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