Until this point, Fiona would only sleep in the swing during the day and occasionally at night, and only in my arms in bed at night. I swear.When she was so tiny I didn't feel okay letting her cry it out and leave her somewhere to sleep that felt so vast and foreign to her. I believe that it is impossible to spoil a newborn. However, at some point good sleep habits have to be developed for everyone's good, baby most importantly. I hemmed and hawed trying to decide what point that would be as she approaches 4 months, the age when Bella could put herself to sleep. Last night it was decided for us. Our swing has been on the fritz which is not surprising since we bought it second hand at Kid 2 Kid for Bella. Yesterday it finally ceased to work after several maddening instances where it would stop swinging while she was sleeping, thus waking her up. So, I fed her and rocked her just into a delirious and drunken, though barely awake state and then transferred her into her crib. She stirred and began to cry. I patted her for a few minutes, then left her with the static from her baby monitor on, serving as a white noise backdrop to lull her to sleep. I timed her for 5 minutes when Timm went back in to pat her belly for a minute. She fell asleep and slept for 3 hours. That's all it took: 5 minutes. Done. I was amazed. She went down at 7pm, then woke at 10pm, 1am, 3am, and 6 am to eat. Good heavens! Now I anxiously await the next month when she will probably be old enough to go through the night without eating. I can't believe it was that easy. It makes me feel stupid that I didn't do it earlier, though who knows if I would have had the same results when she was younger. But I am making a note to self that it was so much easier than I thought and not to wait if there is ever a next time! (I say the day after, before we have proved it another night...)
Today she has taken two naps in there with similar results, so it's looking good. My baby's growing up!
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6 comments:
Woohoo! I bet it feels so good to have your bed back- well with the cats :P Isn't it funny too how we work ourselves up that something is going to be so hard, and then it turns out that it isn't?
I can't believe she wakes up that much to eat! It makes me grateful that I was only waking up twice a night with mine at the most. And I thought that was a lot! Here is to a new leaf turned and more sleep in your future!
Hooray for successful crib sleeping!!!
Lucky you! That's great.
Isn't that the best feeling ever? I finally let Katelyn cry it out (with the check-ins) around 6 months old. She cried for almost an hour and a half, and I felt so guilty, but she finally learned to self-soothe by sucking her thumb, and after that she started taking long naps and sleeping longer chunks at night. Definitely worth it. Have you thought about how you're going to wean her off of those night feedings? I don't know how you function during the day!
Oh Hannah, Hannah.... thinking waking twice with a baby was a lot! Some people just have it good, I guess.
I'm so glad Fiona is sleeping in her crib, what a champ!
I'm happy for you! I don't know how you got any sleep before with her in your bed.
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