FOURTH Times a Charm!

In my last post I promised that the next time sleep training Jayde would be a success. I am proud to say that I have kept my promise! Was it hard? ABSOLUTELY. There were many times when I sat on the couch in tears debating whether or not I should go pick her up, but I stood strong. Hearing your child cry is the worst thing ever and makes you feel like a bad parent. But, I have learned that if you always break down and give your child everything they want that they will never learn anything.  Within the last 5 nights I have been able to accomplish all the goals that I had for Jayde's night time sleeping. She is now able to: sleep in her crib, fall asleep by herself, sleep through the night, and put herself back to sleep when waking up in the middle of the night.

This is how everything went down:

Night One (5/29/11):
I put Jayde in her crib at about 9:40pm. This is a lot later than her normal bed time. I read that the first couple nights you should put your child to sleep about 30-60 minutes later than usual to ensure that they are tired, I guess it is suppose to help them fall asleep faster. The first night is suppose to be the worse and I was expecting to listen to her cry for hours. She surprised me by falling asleep in a little less than an hour at about 10:25pm. She didn't sleep for that long before waking up again. She woke up at 12:55am and wanted to eat. Keith fed her a 4 Oz. bottle of breast milk and then put her back into her crib. She fell asleep without crying, which was very surprising to me. She then woke up again at about 4:45am and wanted to feed again. Keith gave her another 4 Oz. bottle and then she fell asleep again with no problem. She woke up in the morning at 8:10am

Night Two (5/30/11):
This night was by far the worst night. I think it was the worst because Jayde knew that we were going to be putting her into her crib and that we weren't going to be picking her up again. I put her to sleep around 8:30pm and she screamed for about 2 hours. Finally, we decided to try and feed her again to see if that would help put her to sleep. Keith went into her room and fed her a 4 Oz. bottle of breast milk and she went to sleep right after with no problem at about 11:00pm. She then woke up again at about 3:00am for a feeding and went back to sleep. She woke up that morning at about 7:00am.

Night Three (5/31/11):
I put to Jayde to bed at 8:30pm. She whined for about 30 minutes and then fell asleep. She then woke up at 2:00 am for a feeding. She then slept through the rest of the night. She woke up at about 6:30am.

Night Four (6/1/11):
This was the night Jayde finally got the hang of what she was suppose to be doing. I put her down in her crib at about 8:30pm, she whined for no more than 2 minutes, and then she fell asleep. This night, she slept through the entire night for the first time. It was amazing and scary all at the same time. I woke up at about 4:00am in panic and went into her room to check on her to make sure she was OK, which she was. I then went back to bed and slept until she woke up at about 7:00am. Getting a full nights worth of rest for the first time in 4 months felt amazing.

Night Five (6/2/11):
Jayde fell asleep perfectly last night. I put her to bed at 8:30pm and she was asleep within a few minutes without making a sound. She didn't sleep completely through the night like she did the previous night. I heard her wake up at about 1:00am and she did fall back asleep within a few minutes without me having to check on her, which is good. She then fully woke up at about 5:00am for a feeding and went back to sleep until 8:10am this morning.

Jayde sleeping all by herself in her crib!

As you can see, with each night Jayde fell asleep a lot easier. I can now put her to bed in her crib and she will fall asleep no problem. Her night time feedings have significantly decreased. Before the sleep training, Jayde was waking up every 2-3 hours for a feeding. I decided previously that if Jayde where to wake up in the night wanting to feed after we started training, she was only to get a bottle instead of me feeding her on my breasts. I felt that maybe if she didn't get the comfort of me being their while she fed at night that she would eventually decide that waking up wasn't worth it. I think that feeding her only bottles has helped her night time waking a lot. I am now confident that Jayde will only need to be fed once a night, if any. I am also confident that Jayde will be consistently sleeping through the night more often.

Naps are still an issue. The sleep training I have Jayde on says to put her in her crib at her nap times and if she is still awake after 30 minutes to take her out. Supposedly, she will eventually take naps in her cribs once her sleep schedule is completely established and she knows that her crib is a place for her to sleep at all times. For now, I am happy that Jayde can put herself to sleep and stay asleep at night.
Today was Jayde's 4 month appointment. She had her shots and they weren't too bad. Although, I do think she is a bit grumpy now. But I don't blame her, I would be grumpy too after having 3 shots in my leg. Good news, her pediatrician gave us the OK to start feeding her rice cereal. I am so excited! I can't wait to see her confused face when I give Jayde her first bite. I plan on feeding her rice cereal tomorrow morning! I also talked to the doctor about whether or not getting Jayde's ear pierced would be a good idea. She said that if I were to get them pierced, now would be a good time. Now that I know getting her ears pierced wouldn't be an issue, I'm considering getting it done. I'm just nervous because I don't want to hear her scream. When I was younger I had the worst ear piercing experience that I will NEVER forget it. So maybe getting them pierced now might be good so she won't have to be traumatized later. Whether I will get it done or not, I'm still not 100% sure. But I do know that if I choose to get her ears pierced that I'm going to do research. I want the person piercing her ears to be extremely sterile and experienced in piercing baby ears.