I LOVE holding/rocking my baby girl and would gladly do it until she is too big for me to hold BUT we figured we should probably do what's best for her development, not to mention help out any babysitter we ever have trying to put her to sleep. We started by reading several articles and talking with our doctor about her suggestions. Ultimately, we took a few things from the articles and the doctor and put together some 'rules' for ourselves we think will work best for Elizabeth. We want to have our doctor's input of course since she's our go-to for advice and would be most helpful for us. At the end of the day, though, we know every baby is different and are learning as we go what is best for our little girl.
We found out that the little catnap Ellie seems to need around 7:30/8 is essentially a power nap preventing her from falling asleep for the night. So, we've pushed her bedtime up. About 7:30, we begin her bedtime routine with a bath, feed and book. We've been putting her down about 8 each night now. Steve has put her down each night so far because I'm honestly terrified she'll start crying and I won't be able to take it. Thankfully, she's been pretty tired both nights so far!
The first night--- she fell asleep after a little wrestling about 8. Around 2am, she was squirming; I gave it back to her and she fell asleep. The hard part occurred around 4:30am when this happened again and she spit it out. We'd decided to not continue giving it back if she spit it out (mainly to avoid walking into her room 10 times in the night) so she began to cry. This is when we began the 5-10-15. I'll explain for anyone wanting to try this or who don't have a clue what I'm talking about. For 5 minutes, we let her 'cry it out'. After a grueling 5 minutes, I walked to her pack n'play and gave her her pacifier and calmed her down but still keeping her awake, told her I loved her and good night, then walked away. Of course, she began to cry again. Next, we had to wait 10 horrible minutes to let her cry it out. After 10 minutes, Steve calmed her down and did the same process. She began to cry yet again. For the next torturous 15 minutes, we had to let her cry it out. We both had to leave the room because it was so difficult. After it'd been about 12 minutes, we could hear Ellie sucking her thumb and slowly drifting off. Success! She fell asleep until I woke her around 6:15am to begin her first feeding.
After speaking to the doctor, she told us to not worry so much about a particular schedule but to focus on the falling asleep on her own and to let her sleep in (if our schedule permits). She also said I need not worry so much about her eating every 4 hours if she happens to nap through it. Ultimately, her sleeping at night and naps will work themselves into a schedule, making it much easier on us all.
Second night---We began her nighttime routine around 7:30 again and when Steve put her down at 8, awake but sleepy, she slept through the night! She woke herself up about 7:30 this morning happy as could be...
I have no doubt we'll be faced with several nights where things don't go as smoothly and we'll be forced to suffer through the 5-10-15 but last night made us hopeful!
Napping--- Ellie naps very well typically. She will usually stay awake in the morning for 11/2-2 hours, then take almost a 2 hour nap. She will either fall asleep when I take her on a jog or while watching cartoons and I'm sitting next to her getting work done. She'll take another midday and afternoon nap but doesn't seem to go down as easily for these. I'm usually rocking her or we go somewhere and she falls asleep in the car. I'm going to be forced to do the 5-10-15 I'm afraid for these now to further the development. The worst part will be doing this on my own without Steve's support.
I know once we get this under control and have a schedule set we'll be a much happier family, especially Bailey who normally very protective, gets as far away from Ellie as possible when she begins to cry :(
Fingers crossed for a short self-soothing process!
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