Well, we did it. Megan was up at 3:30 on Friday morning, so I just decided to go ahead and start the "no rocking to sleep" thing since I wasn't even sure she would fall asleep in the rocker anyways. Friday nap went fine, I told her when we sat in the rocker that we would rock for a little bit then she'd sleep in her bed. I rocked until she was drowsy (like 2 minutes!), laid her in her bed. She opened her eyes and looked at me, then rolled over and was out...when she woke up fussing, I simply gave her a kiss, told her it was still sleepy time and laid her back down. She woke up I think 2 times that afternoon, but went right back to sleep both times and slept for over 2 hrs. YEAH! But I wasn't worried about nap time!
Friday night, we started bedtime around 730. She wasn't really that crabby and was playing so we just waited a little while. We did our usual bedtime routine, then we told her that since she as going to go to sleep in her bed like a big girl and that she could sleep with dolly. (We've not let her sleep dolly for several months b/c if she woke up during the night she just wanted to play with dolly!) So, we rocked for a few minutes (this was my mistake, I should have rocked for at least 10-15) then I put her in her bed. I sat next to the bed and shushed until she went to sleep. She sat up and walked around in her bed. I only laid her back down the first time she sat up or if she touched me (only a few times). Otherwise, I completely ignored her, had my eyes closed (but peeking!) and shushed. It took almost 90 minutes, and she was asleep. I honestly didn't think that was too bad!!! I don't think she woke up during the night...or if she did it, a little shushing is all she needed and she was out. I think she woke up at 430 or something like that. I did shush her for a little while, when it was clear she wasn't going to sleep, I told her I was going to go to sleep. She could either sleep in her bed or play in her bed, but it was still sleepy time and left the room. She cried...I waited for her to take a break from crying and I went in and sang our "good morning" song (which she dances to).
Saturday nap went fine again. No problems. She slept 2.5 hrs without a peep the entire time. Saturday night, we did the same thing, told her she was going to go to sleep in her bed like a big girl...she got to sleep with dolly b/c she's a big girl...I rocked for about 15 minutes--she was getting quite comfortable and close to being asleep. I got up and put her in bed...she immediately jumped up...it took 2 hrs before she completely crashed. Starting at 130, she was crying in her sleep off and on...at 230, she was beginning to get up on her knees (she was crying) as I entered her room, but then dropped right back down and was asleep. So she must have been having bad dreams, I don't know, because she was NOT awake. She woke up at 5am. I did the same morning thing I did before.
Sunday nap was a nightmare. Seriously. I rocked for a few minutes, she was almost asleep, I put her down, she rolled over and immediately sat up. I thought, oh crap, on the day I have to leave in 30 minutes (and I wasn't ready to go, yet), she decided to do this. So, after 10 minutes of me being in there...I got DH and he took over (he had not been doing any of the new sleep routine b/c it just wouldn't work). Well, after 90 minutes of trying...he gave up. (I would have too!) And, honestly, I was so glad to not be home that afternoon!!! She survived (barely) until 6pm when we went ahead and finished our bedtime routine. I rocked and she was asleep in less than a minute. Heck, she was almost sleep while she was drinking her milk! Didn't hear a peep from her until 220. Then she was trying and trying and trying to go back to sleep. Finally at about 330 I picked her up and snuggled with her for a few minutes. I laid her back down, then she realized dolly was in her bed (she hadn't even noticed we put her in there after she went to sleep). She grabbed dolly, snuggled with her and drifted off to sleep at 4am. She slept until 625am! Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe it! I immediately went in singing our Good Morning song. Of course her getting up "so late" (lol) meant our morning routine was shot to heck b/c she had school today. Oh well, we worked it out...and she got to school on time.
We'll see how nap time goes today...I am going to make some adjustments. I made her light blocking drapes (photos in another post) and I think the fact that her room on Sunday was SO DARK at nap time was disturbing to her. Today I'm going to leave one cracked open until she's asleep, then close it. We'll see. She's probably going to be pretty tired from school today, so that should help.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Wow! She slept so late on Monday, that's awesome. And that's great that she snuggled with her doll.
I found out that Isabel likes a second pacifier to hold to her nose, bizarre yes but it works.
I did the same things you're doing and have had great success in a week. Although it doesn't take much time at all normally to get her to sleep at night initially. I'll rock for 1-2 minutes and then put her down and normally she'll roll over grabbing her second paci and go to sleep or lay there quietly for a few minutes then fall asleep.
First night I did the shushing and the second I did that for an hour and it didn't work so I let her fuss for an hour. That didn't work so I picked her up and rocked her for less then 5 minutes and she was out. I say that to tell you while I know you're doing what the doctor says you know what's working and what's not so as with Sunday afternoon if it's not working go back to what is.
Of course now that she was doing great for a couple of days she's been up screaming at 4 for the past week. Oh well! I hope you see improvement this week. Off to check out your curtains, I need to get something thicker for her room.
Post a Comment