Archives for April 2023

So about two weeks ago, I decided that I was going to make a good faith effort to sleep train the Boss. I purchased The Peaceful Sleeper’s 4-24 month sleep training program. It was going well. We made it all the way to day three before we had to take a break due to the Boss being unwell. He had a pretty high fever and it just made more sense to give him all the love and snuggles he needed to get through whatever little virus he was fighting. He has been feeling better, so we restarted.

I’m not going to lie – I’m not a fan of sleep training, but I’m even less of a fan of myself and my son not sleeping well through the night. So I made the hard choice to restart and give it the two weeks that are suggested. Full disclosure – our first time around, I tried the modified cry it out form of sleep training and I learned very quickly that it was not for us. With that particular version, I’m supposed to do multiple checks after certain amounts of time but that really wasn’t working for us. After reading all of the material she provides, I found myself coming to the hard truth that my child needs a full cry it out method which is something I never thought I would do.

I’m writing this during night 3 because I can’t sleep. I’m proud of the Boss so far in his sleep endeavors. On night 1 he fell asleep with 4 minutes left in the 1-hour timer. Night 2 he had 7 minutes left in the timer, and last night 11 minutes.

In the moment of writing this I am wide awake. I started sleep training because I wanted to get my kid sleeping so that I could sleep (again). Go figure – on the night my kid has his best sleep night so far, I don’t sleep at all. Today is my first day back at work after my little birthday staycation and I have not slept at all. It’ll be interesting to see how today goes. Hopefully I can get at least a couple hours before my day has to start officially. We shall see…

Xoxo,

Ash, RN

Last night was night number two of sleep training my 7 month old. It started off a little rocky, but eventually ended in my son falling asleep after the first 20 minute timer on his own in his crib…and waking up 20 minutes after that.

I wasn’t prepared for that. Initially I was very happy because in the grand scheme of things it had taken 15 minutes less to fall asleep last night than it did the night before. I feel like that’s progress. And then he woke up 20 minutes after falling asleep and I must admit – I panicked. I didn’t remember reading/watching anything about what to do if that happened. So I kinda did my own thing. I gave him about 15 minutes to see if he would go back to sleep and he did not. So, I went in to console him and lay him back down and in true Boss fashion he was crying before I even left the room.

I know I’m not the only parent that’s ever felt some type of way about watching their kid cry. And to the parents who have no problem with it – kudos to you, but I ain’t the one. I call BS on y’all the same way I call BS on women who say they “love” being pregnant. This is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but I know I’m doing it for a good reason. I reset my little timer for 20 minutes and gave my kid some more time to figure it out. He’s smart and I knew he was capable. It was just a matter of me not letting my own guilty feelings get in the way of him being a successful independent sleeper. I sat in my living room for a while watching him try to decide whether to lay down or keep fighting. But if it’s one thing my little sister has taught me with all of her sleep efforts with my nephew – it’s that sleep always wins. Plus I knew that I could “rescue” his sleep at any moment. But I really wanted to give it an honest try, so I sat and waited and watched and waited and watched.

I can’t lie, things got a little comical at one point. My son actually fell asleep sitting up. He just would not lay down even though he was nodding off and falling over in different directions. I really struggled with what to do. I wanted to lay him down but I didn’t want to risk him waking up and us having to start the battle all over again, so I just kept watching. He was still humming and still nodding off, but that kid was persistent. He just would not lay down. Eventually his nodding off resulted in him tumbling over and scaring himself awake which then led to me rescuing his efforts. I fed him and basically just held him while he fell asleep – no rocking necessary because he was just that tired. Poor kiddo. The greatest task after that was the arm to crib transfer. It took three tries but I got him in his crib and managed to keep him asleep.

I wanted to say that we took the L last night on independent sleep, but really we didn’t. Like I said, he took less time over all to fall asleep and he was actually able to do it on his own twice. He just wouldn’t lay down the second time around. This sleep training thing is definitely a challenge, but I’ve learned a little more about my son these last two nights and just how capable he is despite protesting. I think (hope 🤞🏽) that he’ll be very much improved by the end of the week. We shall see.

Xoxo,

Ash, RN

I officially started sleep training my son last night and lemme tell you…it ain’t for the weak. I hesitated with sleep training because if I’m honest I really don’t like hearing my child cry. I understand that babies cry and sometimes they have a very good reason, but to let him cry himself to sleep when I’m right there and capable of helping him just seemed so cruel. I had to really change my mindset and look at it from a perspective of sleep being a skill he needs to learn.

Prior to last night when Aus was first born I just tried to focus on setting up a sleep routine, and we had a pretty good run for a while. Once we moved things really changed. We started co-sleeping on a more regular basis since his mini crib was getting small and soon that became the norm. The other night the Boss fell off the bed and that’s when I decided I would give sleep training the official go again. So last night was night one and it was so hard! Harder for me than for him I’m sure – but still hard nonetheless. I ended up purchasing the 4-24 month class from the peaceful sleeper and last night it definitely helped. I decided to use her modified cry-it-out approach in which she states that 95% of the thousands of babies she’s helped sleep train have fallen asleep in the 3 or 4th timer set (buy the course if you wanna know what I’m talking about 😏) and the Boss feel asleep during set 3. I’m super impressed for it being our first night, especially since I was ready to call it quits after the 15 minute time set. Regardless of that he did it.

I’m curious to see how tonight will go and these next few nights honestly. I have faith that he will do well; I just need to build myself up to be able to withstand the crying. I also have to get used to sleeping alone again. I haven’t slept in this bed alone since Austin and I moved back in with my parents. I think I might need a little sleep training myself. Pray for us ✌🏽

Xoxo,

Ash, RN