wake up until 6:10. Which is when we are usually feeding her dinner.
So yeah, not sure what the rest of the night is going to look like now! We're going to give her dinner shortly after 7, then do bathtime and the rest of the bedtime routine, aiming to put her down around 8. Hopefully she'll be tired enough to go for it, or we may be in for way more than 14 minutes worth of crying.
5 comments:
Good luck tonight!
Congratulations on letting Gwen cry for nearly half an hour and having the stamina to leave her alone. That must have been incredibly hard to do and you must really love your daughter to put yourself through that much suffering!!
this sounds a lot like what the dude who wrote Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby discusses, too. It worked for Callum in no time! He did say that some babies need a short third nap later in the evening, but I think says that after a certain time (I forget the time) to not let them nap and just maybe put them to bed a tad earlier so that the bed-time routine doesn't get messed up!
I'm so not ready to do it for Claire, yet, though. I don't know why, with Callum we just knew when we had to start, and I haven't reached that point yet. And with me working, her daytime naps are SO messed up. meh.
Amber, what I balked at with the Happy Sleep Habits book was that he wanted the parent to leave the child alone to cry - not even enter the room at all - and let them cry for as long as it took. Even if that was six hours. I felt that if I wasn't willing to let her cry for six hours, I shouldn't even go down that road.
The Sleep Sense plan has two versions: you can stay with the baby, or leave-and-check (with a predetermined amount of time in between). We are opting to stay with her. At this point I kinda think she'd do better without us there - she especially seems pissed when I'm taking my shift, and has rolled away from my touch and the sight of me a couple of times - but in a weird way it's easier for me to deal with her crying if I'm right there.
I know what you mean about picking the right time. No way I could have done this a month or two ago. But the time *totally* arrived. It will for Claire too.
yeah, there was no way I'd leave my child for 6 hours, either. But we were at first coming and going with Callum and that was NOT working, he caught on VERY quickly how long he needed to fuss before we returned. Eventually just left. It was 45 minutes the first time, and took 3 days to go from 45 minutes to zero. Pretty darn effective! And the kid is awesome to put down for naps/bed now all the time. Love it!
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