Hey ladies, I just wanted to take off from where I left last time. Its been a long time since I posted about our progress. We had fallen off the wagon there for a while due to my injury (I had a nasty fall which made me immobile for a couple of weeks) and in the mean time, DS stayed about the same with his sleeping. He was wanting me to stay by his crib and talk to him while I soothed him to sleep at bedtime and subsequent night wakings which were still about 6-8.
The moment I got my strength back, I stepped it up and moved myself about 6 feet away from the crib but still in his line of vision so that he could be soothed by my voice. For the first couple of nights, he would be fine with this arrangement at bedtime but wanted to be patted at the night wakings. When he responded to being soothed by my voice at all the NWs, we took the final step.
This past week, I went completely out of sight while still staying in the same room so that I could soothe him with my voice if he cries too much. The first time he cried for 15 minutes but would calm down the moment he heard my voice. Eventually he slept and I did the same at night wakings. I did this for a couple of nights and when he was getting more manageable I stopped talking and just sat in the room out of his sight. It worked and DS is doing so well with his sleep.
Currently:
- he is sleeping 11-12 hours at night (previously he slept 9 hours)
-His bedtime is about 7:30pm. (previously it was 8pm)
-He will fuss for about a 30 seconds to a minute when put into his crib and off to sleep he goes. ( he had to hummed, rocked and given a bottle to sleep)
-He wakes up only once or two times a night and mostly puts himself back to sleep. (He used to wake up about 10-12x/night)
-Typically wakes up at 6:30am (His wake up was anytime from 4 to 6 am)
- Still taking two naps one hour each. (Naps are the same)
I cannot begin to express how happy and well rested both DS and I are. I feel like a whole new person. Just wanted to update and share this so that other mamas can benefit.
DS is a strong willed baby and the gradual withdrawal method worked very very well for us! It is a longer route but your baby trusts you which means that when you make big changes there is comparatively little crying. Just don't lose your focus and be consistent!!!
A big thank you to all for your support, suggestions and helpful posts.
