So we've been doing this sleep training thing for five nights now and I have to say it's made a BIG difference.
Dylan now sleeps almost all night long. He usually goes to bed between 7 and 7:30 and he sleeps until around 3:30 when I feed him. Although this last feeding is going to go away this weekend. Then he goes back to sleep until 6 or 6:30. We'd like him to sleep a little later but I doubt that is going to happen and I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
We used the Sleep Lady Shuffle, which is kinda like cry it out except you don't have to leave the room and you can comfort them with touch and voice. And even pick them up briefly if they get hysterical.
The first night was really rough but he really only cried for 45 minutes and then fell asleep. However, he was up every 30 to 45 minutes crying until 12:30. Then he slept until 3:30 and then was up at 6.
The next night he fell asleep without any tears. The third night he cried for ten minutes and then fell asleep ten minutes later. The fourth night was the same. Last night he cried for only a minute and then fell asleep five minutes later. But he was awake again less than an hour later and I had to go in and resume my shuffle position, chair in the middle of the room, for about fifteen minutes. Then he slept until 11 when Michael went in to comfort him and then till 3:30 when I fed him. He finally woke for the day at 6.
His naps though are not good anymore. He should be getting two hour and a half to two hour naps a day. I put him down for his morning nap the same way every day and he always goes to sleep pretty quickly without too many tears. But he's only been sleeping for 30 or 45 minutes. Not a good nap. And then the afternoon nap is either non-existant or super short, like in the car on the way home from an errand.
So we need to work on naps too. But I will say that he is happier during the day and definitely has an appetite for breakfast now that he's not feasting all night long.
And I had a stretch of sleep the other night that was five hours long. I haven't had that in over a year. I'm FINALLY starting to feel more rested. Although all the exercise I get pushing his stroller up and down steep hills for two hours a day is definitely still tiring me out. But it feels good and the weather has been so incredible that I can't just stay inside.
So sleep is returning to the Marano household and BOY ARE WE GLAD ABOUT IT.
