We decided that it was time to start a sleep training schedule with Cameron. Cam wasn't one of those awesome babies that start to sleep through the night unexpectedly. And I had noticed lately that he really wasn't eating during the night but more so snuggling up into my chest and falling back to sleep. I went back and forth on if Cameron was too young (he's 3 months). But I came to the conclusion that he was ready for this when I noticed he wasn't even awake when he was fussing and crying in the night. I would wake him up by turning on the light and picking him up. Plus, I really wanted to stop bad habits as soon as possible, thinking that it would be less detrimental to Cameron the earlier on we dealt with this.
After a lot of research online and in books, I found Moms On Call. These women are Pediatric ICU nurses and moms who have developed an online class to help parents create a schedule for their child and get some much needed sleep. I took the 3 - 12 month online baby seminar last week and we started to practice their ideas on Friday night. The whole thing about the Moms On Call schedule is that it is 3 nights of work with your infant to get them to sleep through the night.
At the same time we are transitioning Cameron from his cozy bassinet which he is getting to big for - to the pack and play (as we don't have a crib yet - should probably work on that) This is also moving him from right next to our bed to the other side of the room - yes I did cry. I can't imagine right now a whole room away from us, the sadness, the loneliness.
Night One (Friday) - Cam woke up three times (12/2/4). I think I woke up every hour to just watch him for a bit. I eventually got him out of his bed around 6:30 am and fed him. The day routine was harder to stick to the MOC schedule but I think you can work on that after you really establish the night routine.
Night Two (Saturday) - Cam woke up once I think at 4 am. We got a little thrown off of when to wake him up because it was Daylight Savings - so I got him for his feeding at what was 7 am on my cell phone (spring forward time) but was really 6 am from when he went to sleep the night before. I woke up once or twice this night.
Night Three (Sunday) - I am pretty sure Cameron slept through the night!!! At least I did not wake up and hear him. My husband had to get up to go to work at 5 am and said Cam was awake but I didn't get him out of bed till 6:50 am and fed him. SUCCESS!!!! I slept from 10 pm to 5 am - that was the longest stretch of uninterrupted sleep since before Cameron was born. Hallelujah!!!!
Now, will be the true test to see if this works. And I have to try to start to follow the daytime schedule which is going to be a little bit harder. But I am really happy with the results thus far. The only issue I have to figure out now is the engorgement from not feeding Cameron in the middle of the night. I am waking up to quite a mess in the am.
Sweet sleeping baby
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