Sleep Training: It WORKED!

The time has come! Yes, I said it: THE TIME HAS COME! My son has officially been sleep trained! AHHHHHH!!!! Praise GOD!!! I shout with so much excitement because the absolute hardest part about being a new parent is the lack of sleep. Do y'all remember the blog I wrote called, What Sleep!? Whew, that feels like it was yesterday! I still remember the feeling of when we were in those first weeks after delivery and we spent so many nights waking up every 2-3 hours to make sure our son was changed, fed, and tended to. Man oh man, we loved our new role of being a parent, but losing sleep is just something that I don't think any parent can truly prepare for. So, it was time for a change.

Questions that I imagine you might have are...

• What sparked our decision to start sleep training?

• What methods did we try?

• Was it hard? Easy?

• What resources did you find to help you sleep train?

I'd love to answer these questions and hopefully help any parents who are trying to sleep train themselves.

• What sparked our decision to start sleep training?

When our son was born he did not care for lying on his back or being swaddled - AT ALL! Babies lying on their back is the safest position for them to sleep in and swaddles are meant to support a baby's sleep so they don't wake themselves up with constant movement. But since these didn't work for our baby we tried other routes. We tried tons of different swaddles like the Love to Dream, Swaddle Me, and now our personal favorite - Dreamland Baby Weighted Sleep Swaddle & Sack.

Next, we went from a Halo Bassinet to trying out a SNOO. We did this because in the Halo Basinet our son would constantly still fight his swaddles and kick his feet all night in them constantly waking himself up. The Halo Bassinet had a built in swaddle and hands free soothing technology (that you can operate from your phone) so we gave it a shot. He slept better in the SNOO but he still wasn't getting adequate sleep overnight.

So, even after all of those efforts and still no full nights sleep we finally said, "enough is enough!"

• What methods did we try?

Once we realized the SNOO wasn't giving our son a full night's rest and that the first few swaddles I listed above weren't helping him sleep any easier rest, we went back to our Halo Bassinet for the CRY IT OUT METHOD! Yes mamas, you read that correctly. We taught our baby boy how to fall asleep on his own by letting him cry it out.

We didn't start this without a couple of other changes, however. For example, I created a daily schedule for Chaseton to practice. That included waking up consistently everyday at 7am (or earlier if needed) to get the day started. Next, I tracked his meals to make sure he ate sufficiently through the day and wouldn't be hungry overnight. Finally, we created a bed time routine that begins at 7:00pm with a final feeding, play time, bath, lotion & body massage, bedtime story, prayer, then bed.

• Was it hard? Easy?

Staying consistent with a bedtime routine was pretty easy for us. Fortunately, hubby and I have the flexibility to start Chase's nighttime routine at 7:00 pm daily so its been successful implementing it every night. But, the cry it out method, I HATED it in the beginning. I hated the idea of it.. I was about to cry it out myself. Dwayne was the one who said we should try it for WEEKS before we actually did, but I refused pretty much until Chase was 14-weeks-old. I think at that point I had to get over my uncomfortableness with letting my son cry it out.

So, beginning at week 14, we started Chase's bedtime routine, gave him his goodnight kisses, and let the boy cry it out. I was soooo dramatic listening to my son cry. He was SCREAMING and CRYING literally for 20 minutes straight. But, then came success.

That boy WENT TO SLEEP-SLEEP! lol I had to say it twice so y'all could understand that he was KNOCKED OUT! Immediately I went from feeling dreadful and sad hearing my son cry, to celebrating with my husband that our son slept from 8:00 pm to about 6:30/7:00 am the next morning. HALLELUJAH!

Now, when we put our son down at night it's like he knows it's bedtime. He falls straight to sleep for the most part (with only some whining every now and again.) I guess I can say its the easiest thing ever now. lol

• What resources did you find to help you sleep train?

Honestly we didn't use anything fancy. We used our gut instinct after tons of trial and error to trust that this was the right time to try the cry it out method. We asked our sons' doctor about it and they said that that method worked for all of their children. We asked friends and family about it who vouched for our method. We also researched on Google different articles about sleep training but more specifically the cry it out method. Here's an article from What to Expect that helped me personally to be okay with the Cry it Out Method.

In conclusion, we finally have reached sleep training success! It feels so good to finally get a full nights rest. Oh, and thank God for Dwayne holding it down while we practiced the cry it out method. He's a real one.