Sleep Training

Ah. Sleep training. There are so many different schools of thought with varying methods on how to go about this. But one thing was common, it's important for your baby to learn how to fall asleep on his own at some point. 

The past one or two weeks have been quite rough at night. Not sure why babyAC wasn't sleeping as well, and would wake up crying and would require a lot more soothing and rocking to get him back to sleep. And he was waking up more and more frequently, almost every hour. I was exhausted and he wasn't getting enough sleep. Even his naps were getting shorter, and while he was still a happy and energetic baby in the day, he was getting really cranky in the evenings. 

I attempted to sleep train him on Wednesday night using the Ferber method. The idea was to let the baby cry for 3 minutes, then soothe him, and if he cried again to wait for 5 minutes, then 10 minutes. I waited 3 minutes, then 5, then broke down crying at the third set after only a minute or two. Told +3 that I couldn't take his crying and ran back into the room to hold him. 

It's tough! 

He didn't sleep well, and while I couldn't bear to see him cry, I was also worried that he would get too used to being picked up the moment he started crying. Not really a good habit to cultivate. 

We read about the Weissenbluth method, which was a cry-it-out method that really seemed harsh. No going in to comfort the baby, because repeatedly going back in would keep escalating the baby's crying when he sees you. +3 felt that this was a better method to adopt. 

Last night, babyAC was fussy. We did his usual bedtime routine of a bath and massage, and tried to put him down to sleep. He cried for a bit and I tried leaving him, but finally gave in to nurse him and he fell asleep. However an hour later he was awake and crying. 

+3 said to let him cry so I left the room, bracing myself. It was probably one of the hardest things I've done as a mother, hearing my baby cry and not comforting him. I was sobbing on the couch while +3 was comforting me. Twenty to twenty five minutes later, the crying subsided and babyAC was "singing" his sleep-song (long waaaaaaa waaaaaaa waaaaaaa sounds) and half an hour after he started crying it was silent in the room. We went in to check and he had fallen asleep! 

He slept for 5 hours and woke up, and I nursed him, and put him back in his crib. And he went right back to sleep for another 4.5 hours and is still sleeping. Woohoo! 

I don't know if how long this is going to take but I'm glad he is getting a few hours of sleep at a stretch again. Let's hope he sleeps better and easier!