Sleep Training

This has been a difficult task, but I'm finally reaping the fruit of it. Now that he's trained, I don't have to nurse him to sleep, resulting immobilized since he's sleeping in the lap, and actually have a little free time at night. He sleeps in longer stretches too (4 hours) so we all get more rest.

After the 4 month checkup, the doctor said it's time for him to learn how to sleep on his own. I did it half way by transferring him to his bassinet after he's sound asleep from nursing. Well, it only made me more exhausted since now I had to wait long enough for him to be in a deep sleep state before transferring. And half the time he woke up right away so I had to feed again as that's the only way to sooth him. There were nights I was getting up 5-6 times with <1.5 hour sleep per lag, and the next day he would be cranky too from not enough sleep.

After the 6 month checkup, a second try at sleep training. We learned it is beneficial for him to develop the association of his own bed and sleep and that he is mature enough to sooth himself instead of relying on nursing all the time at this stage. It was very hard to bear his 45 minutes long crying the first time. But once it actually stopped and he was asleep, it felt like a miracle. Then the next feeding came 4 hours later, and this time I made sure he was awake when put into his bassinet. He made a small cry and was out again. The next day was easier, he didn't cry much at bed time or night feedings. After a couple days of training, he got it. Next was to train his napping. We don't force him to nap at regular times, but tried to make him fall asleep in his bed when he is tired. It was met with more resistance than night training sometimes. Maybe he's not tired enough at times.

I learned the key to sleep training is not to pick him up once he's put into his bed, as long as you are sure he's well fed and needs sleep now. Otherwise he'll only cry longer the next time supposedly. To my surprise, babies seem to learn much quicker than expected. The cry time reduces dramatically after he falls asleep on his own the first time. The other key is reinforcement. Keep up the routine and he will go to bed without a struggle habitually.

The next step in training is to eliminate the night feedings. Will wait on that until we are sure he can eat enough during the day.