Sleep training

Sleep training is a very controversial topic when it comes to parents. It's something I wanted to do, but I needed the extra push to achieve it. The first time we started Vincent was about Six months. We did it a few nights and he wasn't ready. Last month when Vincent was Eight months, I went to see the pediatrician. During the appointment she asked about his sleep schedule. I was telling her that we start bedtime routine around 7:30pm and hope to have him in bed by 8pm. Most nights he wouldn't go to bed before 11pm. I have to be honest, the doctor smiled and laugh. She then started telling me that Vincent was playing us. He didn't want to go to bed because he knew he could get away with what he wanted. She looked him over and looked at his milestones. His Dr. said he is very smart. She advised us to put him to bed at 7:30pm and make him fall asleep on his own. Babies learn to self soothe as young as Five months therefore Vincent was more than ready. She told me I can look up different methods. I asked her which method she would recommend. She said she liked the cry it out method.

There are two different types of cry it out method. One is putting him in his bed and let him cry until he falls asleep. The second option is go see him every five to ten minutes until he sleeps. Also, make the times between little visits longer every time.

I had decided to do the first option because Vincent gets madder when he sees me go in his room then leave. She said that she had chosen the method for her kids. For both her kids it took almost three hours for them to fall asleep the first night. When I left the appointment, I didn't know if I should be excited to start sleep training or be scared. The other thing was letting Pat know about the sleep training. After talking it over with Pat, we decided to give sleep training a few nights to see if it works for us.

We decided to try to aim for 8pm bedtime instead of 7:30pm. It would fit our schedule much better. Sleep training was a big success for us. It was the hardest thing we had to do with Vincent. This is saying a lot since we have had to do a lot of stuff. Sleep training has changed our life. Vincent now goes to bed between 7:30pm and 8pm at night. He sleeps much better. Some nights he wakes up a few hours later for a bottle, but then he falls right back to sleep. Most nights he will sleep until 7am. Here is a list of how long it took him to fall asleep the first few nights.

• ·         Night 1: 1h 15mins
• ·         Night 2: 32 mins
• ·         Night 3: 29 mins
• ·         Night 4: 8 mins

Vincent then left for the cottage since Maman was sick for three nights.  Once Vincent came back I thought we would have to restart, but I was wrong.  Now he usually cries less than five minutes at night and most nights he no longer cries.  Vincent seems to be enjoying falling asleep on his own since he trained himself to do the same for his naps.  I am happy with how great he is doing.