Ever since bringing Kort home from the hospital, we've been rocking and bouncing him to sleep. We even got an exercise ball to work our (ok, mostly mine) gluts out at the same time and not kill our back standing up. It had gotten to the point where we couldn't take it anymore and needed Kort to fall asleep on his own and not in our arms because once he was dead asleep, we'd put him down in his crib and he would wake right back up. It was driving me crazy with the night wakings.
So this lady in our ward was telling Clay about this book. We had previously just talked to the Pediatrician about getting him to sleep better and this was somewhat the same thing she had talked about, but obviously more in detail and depth.
I found the book at the public library the next day and read as much as I could to start Kort on it that night. To sum it up, what you do is put your baby in the crib drowsy. Stay next to the bedside and just comfort him every now and then (pat, sshhh, etc.) and eventually they'll fall asleep. What you're doing is getting rid of their crutch to fall asleep (his was bouncing). That's the basis of it.
Night one: took 1.5 hours and I even had to pick him up a little and then quickly put him down and pat him to sleep.
Night two: 45 minutes, same as above.
Night three, four, etc.: about 20 minutes or so and he even fell asleep without me having to pick him up! I have NEVER seen him just lay down and fall asleep. I was in heaven!
Now, a mistake I had been making. She says if the baby stands up, gently put them back down and encourage them to lay down. Then if he gets back up, don't fight it. Well, I wouldn't let him get back up and would put my hands by the sides so he couldn't get up. It worked...for a while.
I realized there would be no way that I could leave the room and have him fall asleep on his own. Plus, it was starting to take longer for him to fall asleep again. So I decided to start all over and make sure I was consistent on what she was saying.
Night one re-do: 20 minutes
Night two re-do: 15 minutes
Night three re-do: 6 minutes
MIRACLE!!!
That was just last night. He's even becoming more drowsy at night compared to always being "awake" and squirmy. The rest of the method goes on to moving away from the crib and comforting them with sshhing them with eventually moving out of the room, etc.
I wish I had this book a LONG time ago. I definitely recommend it. It's no crying out type, which some say works for them, but not for me. I haven't read a whole bunch of other sleeping books, and I know most books have some good things but not the whole book, but I will say this whole book WORKS!!! Kort has been sleeping through the night for quite some time now! From 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. although he has an annoying wake up at 5:30 a.m. and I have to put him back to sleep until 7:00 (that will end soon though, hopefully). Here's to a better night's rest (cross your fingers)!
2 comments:
yay!! I'm glad he is sleeping through the night. Miles goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 7pm as well. That book seems like a keeper. I just feel like as first time moms we sometimes don't know what the heck we are doing! Hopefully it gets easier with the second child!
I haven't heard of this book. I have babywise and baby whisperer-have u heard of those? anyway, I'm beside myself right now! Aiden is the same way but I've tried methods from both books and they don't work for him! I don't know why! maybe I will try this method...face it, I'm desperate! H=ow old was he when u started it? Aiden is 4 mo.
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