sleep.

Our little Norah Grace didn't truly sleep through the night until 8 months. She actually was waking up 7 or 8 times/night at 7 months. Yikes. It was awful and now that it's over, I don't even remember it :)I still remember it as awful & exhausting. Everyone told us that the first was so hard, the second would be so easy. I was skeptical.

Fast forward to our beautiful little Evelynn, I was right to be skeptical.  She started off waking up like any normal newborn, then started improving and waking up only a couple of times/night only to feed and would go right back to sleep (with the help of GG's trusty heating pad advice). A couple of months later,  add in some reflux, too many colds, a serious cold that has turned into RSV, some teeth that are moving under the gums, a mommy who doesn't know if she is truly hungry, just tired, or feels sick (and is afraid of waking up Norah with any fussing) = Evelynn waking up 3-5 times per night.

So, knowing that the reason Norah started sleeping at 8 months was because of some serious "sleep training", Ryan and I were eager to get started sleep training with Ev.  However, every time we have been ready to consider it, a new stuffy nose, a new cough, a new medicine, a new trip to Denver, etc. has occurred.  So after much lost sleep, literally, and one more trip to our Pediatrician to check on the RSV, we decided to jump into sleep training (with our pediatrician's blessing and encouragement).

Our ped. recommended 3 books (2 of which I've read). We decided to go with the methods in the book The SleepEasy Solution. (A friend of ours who has similar parenting philosophies lent it to me after it worked great for her little girl).

So this past Friday night, Norah got to have a sleep over with Grammy and Papa. And Ryan and I headed home with little Evy, and a 6 pack;)  I didn't need the stress of worrying about waking up Norah and worrying about Norah watching us let little Evy cry a bit.

The method in a nutshell is to... (after much prep work to make sure baby is healthy, crib is safe, and bedtime routines and rituals are in place)
1. set the baby down in the crib drowsy but awake.  ie. NO letting her fall asleep while nursing.  With her "lovey" our lovey of choice are her wubbanubs:

2. Then if when she cries, check on her after 5 minutes of crying.  Check on = just letting her know in a calm loving voice that you are there, it's time to sleep and you love her.....no "re-binking" as Ryan calls it, no touching, no picking up, etc. This is so hard! Such an instinct to cuddle, rub and love on them!
3. Then the check on interval goes to 10min,
4. And if still crying after another 15 min check in again,
5. Then the interval remains at 15 min until they fall asleep. (REPEAT THIS AT ALL WAKE UPS)
6. Then if you've still been feeding the baby at night, you are to "dream feed" the baby a bit before they normally wake up. This has to be when the baby is asleep. So it's not like I could just go to bed and then wake up when she cries and feed her, because that would be reinforcing the crying.
7. If you've been feeding throughout the night as well, it also gives you a way to slowly wean those other feeds by shortening the duration of which you feed. And I'd been doing this already for the few days leading up to Friday.
8. You keep lots of "sleep logs" during the whole process of when you check, how long it took to fall asleep, how much quality sleep baby is getting, etc.

So....Here are a two of our sleep logs.
FRIDAY NIGHT SLEEP LOG: night one
7:00 Put down in crib, drowsy but awake (put 3 wubbanubs in her crib with her, but not in her mouth for her)

7:05 Check in
7:09 looked in our handy little video monitor, and she was asleep!!
TOTAL CRY TIME: 8 MINUTES

8:55 Ev Wakes up, Check In
9:00 Check in
9:04 Asleep
TOTAL CRY TIME: 8 MINUTES

10:00 Bri Dream Feed

1:45 Ev Wakes Up, Check In
1:50 Check In
2:00 Check In
2:14 Asleep.
TOTAL CRY TIME: 22 MINUTES

3:30 Ev Wakes Up, Check In
3:35 Check In
3:45 Check In
3:47 asleep
TOTAL CRY TIME: 17 MINUTES

6:00 Wake up, turn lights on rise and shine!
TOTAL CRY TIME: 55 MINUTES
TOTAL SLEEP TIME FOR EV: 9 hours 55 minutes. (broken into 5 chunks:( )
TOTAL SLEEP TIME FOR BRI: 6 hours broken into 4 chunks. (a bit more than average ;)


MONDAY NIGHT SLEEP LOG:night 4
7:00 Put down in Crib, drowsy but awake. cried a bit on and off.
7:03 Asleep.

10:00 Bri Dream Feed

6:40 Wake up Rise and Shine!

HALLELUJAH!!!!
TOTAL CRY TIME: 30 seconds.
TOTAL SLEEP TIME FOR EV: nearly 12 consecutive hours!!!
TOTAL SLEEP TIME FOR BRI: 8 CONSECUTIVE HOURS! WOO HOO!

We are hopeful that she will continue this pattern of good sleep!  Ev has also made great strides in napping!  I know this method isn't for everyone....but I knew that in order to be the mother to these girls that they deserve, I need some more patience and energy and thus needed more sleep! 


Thank You God for these baby girls, thank you that you have a perfect plan for us. And even if the great sleep doesn't continue, you will show us the way through it all. I can't believe you love them more than I do...that is incredible. We love you. Amen.