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Friday, January 14, 2011

Nap

“No day is so bad it can't be fixed with a nap.”   -Carrie P. Snow

So, due to the super-awful sleep we had the night before, yesterday commenced sleep training for Maeve.  I almost died.

Sleep training is awful, no fun, miserable, and blessedly brief.  It's like a 3 hour root canal - you're so happy when it's over you forget how bad it was during.  Yesterday I put her down in her crib awake for her second morning nap, and as a few books suggested, went in to comfort her every five minutes.  For an hour.  She was so mad at me for coming in and not giving her what she wanted, I think it just prolonged her misery.  It took her nearly an hour to fall asleep, and she only slept for half an hour.

For her afternoon nap, I put her down awake and went in after fifteen minutes of shrieking.  Again, this only made it worse, so I just left her alone till she fell asleep, half an hour later.  She slept great last night, and even put herself back to sleep this morning a few times.  It was amazing.

I type in silence, with both my hands today, which is the first time in... ever... that I've gotten to type my blog without a sleeping baby on my lap.  Expect longer, more thoughtful posts!  Today she cried for ten minutes.  This is a huge improvement over 45!  I'm so relieved, and glad I did this, even though at the outset it seemed like baby torture.  Every time she wakes up I tell her how smart and great she is, what a big girl sleeping in her crib for naps, and putting herself to sleep! 

Soon I think we can move her crib back into her room.  But for now, as I told my friend yesterday, one impossible thing at a time.

Sleepy toes!

6 comments:

  1. I am so glad this is working for you guys. Keep up the good work Mama, you are doing awesome as usual.

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  2. Glad to hear that things are going well with the sleep training! It's amazing what you can do with two hands, isn't it? :)

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  3. You go mama! :-) I remember going over to distract my friend Megan while she did this with her oldest when she was 13 months...not fun nights!! Hope sleep continues to improve for both of you :-)

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  4. Yay, great to hear that this is working out for you both. :)

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  5. oh it's so tough - hang in there :)

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  6. I really admire you! I've tried the sleep training off and on, but you're right. It's SO hard. Good luck!

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