Friday, February 26, 2010

The Sleep Training Saga

Remember when I was potty training Drew and I posted about all the little details? Remember how riveting it was?? No???

Oh.

Well, then you're sure to love the chronicling of "teach the baby to sleep in her bed without a swaddle".

Emily and I are at a crossroads. It is a crossroads of wills. My will for her to sleep, and her will to skip it all together. Things have been humming along nicely during the days, mostly because she has been swaddled and sleeping in her swing. I swore I was going to let her sleep in there until her feet dragged the ground. And then we started having the night time issue. The night time issue involves her wriggling completely out of her Miracle Blanket (aka baby straight jacket) and sometimes even pulling her arms out of her pajamas. She is moving too much to continue to keep her swaddled. And so, we begin the swaddle wean.

It's really fun. And let me just say, I know sleep training is controversial. Probably each of you eight has their own opinion about it. I'm ok with you having a different opinion than me. But at my house, we sleep train. That's just how we roll up in here. And I promise I will not use any more hip-hop jargon. Oh, who am I kidding. Sure I will.

I use a method called, "I just made it up with Drew" that is basically a mish mash of all the different theories mixed in with whatever I can handle on that particular day. We are starting with one nap, no swaddle, no swing.

When I first put her down, she went right to sleep and I walked away patting myself on the back. And then thirty minutes later (NOT a full nap) she woke up and we've been at it ever since. Poor girl. She looks at me like, "Mama, what's gotten into you?"

She'll thank me one day. Like when she's up all night with her baby who won't sleep and I say, "Try sleep training. I did it with you and look how fabulous you turned out!"

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