Sleeping Through the Night!

Charlotte is 14 months old and is just now sleeping through the night! I take full responsibility for her bad sleeping habits, but am so proud of myself for finally correcting them! Here's what happened: From the very beginning, Charlotte loved to cuddle. Even as a baby, I could tell a difference between her and Nathan. Although Nathan was a very loving, and cuddly baby too, he was also somewhat independent as far as a baby goes. I remember when Nathan was 4 months old, he was still waking up at night at least once to nurse. As soon as the thought came into my mind, "I wonder when Nathan will sleep through the night?" It just happened. I never had to train him to do it, and he was always such a wonderful sleeper! In fact, I remember my friends hating me for worrying that he slept too much! They always said, "Just be thankful!" Nathan took scheduled naps...at first it was 3 naps (1.5 hours each), then it was 2 naps each for about 2 hours, and those lasted a LONG time. And then he went to 1 nap a day, and that nap was at least 2 hours, sometimes 3. He's almost 4 and is still doing this!

Charlotte, on the other hand, never had scheduled naps, only cat naps whenever she could get them because we were always on the go with Nathan. And if she fell asleep in the car, a long nap at home was out of the question unless she slept with me. Over time, I started to realize that the only time she really slept well was when she was snuggling with someone. Whenever I would try to put her in her crib for naps, she would always wake up after 30 minutes. If I went in and rocked her, she would fall right back to sleep, but if I laid her down and she realized I wasn't in there, she's back up crying. There were also lots of times that I could get her to fall asleep and stay asleep if I laid her down on the couch, bean bag chair, or even a blanket but stayed in the room with her. I'd see her head pop up after 15 minutes, check to see that I'm there, then lay her head back down again. She would do this constantly for 2 hours...Is Mommy there? Ok, sleep. Is Mommy there? Ok, sleep.  At night, I would nurse her to sleep, gently lay her in her crib, pat her, and then quietly and gently creep out of the room...if I bumped something or my knee popped, she's up looking for me, and I'd have to start the whole process over again. Sometimes I'd lay a stuffed animal on her to try to trick her that I still had my hand on her. I even seriously thought about making a life-sized poster of myself and putting it next to her crib!

If I was able to successfully, sneak out of her room without her knowing, she would usually sleep a few hours, but it never failed that she would end up waking up and crying. Because I was so desperate for sleep, I would go in and feed her to get her to sleep another few hours or just put her in bed with me. I eventually realized that if I let her sleep with me, we would both sleep all night. But I also knew I was encouraging some bad habits! The other thing I worried about was Charlotte waking Nathan up. This has happened a few times and it's miserable because once Nathan wakes up, he wants milk or to rock. And then I'm alternating trying to get each one back to sleep, and it ends up being a 3 hour ordeal.

So two weeks ago, I decided enough was enough! Actually, my friend Jennifer Relle, encouraged me to make a change. Wayne was out of town for the week. Jennifer and her family were over for dinner, and she said I should try the "cry it out" process. I was always so hesitant about it, because first of all, Wayne hates to hear her cry, it makes him feel bad for her, but yet, I'm the one getting up constantly with her. Secondly, I tried it before, and she cried for 45 minutes with no signs of stopping, and I just felt awful. But Jenn told me the first night would be the worst, and that I should just do it since Wayne would be gone for 4 days...and I could have Nathan sleep with me so that Charlotte doesn't wake him up. Ok! I'm going to do it!

Night 1: I fed her, changed her, rocked her for 5 minutes and laid her down awake, but drowsy, with her baby dolls. Then Nathan and I went into my room to watch TV and pray this would work. I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to do it right, and NOT go in, but I was convinced she would cry and cry for hours and not go to sleep. Some people say it's ok to go in every 15 minutes to reassure the baby you're there, but I knew that would upset Charlotte even more. After an hour and 10 minutes, Nathan and I realized it was quiet. WHAT?! Did it work? We waited another 30 minutes, and it was still quiet! She finally went to sleep! Nathan and I went to bed soon after. Around 3:00 am, Charlotte woke up crying. But I didn't go in. She cried 15 minutes and went back to sleep. She ended up sleeping until 7:30 the next morning!

Night 2: I did the same thing: fed, changed her diaper, rocked her for 5 minutes and sung to her, and then laid her down with her dolls and turned her music and sound machine on. Charlotte only cried 15 minutes this time! She woke up in the middle of the night and cried 5 minutes, went back to sleep and slept until 8:00 the next morning!

Night 3: Same routine, only this time she cried 5 minutes, and slept all night without even waking up in the middle of the night. She slept until 8:30 the next morning. I was completely in shock!

Night 4: Only a little whine until I left the room. On this night, I snuck in just to see how she was sleeping. My sweet Charlotte was on her tummy with both baby dolls tucked under her arm. She looked so sweet!

I absolutely cannot believe it! We're on our 2nd week now, and everything is the same. I just cannot believe that I can lay her down still awake and she falls asleep on her own. I swear I didn't think it was possible. She even takes her naps the same way for 2 hours! Now she is sleeping from 8:30 or 9:00 pm until 8:00 or 8:30 the next morning! I AM FREE! I actually feel more tired in the morning because I am getting so much sleep!

My new problem is re-training Nathan to sleep in his room because he spent the last week and a half sleeping with us. But at least I feel like I can reason with him. So, for all of you who had the same problem as me. You can do it! If Charlotte (my little cuddle bug) can learn to sleep on her own, any baby can!

Thank you Jennifer for talking me into it!!!!