Adventures in Sleep Training, Chapter Two

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I am often vowing to nap train my son and then chickening out. It's not that he doesn't nap. He does - he just naps for very short periods. As such, he needs to nap often because he gets tired quickly. I've always had a suspicion that the reason for this is that I rock him to sleep at nap time. So when his short sleep cycle is over, he doesn't know how to fall back asleep on his own.

So I've known for a long time is that what he needs is some good old-fashioned cry-it-out sleep training at nap time. Having survived sleep training for his nights, I knew how hard it would be, so I procrastinated. Having to listen to your baby cry while you're home alone, more than once a day, is simply brutal.

But here we are today. He's almost 11 months old, I'm going back to work in a month and we're still no better off than we were.

So yesterday I started the nap training. I'm determined to see it through this time. But let me tell you, it is rough. He may be tired, but he is perfectly capable of standing in his crib and crying for an hour straight if I let him. And he does. Sometimes he'll fall asleep after 45 - 55 minutes of crying or sometimes he won't fall asleep at all.

I've never felt this much tension in my shoulders. I've had a headache since yesterday morning. My nerves are worn completely thin. But I am determined. I will get through this. I have to remind myself that it is worthwhile and that the suffering will pay off the way it has for our nights. Right? Right? I need all the encouragement I can get here.

Even if he doesn't extend his nap length, which is possible, I at least want him to be able to fall asleep on his own. Because I won't be around to rock him to sleep every day very soon...

In the meantime, misery loves company so I'm blogging about it. If you haven't had children yet or your babies are still very young, take my word and don't make the same mistake I did. Let your baby learn to fall asleep on their own and you will be a much happier parent for it!

Have you tried nap training? Any advice for me? Wish me luck...

Adventures in sleep training

Source: kuntawiaji.tumblr.com via Shofy on Pinterest

It's been a big week for baby boy! For the first time ever, he finally slept through the night this week. Hurray! He only did it once but that was a good enough for me, for now. It seems in line with his usual pattern. Any time he does something new, it happens once but then isn't repeated until a few days or even weeks later. But then it's constant.

For example, he's been very tentatively working on pulling himself up against furniture. It happened once successfully about two weeks ago and then nothing until this week. The other day I walked into his room to pick him up from a nap and almost had a heart attack when I found him proudly standing up in his crib! Now it's his favorite thing to do.

I know full nights of sleep will soon become the norm. Sleep training has been going really well. He no longer cries when I put him down to sleep and there are few instances where we have to let him cry it out during the night. He sleeps 3 - 4 hour stretches and only wakes to eat once during the night. So I'm a pretty happy Mom these days. My nights are no longer a nightmare.

Daytime sleep, however, is still a challenge. It is my albatross, my Moby Dick, so to speak. Those naps are still short and sweet and they seem to be getting shorter. It is completely frustrating! Thirty minutes is an unacceptable nap time for an 8 month old baby, at least in my opinion.

I know what needs to be done. Sleep training has done wonders for the night. It's time for nap training. In other words, letting him cry it out during the day too. But it seems so much harder than at night when my husband is there to support me and encourage me not to run to him when he cries.

I approach nap training like some people approach a diet. I keep saying "I'll start tomorrow. Or Monday." I keep putting it off because there always seems to be a good reason not to start yet. But I promised myself that once nights were under control, I would tackle days. That time has come.

Plus I am officially returning to work in 3 months, which is really soon (gulp). I need to get him on a normal schedule because I won't be around to coddle him to sleep during the day anymore.

I can do this, right?! If I tamed the wild beast at night, surely I can manage days too. It's time to change! Again.