So we started last Monday with proper sleep training. As I went through the course I found a way we will approach our sleeping issue with Alex, but she was sick, so we decided to wait until she was completely recovered. She had Sixth disease (more about at the end of page here). We tried to follow the rules as good as we could even while she wasn't herself, but we didn't push it too much.
She got a little bit better during the night even before she was sick, but still was waking up a lot and of course while she wasn't feeling well it was very bad. One night she woke up even 10 times between 8pm and midnight and a few more times after.
On Monday we spoke about the steps we'll perform if she wakes up. And she did, twice: 11:30pm and 1:45am. My hubby went to her room and calmed her down the way he should. When he was back it bed, I spoke about it with him, to make sure he did it right. All was OK.
2nd night (Tuesday) Alex woke up once. 2:30am. She stretched her first sleep a lot, and then woke up in the morning before 8am. We were very happy.
Her day time routine didn't change much, just as it was recommended in the course we didn't let her nap after 3:30pm. Actually she got use to it in two days and has no problem to play until bedtime routine. She used to get very cranky around 5pm if she didn't nap, not anymore.
3rd night (Wednesday) she slept through. Woke up earlier, before 7am, but slept nearly 12 hours.
4th night she was up again, only once. 4:30am.
Friday night once as well 6:30am and she didn't want to go back to sleep.
Last night (Saturday) she slept until 7:15am, didn't wake up.
She still makes little noises during the night, but she doesn't cry for attention as she was. If she's just humming for herself, it's usually to make a white noise to go back to sleep. We go to her if she cries, but as you can see, it's most of the time once a night, or in the morning. She used to cry at least 4 times a night for attention, so this it great improvement.
We will still continue to do the steps if she gets back to waking up more often and in a few weeks, if she sleeps through, we're going to try to get her of her soother during the night. She's not using it during the day, so she should be fine to let go of it during the night too, I hope ;)
I feel like it was a very good week and I'm just disappointed, that I didn't try to find out more about sleep training earlier. It might have been a different half year for our whole family if we would start when Alex started solids.
But we are still happy the way it turned out!!!
Now a friend of mine needs help to teach her little one sleep longer as he's waking after midnight every hour. I'll get more details of her and set up a plan for them to improve their nights as well. I hope it's going to work for her family too.
People say it take 5-7 days for our brain to adjust to new routine, so when I'm done with them, I'll write about it as well. It won't be next week as I need to speak to her, get her weekly routine with her DS back and set up the plan. And of course another week for them to follow through and come back to me, but surely I'll have something else for you in between anyway.
BTW I'm starting my second maternity leave in 6 weeks (it's still a few weeks before the baby comes). So only 6 weeks at work left! Hurrah!!!
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