Sleep Training

Emmeline has never been a very good sleeper, even from the beginning. In the first couple weeks after she was born Craig and I were just so tired that it was easier to just let her sleep on my chest - where she could sleep for hours.  In the past 7 months she has only slept next to me in bed, on my chest or in the bassinet next to my bed. She hadn't spent one night or even a single nap in her crib. I know this was a sleep mistake - but I just wasn't ready to have her in a different room. Plus I just loved the cuddle time. 

In the past month she would not stay asleep unless I was right there next to her. We decided it was time for her to sleep in her crib. Well, the transition has not been an easy one. After reading 4 different seep solutions books we decided to go with a mix of "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby" and "Twelve Hours at Twelve Weeks". 

We have put into play a pretty strict schedule of a 7:00am wake up, 9:00am nap, 1:00pm, nap and an early bedtime of 6:30pm.  We decided we would be putting her to bed sleepy but awake ( we had never done this - not once). When she cried (which was instantly) we would wait 5 minutes and then go in and soothe her but not pick her up. The first night she cried for 1 hour and we went in to sooth her every 5 minutes. The same thing happened the next night, But on the third night she only cried for 20 minutes. It seems to be getting better and she is already in napping in her crib without any tears. I'm thrilled that it's working but those first couple of nights were so awful. I sat in my room and cried in-between the 5 minutes.  I know that she needs to learn to sleep on her own it just breaks my heart to put her down knowing she will cry.  For now, I'm sticking with it since it seems to be working. We'll see how she's sleeping a couple months from now.