15 month old first time in crib!!

[montrealmummy]

Hi!
So my daughter has co-slept with me since the beginning and has been able to breastfeed on demand.  I thought that this was the best way to go about making her feel very secure at all times.  People continuously told me to nip it in the bud, to get her in the crib early and I ignored their warnings.  
Over the last 15 months, nothing has changed in terms of her waking during the night and so I still feel like the mother of a newborn in terms of my level of exhaustion - and probably even more - because at least a newborn spends a good portion of the day sleeping (time during which I can sleep).  So here I am at my wit's end the last couple of days, torn between my head, my heart, people's advice, etc...
In any case, I've had her in the crib since Tuesday night (today is day 3) and I KNOW that I am making the right decision because something had to give, she was becoming more and more insistent during the night and I was starting to get frustrated with her.  I read through many posts this morning about the walk in/walk out and I was inspired - kind of like when people find "THE diet" that is finally going to work!!  Except that diets are short lived and people revert back but there is no way I am going to go back on the work I've put in these last 3 days.  So I followed through one string of posts on here in particular that sounded much like my story so I gave the 5/2 seconds a try and it took my baby 55 minutes to finally fall asleep for her afternoon nap today but she's finally out like a light!!    Although, she did scream her head off most of the time.  BUT I/we got through it!!

Just when I was beginning to feel that the method was useless, it worked!  In 15 months I've never had an opportunity to do something for myself while she slept because she was nursed to sleep and I essentially couldn't move.  But no more - Here I am able to type away on the computer and share my experience so far!

I have two questions though:

If I am cutting out the night feeds, would I be best to stop nursing completely?  Should she have a bottle before bed IN her crib?

If she wakes up at like 5:00, do I try to settle her, or no, this is her new wakeup time?

Any advice would be really appreciated!  And I will continue to share my experience!  Fingers crossed!

Paula

[anna*]

Hey congratulations!!! 55 mins is REALLY good for the first time at WIWO! Expect things to get worse, but they'll get better again

You don't need to stop nursing if you want to wean night feeds. By all means you can still nurse her during the day if that is agreeable to you both. Around this age I changed up our bedtime routine so we would do pyjamas, breastfeed, brush teeth, story, bed. It's not a good idea to have her fall asleep on a bottle, so even if you want to give her last milk by bottle I would have it out of the crib and then go down in the crib awake.

I would try to settle her back to sleep at 5am. I'd decide what is your earliest reasonable wake up time, and try to settle her back to sleep until that point.

[bovi]

well done you!:)
I am still bf my 16 mo old and completely understand your question.I had the same worry that if I refuse to nurse him at some occasions he would get confused. nope, they are clever it takes not too long until it settles, now he nurses in the morning and before bed time int he evening (except when he is sick then anytime) and he got used to it, very seldom he asks to nurse during the day, but let himself be distracted easily.
I wish you lots of energy to succeed in what you have decided for. You are doing the best thing for you and for your lo! I am always so much nicer mom when I am not completely exhausted.

Good luck
 

[montrealmummy]

Ah wow, thank you two so much for your support... and so quickly too!! 
So tonight I witnessed a miracle!  I know, I know, I don't want to expect too much too soon, BUT... She went to sleep without a peep! 
I made sure she was wound down enough and followed the advice for wind down schedule...  I put her in her crib with her light on and she was a tad frustrated, but as soon as I turned off the light and laid her down, not a peep!  I counted to 1000 and that was it - She never made a peep!  So here I am, an hour into her night sleep and I am actually for the first time ever using the baby monitor and am all the way in the basement on call if she needs me!  This is incredible!  I am so happy I used this most wonderful resource!

Actually, she did make a peep roughly 40 minutes into it but it was my fault - I realized the monitor was not plugged in on her end, so went back into the room and had to move the crib over a bit which she felt, but then with the door open she could hear the dogs barking, the 20 yr old cat crying and I dropped the parents' unit of the monitor onto the hardwood floor.  I felt like I was in a movie where everything goes wrong at once and I am PRAYING for for help - and sleep! But it was fine, and she went right back to sleep, and that was it!

Will keep posting my progress!

Paula

[grace annes mommy]

haha, I had to have a giggle about the 20yr old cat and dropping the monitor. I've so been there.

But WOW! You and you're LO are doing wonderful!!! I bet you feel like a new woman!

Keep us posted. 

~ Caitlin

[montrealmummy]

HAHA yes - I am alone this weekend with 2 dogs, 2 cats (20 & 16), and a baby who is in major transition.  Only Olympic athletes have a harder job ahead of them this weekend, and even then - I'm not so sure!

[londonmama]

Oh wow.  Well done you!  It takes a lot of courage to make such a major change.  My son is 14 months and we are still nursing twice a day, but I don't nurse at night and he seems to get it.

You may find that she will start sleeping through (hurray!) and then will start waking earlier and earlier.  This seems to be a common pattern - it was for us.  I tend to treat anything less than 11 hours sleep as a nightwaking.  So if he goes to sleep at 7:00 and wakes at 5:00, I will try to resettle him the same as I would in the middle of the night, until 6:00 at least.

Good luck to you!  You have done so well to be such a responsive mum for the first 15 months and now you deserve a bit of time to yourself each day!

[montrealmummy]

This method has been a miracle for me!!  So I just put her down for her nap and it took me FIVE(!!!) minutes for her to fall asleep!  And I'm not talking 5 minutes of constant soothing, but five minutes until not a sound!  I always imagined what it would be like to have a baby who I can put in her crib and hear her giggling or talking to herself - and - ok she wasn't exactly laughing, but there was hardly any resistance!

But last night is really something to write about:  She went to bed at 7:00 and was asleep by 7:15!  Then she slept until 3:15 with only the occasional sleep talk or half-awake cry and then slept right through until 5:30!  I finally experienced a night of sleep - well sort of - I was on edge the entire night worried that someone might call or that the dogs would bark and/or get up in the middle of the night.  So it's ironic that I slept worse than ever on what should have been my best night!  But regardless, I was so energetic today! 

And I could see the difference in her too!  She was so sprightly and affectionate!

This is going to sound cheesy but like Dr. Phil says re: changing a behaviour if it's not working for you... that's just what I did!

:-)
A happy mom,
Paula

[anna*]

I love to read updates like this - well done!!!

[grace annes mommy]

Wow! Bravo to your LO!!!

Now, just a warning - Don't be surprised or frustrated if you hit a bit of a regression in the next couple days. It's very normal.  But remain consistent, and you will come out on the other side!

I do the same thing, not sleeping well when I'm used to getting up with DD, then don't need to.  I think we all do LOL.  But soon enough, you'll be nice and accustomed to those loong nights.

[montrealmummy]

Thank you!
Tonight I am in bed and it's 8:00!  I am going to catch up on sleep tonight while she sleeps the whole night through!!