Review Monday

When my daughter was 5 months old, it became obvious she was going to need some help learning to sleep. No one ever told me some babies need a little help learning to fall asleep. In fact, most of the baby books I read made it sound like infants would naturally consolidate their newborn sleep time into routine naps and solid all night sleep. Well, that was a bunch of bull. At 4 months, my daughter went through the dreaded 4 month sleep regression. She was up almost every hour after midnight. She wouldn't nap for longer than 30 minutes, and that was after 45 minutes of soothing to get her to sleep. Needless to day, mama started looking like the walking dead. After much research, I found Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I devoured the book in one night and was convinced by the end that this guy was a total nut job. I really enjoyed the medical explanations of health sleep and baby sleep cycles. I was not on board with extinction (crying it out) and early bed times, which would never allow my child to see her daddy during the week. I was convinced the 3 day training schedule would not work for us.

With much reluctance, I started the extinction method on a Thursday with nap time. After 30 minutes of wailing, my daughter fell asleep for three naps. On Friday, the crying time was down to 10 minutes and naps were stretching out to at least 45 minutes. By Saturday, we were down to no crying and I actually got a 2 hour nap out of her. Then came Saturday night. I put her down for bed at 6pm. At 7am I woke up in a panic. I desperately grabbed the video monitor, convinced my child had been kidnapped in the night. But there she was, peacefully snoozing in her crib. She had finally slept through the night! The 3 day training schedule worked and I felt fantastic!

It's now four months later and I still have a wonderful sleeper. Except for teething times, she still sleeps through the night and naps at least three times a day. Looking back, she was a miserable baby before learning this new skill. This book is now my go to gift for all new moms!