Last night I decided I would try the suggestions of a few blogger friends, and put Rayya down to bed earlier. I tell you, there is a phenomena with my children. If I have a plan to start them on a new routine they automatically do it on their own. I'm serious! She woke up yesterday morning at 7:30am (I didn't give her a bottle all night, and I've been trying to wean her off the early morning bottles for a few nights now). She was cranky and tired at 9:00am, so I put her down for a nap. She slept until about 10:45am. I put her down for her afternoon nap at 1:00pm, and though she had two soother-reinsertion wake-ups, she napped until 3:30pm. I then put her to bed about 45 minutes earlier than usual - at 7:15pm, versus 8:00pm. She was super cranky anyway, and she fell asleep no problem. Putting her to bed that early meant she didn't get her last bottle of the day, so I was not sure what to expect for her night. She slept solid until 3:00am, when she woke up and wanted her soother. She woke up again at around 6:00am, and again I just gave her the soother. She slept until 6:45am, when she got woken up by James (who was up super early), but when I put her soother in she closed her eyes and went back to sleep until 7:30am.That's not a major improvement, because she still woke up for her soother - and I don't know what to do about those soother wake-ups. James was long done with the soother at night at this age. Rayya doesn't need it for anything but sleeping - but she doesn't even need it to fall asleep - she just seems to need it to STAY asleep.
However, it was a nice long sleep for her, and the routine was good. Today she seems to be following along perfectly. Awake at 7:30am, now down for a nap around 9:30am, and hopefully I'll be able to get her into bed a little earlier today - I'm going to try 7:00pm.
4 comments :
Heather, my daughter was the queen of soother attachment, and the sleep program we followed suggested that once they're old enough to find and re-insert the soother themselves, to sprinkle lots (we did about 6) in her crib, and then she'll be able to do it herself. It might mean a rough couple of nights to begin with while she figures it out, but it totally worked for us! Hope you start getting longer night sleeps...Judah is 4 months now and his nights have been brutal lately. One day, we will sleep a whole night again:)!
I hope that she keeps to that schedule. The Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child book routine is pretty much that. I think most kids will adhere to that type of routine with a few modifications according to age.
Keep up the good work Miss Rayya!
Heather, Britta was brutal at night from about 4-9 months getting up 3-4 times a night needing a soother reinsertion. It is SO annoying. When she turned 9 months I had enough - we just let her cry it out at night. It worked. She woke up a couple times a night the first few, but then she caught on that we aren't coming in. She either found her soother and put it in herself, or she would fall asleep without one. I hoped we wouldn't have to go through this with Britta, but we did...I only wish we had started it early (like at Rayya's age).
WooHoo!!!! I am so excited for you!! I remember the first morning I woke up and FREAKED OUT cause I realized I slept all night and something must be really wrong...but it wasn't...and boy did I feel great once I realized all was good!!!
Soothers are stinky, I agree...not much advice on that one...I remember my kids having them, but not what I did to get rid of it.
Happy to hear sleep is coming your way, from one once exhausted mommy to another.
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