Sleep, baby, sleep!

I've wanted to write an update on Sophie's sleeping for a while but with so much going on, and not really being settled since the move, I thought I would hold off until I knew her sleeping was for real. We just took a trip and I haven't had to re-establish schedules since so I'm pretty confident about her sleeping now! And yes, I am very aware I just cursed myself. Let's all take a moment to knock on wood for me. Thanks.

Is anyone else mega obsessed with taking photos of their sleeping baby? I think half the photos I have of her she's unconscious! But it's so dang cute! She always looks so peaceful. I love her!

So here's how it went down. We tried a thousand different gentle, no cry, attachment-parenting sleep methods and none of them worked. If I was in the room, Sophie wanted to be in my arms. I was exhausted from waking up every 2-3hrs, it was disturbing Steve, and I honestly didn't think it was working for Sophie either. Cosleeping didn't work either because Sophie sleeps like this: 

Which means many nights I ended up at the end of the bed. No fun. Plus, she would wake up to nurse, and I was just over touched by the end of the day. Add in an hour of nursing and rocking trying to get her to sleep, and you can probably get my frustration! So trying cry it out seemed like the only way to go.

And holy crap did it work for us.

Let me add a quick disclaimer - I hated having to do CIO. I hated listening to her cry. It was a last resort for us. I do not recommend this as a first try. But if you are exhausted and have tried many things and none of them are working, maybe it's for you. 

But CIO worked for us. The first night, Sophie cried for 45 soul-crushing minutes. She woke up once in the middle of the night and cried for 15 minutes. She woke up at 6:30 awake and happy. The second night, she cried for 20 minutes, and she didn't wake up in the middle of the night. She woke up at 5:30, nursed, and went back to sleep until 7. The third night, 5 minutes of crying. No midnight wake up, 5:30 to nurse and back to sleep until 7. 

It was GLORIOUS! 

We had a few hiccups as we were still living with my parents, and I was putting her to bed at 7:30, and their hallway is loud. So if she heard someone walking up and down, she would wake up and cry. But for the most part, she started sleeping through the night! Now it takes me 15 minutes instead of 1.5hrs to get her into her crib, Steve and I get to spend more time together, and I even occasionally get to work out in the evening! I have so much time!

She still naps in my bed, but that's for my convenience. First, she naps longer - 3-4 hrs in my bed compared to 1.5hrs in her crib. It also means I have time to clean up her room/put away her laundry, etc. She takes one nap a day and that's really all she needs or wants!

She also comes into bed with us in the morning! She'll wake up between 5:30-6:30 and nurse, then usually falls back to sleep until 7:30-8:30 depending on when she went to bed the night before. This works for me because I loooooove our morning snuggles!

Although depending on when she wakes up and when I went to bed, sometimes she wakes up a bit earlier than I'd like... 

It also makes me much happier during the day. Babies are very demanding on the bodies of their mamas. Between nursing, rocking, snuggling, being carried, etc, I get touched out by the end of the day! Having that night stretch has made SUCH a difference to me! During the day, if she wants to be carried or snuggled or nursed or whatever, it's much more of a joy! It makes me a lot happier to be able to give that physical attention to her when she needs it!

So moral of the story is - do what's best for you. Do what you need to do to make yourself happy. A happy, well-rested mama is a good mama! And a happy, well-rested baby is a good baby!

And let's not forget the dads - they need sleep too! Steve is a lot happier now that he doesn't have to worry about Sophie falling out of bed or crushing her in his sleep!

And one more wake-up photo for good luck - how cute is that face?