Sleep Training Night 2 & 3

I haven't had time... correction... I've been lazy to update my blog regarding the whole sleep training debacle, but here goes. Night 2 went pretty well. We broke the rules slightly in the beginning, because she's just so warm and cuddly so the closeness and affection is often for our own benefit too! So anyway she fell asleep lying on Yaasier's chest, but of course not long after he put her in the cot she woke up crying. Surprisingly I was very calm and relaxed about the whole thing. I don't know if the previous night just gave me confidence that it could be done? So anyway, I picked her up for hardly even a minute just to comfort her then put her back down drowsy but awake. She fussed a little, but I kept my hand on her and susshed a little and hey presto! lala land! I can't remember what time this was, but the next time she cried was about 1.30am. She may not have lasted as long as the previous night, but it didn't require much to get her to sleep again... just a light pat and a sush and in minutes she was sleeping again. She woke again at about 4am with the same results, till finally when she woke at about 7am, I fed her.

Night 3 was a real success in my eyes. I discovered that she finds comfort playing with the label on the corner of her comforter. So when I put her in her cot at bedtime, again drowsy but awake, I placed the label in her hand. She gave this adorable little droopy-eyed smile and slept! She did wake at about 10.30pm, but I think she was just getting a bit cold because I forgot to put the balnket on her once she was asleep. Once I covered her lightly she dozed off again all the way till about 4.30am. Once or twice she creid in her sleep, but then slept on. I'm taking it as a good sign that she is in fact learning to self-soothe during the night. She was a bit restless when she woke at 4.30am and when it was appraoching 5am I figured I may as well feed her, which is what I did. She fell asleep again at 5.30am and only woke again at 8am this morning. It may not seem all that wonderful to those who enjoy a full night's sleep, but for this sleep deprived momma it was bliss!

Tonight when I put her in her cot very much awake she was happily playing with the label again. I think I should get her one of those taglet blankets. After about 10 minutes she became restless. I sat with her susshing her until she fell asleep. Although it took about 40 minutes for her to fall asleep, miraculously there was very little crying. During that time I had been in and out of the room a few times and she only cried out a few times toward the end when the tiredness was becoming too much for her to handle. Now we shall see how the rest of the night pans out.

However, I am very much anticipating another bout of teething in the horizon, so let's hope the sleep training can be sorted before then!