Tough Love
Well, it happened. Last night was the first night ever, I put Stella in her crib and just let her cry it out. And believe it or not it was WWAAAYY easier than I ever thought. I have always been a softy when it came to this tactic. I tried it for naps a few times and about three minutes into the crying I was in there holding her telling her I was sorry. We have always had a great bed time routine; bath at 7:00, play for a bit, bottle at 7:30 while we rocked her in the recliner until she fell asleep, and then we would lay her in bed by 8:00. Well for the past couple weeks now we have still had a wide awake baby come 8:30. Not gona happen when she has to get up at 6:30 the next day. We would try to rock her and give her her bottle and she would fight it tooth and nail. It was stressful for us and for her. So last night we decided (ok, I decided) we were not going to fight this and be stressed out anymore. So here was the game plan:
6:30 - Watch Wheel of Fortune, yes we are old people. lol.
7:00 - Get bath ready and give Stella a bath.
7:15 - 7:20ish - out of the tub (I think the girl would stay in there for an hour if we would let her)
Lotioned up, jammies on, ears cleaned, all smelling good, by 7:30.
Let her play like a wild woman until a little after 8:00.
Around 8:10 give her her nighttime bottle. Which is still just 6 ounces.
8:15 - Lay her in her bed, tell her nigh-night and cover her up. Lights off, and door pulled almost all the way shut.
Good news, for us, she only cried for TEN MINUTES last night. Wow, I was expecting 30 minutes. And you better believe I was sitting in the living room fighting back tears and the urge to just go in there and get her. But I am READY for a full nights sleep again, so I wasn't going to give in. At 8:30 I walked into her room just to make sure she was still covered up and she was completely out, and she was! YAY! So straight to bed Mommy went! Ha, yes 8:30, going to bed. I need a hobby or something.
2:30 - I was awaken by a crying baby. I went and made a bottle (don't yell at me Trina) got her out of bed, she took the whole bottle, right back to sleep, and then I put her back in her crib.
Josh got called off work this morning and for some crazy reason decided to step up and take over the baby duties for the morning and take his daughter to daycare. Yes, she goes to daycare when he is off work, long story, not going to go into it. Anyways, of ALL the days, the little butt slept until 8:00!! She is usually up at 6:00. So I think the tough love may be paying off! Fingers crossed that tonight the routine goes as planned and we have just as much success!!
If anyone has any other tips, PLEASE share!! I need all the help I can get so I can get all the sleep I need!
5 comments :
Its sooo hard to hear them cry, right? You just have to keep reminding yourself that its better for BOTH of you in the long run. The only tip I have is stay consistent. If you are going to stick with the CIO method you need to commit 100%. She will learn very quickly that when she is put to bed, its time to go to sleep. Ethan (and I) have been getting a solid 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep for a week straight now. Good luck, I hope it works just as well for yall.
Thank you!! I know you said that you used to feed Ethan in the middle of the night. How long did you do that? Or if he wakes up, do you let him cry, or go in there and give him his binky? Or go in there and feed him? Any advice?
Good job! I know it's hard but it's good for both of you. I did that with Kayla at 6 months and she sleeps from 8 to 8 on the weekends ever since! She dosnt like it!
I have one suggestion instead of a bottle at 230 just give her the passy! She will learn. Also I started giving her a snack before bed that might help too!
Great job Cassie!!!
Trina
Good job with letting her cry it out...we did that with Keegan and it really does make a huge difference! My best advice would be to stick with it and be consistent. She will get use to it and will eventually go to bed without crying at all!!
As far as the bottle in the middle of the night...probably not the best idea, especially if you plan on taking her off the bottle when she turns one. As hard as it may be, you have to let her cry it out then too or give her a binky. You could try giving her a little snack with her bedtime bottle, it might help her last longer through the night.
When he got up in the middle of the night I would always give him a quick bottle so he would get back to sleep asap. I knew it wasn't necessary and that I wanted to phase that out quickly so we increased the amount of food he ate during the day. (I should have done that a while ago but he had an allergic reaction to the very first solid food we gave him so I was really cautious with solid foods).
After that Ethan would do a fake cry (to see if we would come get him) in the middle of the night. I set a rule that if he cried longer than 10 min I would go in and get him/feed him. Almost every single time he would fall back to sleep after 5 min - little stinker. Now that he knows I wont come running in for every peep he makes he no longer cries AT ALL! :)
The middle of the night wake-ups are the hardest. If she is crying because she wants you to hold her/rock her to sleep you will have to practice tough love. If she is crying because she is hungry I would adjust her feedings/food schedule with a little trial and error to see what works best for her.
Also, I have a coworker that had the same problem with her 14 month old. He woke up crying because he was hungry and wanted to snack all night. She would give him a bottle with only water in it, which would get him back to sleep at night without actually giving him milk or formula. Eventually his body got used to not having any calories at night and he ate bigger meals during the day. He no longer gets up during the night either. I never personally tried that, but it worked for her.
I hope this helps!!
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