Sleep Training - Surviving IT!?

Babies are just plain weird . Yesterday evening we had the creche concert up to 19:30 and then went out for dinner. Got home late and no time for bathing the kids. So, I had an overtired baby and we didn't follow a sleep routine at all. And guess what? She only woke up once at night ! I mean, how is it possible that we did everything "wrong" and she slept better?

(Just for the record, I am NOT complaining )

Thanks Karin! She is 13.5 months.

Flowergirl - awww thats so sweet! She obviously just wanted some loving and enjoyed the mommy time with you!
How old is she now?

I hope she will continue the good sleeping habit for you guys!

Karin - so glad that you seem to be getting it right. We also actually managed to sleep better this weekend! Last night was our "winner". Emily went to bed at 7:30PM and she cried once during the night, no idea what time it was because dh got up, he just put her dummy back in her mouth and she went straight back to sleep. She woke up at 5:30AM again - YEAH!! I sat with her for a while on her rocking chair then and she was laying quietly for 45 minutes but her eyes were open all the time. So eventually I said: "does Emily want to put her dummy and hassie poppie (sleep props) in her cot?". Jeez, that child jumped up so quick and took her dummy out her mouth, so I knew she was done sleeping. Then we went downstairs to play, I actually didn't mind the early start to the day AT ALL because I was completely rested out!!

Let's hope it carries on...

Morning ladies!

Just a quick update on our weekend's sleep:

Friday night - Kiana went to bed at about 8pm and slept well until about 2am. From there she slept a bit restless, moaning a few times etc. but I just left her cause she didn't cry once! And she kept on soothing herself and falling asleep on her own again, yeah!!

Saturday night - And we have a winner!!!
She went to bed around 8pm... and slept right through till 6:30am!! Mommy was the one awake a few times, going checking on her and rolling around a bit....LOL.... but she slept like an angel and didn't wake once! So very proud of her.

Sunday (last) night - Went to bed at about 7:45pm and she slept sound till about 2:30am. From there on she woke up a few times and moaned a bit, putting herself to sleep or I just had to roll her to her side again, put the blanket over her and walk away. She fell asleep almost instantly these times, yes, not perfect like the night before, but hey, major improvement!
I also have an idea that the cause might be that she was hungry as she ate very poorly yesterday (no idea why, she loves her food).
So she was awake at 6:00am and didnt want to go back to sleep, I put her in bed with me and we cuddled for a whole hour, so nice!
Gave her cereal at 7:15am (again she ate badly, bit worried) and she could hardly keep her eyes open afterwards,
Put her back in bed at 7:45am and she's now napping again. Will see how long she's going to go for.

So.... we are most definitely getting there!! I'm so very happy about that, I know that the hard work and sleepless nights are paying off now. I know that all our nights will not be perfect but thats okay. We are getting more sleep and thats what counts and I know she will keep getting better at night too.

Have a great day ladies!!

1st Timer - That woman sounds like a star I'm unfortunatley in George.

Niki - Thanx, I think dropping the dream feed is a good plan, I need to see what difference it might do. Also... I think I need to maybe buy this white noise cd everyone is talking about... might just also make a difference.

flowergirl - Wow... while Im reading your post I get flash backs of my son!
I feel for you... all those sleepless nights for so long now already... its torture.
Don't you have a cot that can lower? Or is it on its lowest setting? She shouldn't be able to climb out yet if its on its lowest setting... I'm not sure, my cots were too high.

The thing about sleep training is that the older your child is, the more difficult is will be... They get so set in their ways and routine that it is a nightmare getting them out of it until THEY finally change it themselves one day. Like my son eventually did just after turning 2 - and by then you feel like half human you should...
Two years is LONG when you don't sleep, seriously.

I always knew Im not alone in the night wakings, but now I also know a few names that is suffering as well. I will be saying a prayer for each and everyone and hope that your little miracles will be giving each of you some more sleep soon.

Seems so many of us are in the same boat!!

My story is that my child slept through from about 10 weeks! I sleep trained her very gently (no CIO) at about 4.5 months and she would fall asleep on her own at about 7PM and we would not hear a sound from her until about 6:30/7:00AM the next morning - Absolute bliss.

Then, I went back to work, she started crawling and learnt to stand up in her cot and by 8 months old, she was being rocked to sleep and waking up numerous times at night and not able to self soothe!

She is now almost 13.5 months and we are not getting much sleep! She goes to bed at about 7:30/8:00 (someone needs to rock her and then put her down once she is in a DEEP SLEEP (this can sometimes take more than an hour) and then she wakes up practically every hour from about 12:30!!! And getting up means you stay up for at least 30 minutes trying to get her back to sleep and then just about when I dose back off, she wakes up again and then we start all over! This is on a very bad night!

This week has been somewhat better, but we are still up for at least 2 hours between 12:30 and 6:00AM

I have tried sleep training her again, but I cannot do nothing while she screams like that. Also, she now tries to get out of her cot! She lifts her 1 leg over and she only needs to lean forward with her upper body and she will be right out of the cot! So I can't leave her to CIO.

Sleep deprivation is really bad and dh and I have had a few fall-outs at 2AM already....................