I think that when you have a baby...sleep training is inevitible (sp?). Coming up with what works best for your baby, you and the rest of your family is the tricky part. If you google "sleep training," you get a bazillion links with a bazillion people telling you why their way is the only way, etc, etc.
After my venting post yesterday, I got lots of emails, text messages, facebook messages, and so on, on what worked for people, methods they used, etc.
For the record, I love to hear it because sleep is something that I get so little of but is such a huge part of life right now. So even though it may or may not work for me, I always enjoy hearing peoples stories.
However, let me tell you that I have read, researched, bought, just about every sleep training method out there in hopes of finding the perfect one for us. I've even tried different approaches...with no luck. What I've determined is that no matter what anyone tells me, there is not one way that will work with every single family or baby. My children seem to be the exception to every rule out there!!! My mom as my witness!!!
Nathan was a terrible sleeper...I spent butt loads of money on books and things to help...I took everyones advice and nothing seemed to work. Eventually his sleep just evolved over time and we broke one habit after another, one by one and now he does great.
SO with Kendall, my husband and I vowed not to start with bad habits. So we have worked really hard at doing everything right...
-a consistent bedtime routine (which we also did with Nathan)
-putting her in her own bed to sleep (also did with Nathan...when he got older, he comes and climbs in bed occasionally.)
-dark room, white noise machine
-trying super hard not to associate sleep with eating...sometimes it just happens...not much I can do.
In the first month, she showed signs of being a much better sleeper than Nate. She could pull a three or four hour shift pretty consistently. I'm not sure if it was a growth spurt, gas, or what, but at some point she reverted back to waking up every hour. After a few nights, she slowly got back to two hours...and that's where we've been ever since. We haven't changed any of our good habits and have really maintained avoiding bad ones.
We've let her cry it out...she doesn't cry for very long, can put herself to sleep, but still doesn't sleep for any longer. I've tried making Cass get up with her...we do a "dream feed" in hopes of pushing her an extra hour or so...NADA!
I'm not done trying...I haven't given up hope. I'm just still trying to find what works for us.
Why don't I stick to strictly one method? Well, to spare judgment and offending people...there are just some things I don't agree with or know that I wouldn't be able to be consistent about with different approaches. TO EACH THEIR OWN! I have absolutely nothing against anyone who swears by a certain method, etc...it might just not be for me. And I'm being honest with you and myself when I say that there are certain things I just can't be consistent with. So maybe it's my own fault that certain things don't work...but I'm ok with that.
For now, I struggle. I keep trying different things. I'm trying to look on the bright side of things...TRYING! I know that eventually, Kendall will also sleep more than two hours at a time. This too shall pass...this won't last forever. I tell myself this over and over.
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