Sleep training!!

I know I haven't updated in a really long time. I need to blog about going to Disneyland for the first time, visiting Utah for Thanksgiving and seeing NICU nurses, Christmas in Texas, and New Year's at the cabin, but I'll do that later. Right now I want to tell you about sleep training Lydia.

Lydia has had terrible sleeping habits. She never learned to put herself to sleep. We couldn't start a good bed routine with her from the beginning because we didn't have her for the first 3 months. When she finally came home, she was still on oxygen and when she would cry her oxygen levels would drop. We couldn't just leave her to cry because of that. Once she was off oxygen, remembering that her oxygen levels would drop when she would cry made it so we still didn't want her to cry. Plus, we didn't have her for 3 months! We just wanted to hold her!!!

 Anyway, we always rocked her to sleep and then put her in her crib. She slept through the night early on but then we started traveling for holidays. Her bad habits became worse. We traveled where it was cold so we felt bad leaving her alone. She ended up in our bed. She got to the point where she refused to sleep in her crib at all.

For naps, I held her.  For night time, I slept with half my body off the bed because this munchkin is a crazy sleeper. When I tried putting her in her crib she would pop right up and cry. Basically, all you need to know is she couldn't fall asleep without being rocked and when she was asleep, she couldn't stay in her crib.

I had had enough and decided it was time to sleep train. One of my favorite things about being a special ed teacher is behavior management so I figured I could come up with a plan for this. Thomas was on board and I stayed up all night Sunday researching things, praying about how to help her, and writing down a plan. We started Monday night.

The plan:
We made a schedule first. Kids thrive on routine. They crave it. We started the routine at 7:30 so we'd have her in bed by 8. We would take it slow so Thomas and I would sleep on the floor by her crib the first two nights so she would be reassured that we were there and not abandoning her, then we'd stay by the door til she fell asleep and slowly move away. We would ignore her and her crying. Every 5 minutes we would give her a kiss, lay her back down, give her a paci, and say " it's time to go to sleep! I love you!" Then ignore her again.

The schedule: bath, brush teeth, read books, bed. Gallon ziploc bag= poor person's lamination

Night 1

I was ready. We hung up the bed time schedule and talked about it all day. I kept saying things like " you are going to sleep all by yourself tonight! It's going to be so fun!!" We went through the routine. I was ready for lots of tears... From both of us. I put her in her crib and she cried. And cried and cried and cried. I had prepared myself for her to cry for about 2 hours before falling asleep but was pleasantly surprised when after 45 minutes it got quiet. She did it!!!! She fell asleep by herself in her crib! She woke up 3 times during the night but was only up for around 15 minutes before falling back asleep.

Getting excited for her schedule!

Thomas was studying in our room and after 30 minutes, he sent me this text. I have the best husband!

Nap time

We felt nap time should be the same as bed time. If she was still crying after an hour, I would just be done and she could skip the nap. We read some books and I was ready for crying. I put her in her crib and she laid down and went to sleep. WHAT?!?!?!? She napped in her crib. By herself. For an hour and a half. I didn't even know what to do with myself.

Night 2

I have choir practice on Tuesday nights. I was really nervous about Thomas doing the bed time routine by himself and having the guts to ignore his baby girl's crying. I got a text that she had gone down without a peep. I thought it was a joke. When I got home Thomas said that she had just laid down and went to sleep. Crazy weird!!! Lydia woke up twice in the night and stood up, cried for maybe a minute, and laid back down. She slept for 11 hours!!!!!

This journey is not over. I'm not expecting it to be perfect from her on out but I'm very proud of Lydia. It is amazing to have her in her own crib. I know some may not agree with our plan, but it's working for us!!