Sleep Training Works!

Well, it’s only been three days. But it’s working! And I hope it does from now on...

Mia has gotten used to sleeping with us now and then.  And she wants to all the time now. Not cool. So we decided to try sleep training, just like all the magazines suggest. But for you parents, here’s what we did.

After her nighttime bottle we put her in her crib. She stands up and cries. And makes Doug’s heart hurt. And I say, "Cmon, let's get out of here!" We lay her down, tell her good night, shuuush here and there.  Thanks to JC and Shannon, Mia has Violet who plays 10 minutes of bedtime music and says “Good Night Mia. Snuggle up!” Such a cool toy and Mia loves her! Anyway, Mia will continue to cry. But we leave and shut the door. She’ll keep crying. But I think she gets it now, and stops crying just a few minutes after. 

If she’s still crying after 10 minutes we’ll go back in and do it all over again. Lay her down, tell her she did a good job with the first 10 minutes, turn Violet on for another 10 minutes of music, say good night and some more shuuushes.  Then leave and close the door. We won’t go back in for 20 minutes this time.  If she’s quiet, we won’t go back in for an hour or so to check on her. We’ve learned that just because she’s quiet doesn’t mean she’s sleeping. If we go back in too soon while she's quiet, she’ll get up immediately and start crying and we have to go through the whole process again.

This is probably where a video monitor would come in handy.  But I think we’re going to try and save the $150+ and go with our method for now. Mia has successfully put herself to sleep the past three nights. And we can get a good night’s rest (or crafting in my case).  Let’s hope we can keep this up!