Jack has been a very difficult sleeper. I honestly feel like it is karma. Before kids I judged people who didn't have their kids perfectly sleep trained. Now I feel like sleep training is all I do. After a crazy busy start to the year Jack had become more un-sleep trained than ever (if that is even possible). I was rocking him for hours and he was up multiple times a night crying and not going back to sleep. Tim and I were both exhausted and ready to throw in the towel. Because baby was coming we decided to make the switch to a big boy bed and see what happened.
Jack enjoyed putting the bed together buuuuut that is about it!
The first night I tried to just sit outside his room and with out talking to him would put him back in his bed. It was a disaster and turned into a game for him.
The next night we decided to change things up. The routine is basically the same. We read stories downstairs and then head upstairs, cuddle for a minute in the rocking chair, sing the night night song which is I am a Child of God and then lay him down. He gets one chance and then the door is closed.
I am not opposed to crying it out but Jack has stamina. When he was about 9 months old he cried for 3 hours straight. I was having flash backs and had no clue what was going to happen. I was stressed so Tim let me leave after I lay Jack down. I went for a caramel apple at the mall and got a report that it only took 20 minutes for him to stop.
On the third night I was able to stay home. My sisters and mom were asking how it was going. I sent this pic of his hand under the door. Not good but only took about 10 minutes for the crying to stop.
Each night gets better and now we can leave the room with out tears. I am hesitant to claim success because honestly something will happen and we will have to start all over. As for the night wakings, I lay in his room while he cried it out for 20 minutes. That only happened twice and he is back to sleeping through the night. We use the GroClock, it just shows a sun when the child is allowed to wake up. Jack has one serious internal alarm clock. We have now conceded to anything after 5:30 he can come snuggle in our bed and gets to check for the sun at 6:00. When the 'sum' is up it is very exciting as this is the time he can finally watch tv.
He has never woken up happy from naps. On this particular day he came down crying, lay down on the floor and fell back asleep. Maybe one day I won't be consumed by Jack's sleep habits but that day seems very far away!
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