Thank you so much ladies.... its good to know that we are moving in the right direction and hopefully my LO will become a good sleeper for as long as he lives. Sleep is so important and im so thankful for the knowledge given to me at the right time. XOXOX
Mommy to Misha,
I didnt read Tracys book or any book for that matter before my LO was 6weeks, but even before he was born i decided to teach him to sleep in his own crib from day one, which is where he has slept since day 1:-) I also used common sense to teach him day and night from day one and he slept like he always knew his days and nights. He was also a decent sleeper during his 4-5 first weeks, but then as he became more aware of his surroundings he started becoming overstimulated and overtired easily to lack of my knowledge on how long he should be up between his naps and such... so whenever he was put down to sleep he was fussy, stressing and then crying himself to sleep... in my arms! Which made me understand why some parents do anything (all the props) in order to get their baby to sleep.... BUT i didnt want to settle for any of the props and luckily a friend introduced me to Tracys book, which i hope you have read since she explain everything so well in it.
I started with the EASY straight away, it truly made sense and gave me confidence to know i was doing the right thing for my baby and myself.... It wasnt all that easy since everything before it had no order, but i decided to cancel all my appointments and pretty much stayed at home for the next couple of weeks to get it all up and working... it started working pretty soon but until this day i always try to stay at home the day after we have been out to catch up on the routines and not mess up anything.... it may sound like a struggle if you like to be outside but it gets easier and i will say its worth it. It thought me to read all the cues of my LO and I think we even bonded more because of my focus being a 100% on him everyday.
We also started the pat/shh method around the same time.... OMG I can honestly tell you it was sooooo hard. I hated to swadel him and it took ME some time to get used to it... he was resisting the pat/shh for days and i could sit next to his crib for 60min everytime 5 times a day:-( I was exhausted!!!! I wanted to quit so many times but the words of Tracy saying not to start anything i dont mean to finish kept me going as well as i convinced my self that rocking (or any other prop) him to sleep would be just exhausting, at least this way i felt i was trying to do the right thing.... noone supported me or helped me during those weeks... i was at it all by myself! After a week i think he finally started to respond to the pat/shh method as he realized i just wasnt gonna stop doing it:-)
And it was taking less and less time.. as he now was on the routine as far as WHEN to sleep and i was able to read his cues i would put him to sleep at the right time which made him calm and easier to help to sleep.... this lasted for the next two week and then what feel all of a sudden now, i just started putting him down and not shhhh, not even pat but have my hand on his back.... then i would watch him sooth him self to sleep.... and today i dont do any pat or shh at all and i cant belive that it worked! To begin with it just felt helpless!!
Now as he is bigger, sometimes the first yawn is to soon to put him down so those times when i put him down a little bit to soon or later or he is simple overstimulated, he may resist and fuss a bit but then i calm him down in my arms and once i see his eyes go left and right and he is calm i put him down in his crib and let him do the rest......... i cant belive that at 12 weeks we are doing so great! :-) He also sleeps with no food between 11pm and 5am, which is something i started to work on about 3 weeks ago after the routine was established and the pat/shh method didnt drain me for energy. But this too happend "easily" as i started to increase the amount of food he eat during the day and his belly can hold food for longer so i feel lucky there as well. I feel more rested and like myself again. I am fully enjoying my LO which is a blessing in it self.
Any questions, please feel free to ask and good luck!
