sleep sleep, what is that even ?

When I had Crew I knew that sleep was going to be minimal. I knew that at first he was going to need to be fed every 2-3 hours during the night. What I didn't know was that it would last up until 6 months old and longer! 

 Of course, I read a lot online about certain sleep training methods. "If you just let the baby cry for 3 hours straight you never have to feed him or her at night again!" Yeah not happening. Don't judge me but I DID try out the Ferber method. Crew sadly did cry it out, a lot! For more than 10 minutes haha. First time parents here so we are just doing what we think is best. Do I feel guilt for trying the Cry It Out Method? Sure! I feel horrible, HORRIBLE, when I can't save my baby from tears. Do I feel like I was abusive or wrong in doing it? No. 

So April 20th, we decided to try Crying it Out. We were sick of rocking him to sleep and him waking up when he hit the bed. He was 6 months old and 16 pounds so we figured it would go great! For Damon and I, it was like death. Seriously death. We started it the same night we decided to have him sleep in his own room (sniffle, sniffle). He cried for 30 minutes. The longest he cried during this process was 35 minutes. We tried it for about a week straight. Did we go in and soothe him a time or too? Yes. Did that mess everything up? Who knows, but I didn't care. 

He is the happiest in the morning!

Damon and I both noticed that he was not sleeping as good as he was before! It was seriously doing nothing good. Maybe we were doing it wrong! He wasn't sleeping through the night, he was waking up after 30 minutes which he hadn't done since he was a newborn. It was all just a mess. We attempted to take away the binkie but nothing improved still. Before this whole thing he was seriously the HAPPIEST baby ever. Since doing this he was pretty grumpy and fussy. A lot of people say oh it takes like 2-3 days if you let them cry until they fall asleep. Nope! Not us. We let Crew do that a lot! For every nap (he usually took 3 a day) and at night. Still nothing on day 6.

April 27th, I went visiting teaching. The lady we visit taught has a boy a little younger than Crew so we were all chatting about sleep training and whatnot. My partner told me that with her little girl she is fine to go to bed as long as she comforts her without seeing her. She like stands outside her door and talks to her. I hadn't tried that so I figured I would try that once we got home for his second nap.

It worked! I did our usual routine and instead of leaving and hearing him cry and cry, I stood behind his crib where he can't see me and sang him a song. Then once he would look away, I would escape. He fell asleep on his own without a peep! I've been doing that ever since and its worked like a charm. There are some times where I replace the binkie but I would WAY rather do that than listen to him cry. I'm writing this post on April 30th, so its only been three days, but I've also put him to bed 12 times in those three days so I'm very hopeful!

As of night times, it's pretty much the same. He wakes up every 3-4 hours. Which he's always done. Its only twice when I'm sleeping so it's really not bad. I feel like breastfeeding babies don't sleep through the night as easy as formula babies. I am willing to wake up for him. 

In the last couple days he's totally acted himself. Super happy and chill. Maybe Crying it Out would have eventually worked for him, maybe we'll have to do it in the future. But as of now, we are going to try and avoid it like the plague. <3

04.30.17