Sleep Training

Emslee has never really been on a sleep routine.  It is fully my fault, but I have some "good" reasons why I never started.  I nurse Emslee and I have become her "pacifier" (which I said I would never allow to happen).  Whenever she would wake up in the middle of the night I would make excuses for her that she must be hungry (breastmilk does digest quicker than formula), having gas pains, teething, etc.  The same goes for napping.  If she wasn't sleeping it was because she was hungry, not feeling well, etc.  Emslee does not take a pacifier.  She only took one while we were at the hospital and for whatever reason would not take it once we got her home.  I have tried so many times to get her to take one, but it doesn't work.  Most people would say enjoy it, because you won't have to break the habit later.  I say it sure would make getting her to sleep through the night much easier.  Emslee has always made her nap schedule and bed time.  We just figured she liked to be up late (10-11 pm).  It was always "nurse her to sleep and then HOPE that she doesn't wake up when you lay her down".  If she did wake up then I'd have to nurse her to sleep again and try it once more.  This is exhausting and most nights led to me sleeping with her on the couch when she'd wake in the middle of the night. 

Our trip to North Carolina was a wake up call for me and Joshua (though he never gets up with her at night).  Emslee was up a minimum of 4-6 times a night and ended up sleeping with us in our bed every evening.  Part of that was she was out of her environment, but most of it was she was taught (inadvertently by me) that when she wakes at night I will nurse her back to sleep.  When we visited our friends Brent and Kaylyn for a few days we were amazed that their daughters (one 3, the other a month older than Emslee) went to bed at 7 and slept until 7.  Nap times were scheduled and the girls understood that when they were laid down it was time for bed.  They fussed a little initially, but gave in quickly, knowing that they weren't getting up.  So we asked Kaylyn and Brent what the "secret" was and decided right then and there that as soon as we got home we were changing everything we had been doing!  Emslee would no longer be in control of sleep times, we would.

Here is what we do:  Emslee goes to bed at 7 and take naps at 9-10 am, 1-2 pm, and 4 (give or take on the times). We have created a bedtime routine where we read her a couple stories, change her diaper, put her in her pjs and then I nurse her. As she's falling asleep while nursing I take her off and lay her in her crib. I have started giving her a little blanket with a lamb attached to it to give her a new sleep association, other than me. Then I kiss her, tell her it's night night time, turn on soft music and leave the room. She cries....and this is very hard for me, but I let her cry.We've done this for 9 nights now and the longest she's cried is 40 minutes. Then she drifts off to sleep. If she wakes up in the middle of the night (which has only happened a few nights), I go in give her her lamb blanket, turn on her music, tell her it's night night time, kiss her and leave. She cries for about 15 minutes, but goes back to sleep. It's all about changing yourself as her sleep association and replacing it with something else (like a blanket, paci, etc.).  She is now sleeping 11-12 hours a night and did it from the first day we started!  It was like she was waiting for us to just put her to bed and let her sleep.

This has given Josh and I alone time every evening for a few hours before we go to bed and it's been so good for us!   Emslee is also a much happier baby!  Here is a link to site I read before I started.  It was a huge help in addition Bren and Kaylyn!
http://www.sleepthroughnight.com/

Oh, and now I can say I am SO happy she doesn't take a pacifier, because that's one habit I won't have to break lol!