Sleep training

It is no secret that Kieran has become an awful night time sleeper. He has always napped great during the day and has always gone down at night perfectly well. The problem we've been facing these last few weeks/months is that he's been getting up a ton at night. Our boy that used to wake twice maybe three times at night was now getting up every hour or two hours between 10-5. It was ridiculous and Sean and I were suffering. No teeth are in sight, and yes he could be teething, but don't ALL babies teeth for a year or so? We can't have this going on forever, we WILL go insane!

When he had been waking up I had been too exhausted to really try anything so I had just been giving him the boob because it's fast and easy and puts him to sleep for another hour. Another hour? This is not long enough! We needed a better fix.

I have a few "self help" baby books that others have recommended, and I've skimmed through them, but I'm not a reader and unless there are step by step instructions I'm not good at reading into what the author is saying. Please just tell me what to do!

I decided to contact Sean's sister Amy who has three kids all of whom are beyond great sleepers. There are some days she has to wake her 1.5 year old up after 9 because he's STILL sleeping!

She told me what worked for her and gave me what I needed, STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS! Ok, I understand every child is different and you can sway slightly from the instructions, but I needed a starting point. She told me when he woke up to let him cry for 5 minutes, go in and sooth him (trying not to pick up if possible) and make sure he was calm for 5 minutes before she left the room, next time he woke up wait 10 minutes, and again the next time he woke up wait 15 minutes. She never went over 15 minutes and continued this cycle as need be.

I was really nervous about this, because I admit I (like most Mom's) don't like to hear my baby cry and I've never really let him cry. I might have let him cry for 1-2 minutes but than I feel bad and literally run in to SAVE him. I needed to get tough!

We decided to start Tiny Terrorist intervention Monday. I go back to work on the 10th and we NEED a better night sleeper if I'm going to be working all day. I guess they frown upon you sleeping during work hours.

Kieran went to bed at 7ish and I think he sensed what we were doing because he was up fussing before we even went to bed around 9ish. We let him cry for 5 minutes and than Sean went in gave him his paci and didn't need to do any other soothing.

Before we went to bed I decided to do a dream feed, we just started doing these, I had tried when he was younger and he would either wake up or not eat enough and still wake an hour later being hungry. Now that he's older they are working out pretty well. It was probably 10ish I went in fed him without waking him and put him back in his crib.

I think it was around 12 when he woke up again. We had the stop watch and started the timer. After 10 minutes I went in to sooth him. It took more effort than before. Not because he was worked up, he really had only cried for a few minutes, stopped, and cried again. Not as bad as I thought he was going to be. He would settle himself and I would look at the clock and wait and after about 2 minutes he would get fussy again so I'd calm him again. I think it took about 20 minutes this first time. Maybe he smelled me and just wanted me to feed him. I was strong though!

The next time I think was less than a hour later. The timer was set again this time for 15 minutes. Sean went in and it was as easy as before for him. How come he gets the easy rounds? I can't remember if I had to go in one other time or if that was it. All other times he cried he put himself back before the time was up.

Closer to the morning he woke up and I set the timer and fell asleep, whoops! When I checked the timer it was only about 25 minutes and he was sleeping. Not sure how long he had fussed for, but obviously he wasn't very loud and he was learning.

Last night was round 2. He went to bed fine as always. No waking before his dream feed, yay! He fussed for the first time around 12:30. Sean went in and he was fine with a quick pacifier. He fussed again an hour later or so, I went in and it was like the night before, not as bad but it took some coaxing to get him back to sleep. He didn't wake again until after 4 am! This was 6 hours from his last feeding so I just went in and fed him. Not sure if "the plan" was to let him cry, but I figured he probably was hungry. Eventually he should be able to sleep longer, but for my supply sake I really don't like going too long without either pumping or feeding. After feeding him he went right back down and slept until after 7!

This is a HUGE success already and it's only been two days. Sean and I are both sleeping better and I have all this energy. Crazy! Why didn't we try this before. I know it's not always as easy and every baby doesn't take to it the same, but I think this just shows that Kieran was in fact testing us. He's a good boy and a good sleeper and we just had to show him that.

Fingers crossed that tonight he'll go all the way until 3 or 4 without fussing at the 12-1 block. Once we cross that I think we'll be in a really good spot. Than I will eventually get rid of the 10 pm dream feed, but for now I'm up and it's extra calories that he probably needs since eating is no longer his main focus and he seems to get very distracted when both breast and bottle feeding. Too much going on in the world and he doesn't have time to eat, he might miss something.

Wish us luck that tonight is even better.