Short Version: The Request--Tonight, Matt and I are going to start the "progressive waiting approach" to try to get Lilly to sleep in her own bed. We have never just let Lilly cry for anything are pretty nervous about the whole situation. Please pray that we will have the strength to get through it and that nobody involved gets traumatized. Also, pray that Lilly is a fast learner.
Long Version: The Reason--As I have mentioned in several posts, Lilly usually sleeps half of the night in her bed and then the rest of the night in ours. Well, as of late, she has been sleeping 20 minutes in her bed and the rest of the night with us. The problem with that is I am not asleep enough to not notice every little move she makes and therefore do not sleep very well some nights. So, last night, as soon as I got into bed she woke up. I tried and tried to keep putting the pacifier back in her mouth hoping she would fall asleep on her own....no such luck! So, Matt said he would rock her back to sleep and we could just put her in bed with me the next time. So he does. Well, a couple of times during the night, I would hear her and say, "Do you want me to put her in bed?" and he would say no and leave the room to rock. The last time I looked at the clock and it was 4:30!! Turns out, he had decided he was just going to rock her when she woke up....but everytime he put her down she woke right back up even more angry than the time before. Well, we finally put her in bed with us and Matt said, "I think it is time to start that program!!" See-when we were at the doctor, he suggested this program but we did not feel ready to let her cry--which is probable the first few nights. So please pray for us to have the strength to teach her to fall asleep on her own. The plan is the first night we go in after 3 minutes and rub her back and assure her we are there and she is okay. Then we do the same after six. And again after eight and every eight minutes after that if necessary. Tomorrow, we go after four, eight and ten. It increases nightly, but they say most babies don't need it after the third night. I am not sure I am ready for this. ):
13 hours ago
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2 comments:
I will pray for you! I know how hard it is. I've been there but I promise after you do it, you will feel very accomplished and satisfied! It's the best thing I did for us. We all get to sleep and it's good for kids to learn to soothe themselves. Just do what feels right for you and your family. I also suggest that you go in your room, turn on anything and everything that makes noise and let Matt do it for the first few nights. Then you can help out when she starts to get the hang of it and it's not as traumatizing. Good Luck!
You can do it!!!! The feeling you will feel when she goes to sleep consistently by herself will CANCEL out all these feelings of guilt....I promise!! Plus...she is still tickled pink to see you in the morning and remembers NOTHING from the screaming event the night before....right???
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