There once was a 12 month old boy who HATED to sleep. He would fight it and fight it until finally his mommy gave in and let him sleep in her bed. This mommy knew that she needed to help her baby fall asleep in his own crib. She could no longer keep up with the nightly routine of rocking him to sleep, gently placing him into the crib, tiptoeing away...only to hear a screaming baby 30 seconds later on his feet ready for her to do it all over again. She even tried to let him cry it out-until he got so mad he made himself throw up. Enough. Enough of this no sleeping...for both of us.
So mommy read books and blogs and couldn't figure out what to do until one day, right after the baby's first year birthday, she gave him a really big hug and gave him a big boy talk. She told him how much she loved him and how proud she was of what a big boy he was growing into- however, the biggest thing he needed to learn now was how to go to sleep on his own. She then gave him a bath, read a him a few bed time stories, gave him his pacifier and laid him in his crib. And......he cried and screamed. And cried and screamed.... for a good hour and half!! He got so tired he was standing with his head falling backwards (thank goodness for video monitors!). He finally crashed and slept for a solid 7 hours. One of his best nights. (Although it was probably one of my most difficult hour and half time periods I have had to hear- nobody likes to hear their baby scream.)
The next night she went through the same routine and he only cried for a half hour. She kept telling herself, "Stay strong, mommy. This is for his own good." The third night it was 10 minutes. By the end of the week, it was literally 30 seconds.
He is 13 months old today, so it has officially been a month. I think it is safe to say, MY BABY CAN FALL ASLEEP AND STAY ASLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT! This is probably my biggest victory since winning state when I was 12-ha! I'm really not kidding though. I am so proud of my boy, it was honestly such a hard thing for him. But now, after we go through the nighttime routine, he may fuss for A second, but then goes right to sleep! And if he wakes in the middle of the night, I don't go to get him until at least 6:30- any earlier than that, I make him self-soothe again, and he does! What a gem!
I know you may not be able to tell, but on that monitor is a sleeping baby! And this means a peaceful night for mommy and daddy.
He really is growing into such a big boy, but when he sleeps, I still see my little baby.
To all you mommies out there who have had trouble teaching your baby to self-soothe, I'll give you a couple of suggestions that helped us.
- Make sure baby eats dinner a couple hours before bed.
- Have a routine. (For us its bath, milk, books, bed)
- A bottle of milk before bed always helps.
- We brought a nightlight into the room.
- Let them cry it out (It is SO difficult-it was more of a scream for Briggs).
- Give them lots of kisses in the morning when you go to greet them.
- Stay strong!!!
My baby had been the worst sleeper from 6-12 months. If Briggsy can learn to self-soothe, I know anyone can!
