Sleep Trained Angel

After much heartache, I think we succeeded in Isabel's sleep training of crying it out. It was so hard but so worth it. We tried 3 methods before it worked.

1. Cold turkey - no swaddle, no feeding, and the Ferber method (soothing her after a few min and waiting longer each time up to as long as 25 min before soothing her again)
   Result: We gave up after 6 nights. She was crying as long as 90 min sometimes. Then on the 6th night, she woke up every hour to cry for 30 min. We couldn't take it anymore and was worried that she was afraid to go to sleep, etc...
   
   
2. Middle of the road - no swaddle, no feeding, and gentle persuasion (soothing her as soon as she cries - until she went back to sleep)
   Result: We gave up after a week. She was crying a little less but still woke up 2-4 times a night. We gave up after visiting her pediatrician at her six months check-up. He suggested method number 3
   
   
3. Cry it Out - swaddled, wedged in (so she can't easily flip over), and cry it out (no soothing at all until she sleep again)
   Result: It has been two weeks. We definitely had challenges with this one too, but it seems to be working now. She can sleep at least 9 hours straight without crying now. Around the 6th night, she cried about 90 min once and I almost gave up again. But then I thought, if I gave up now, all the training is lost and she suffered for nothing. So although it really hurts to hear her cry, I toughed it out and just stayed up the whole time she was crying. I blogged, watched TV, and talked to Jaime while we waited it out. Wow, that was a tough night. But it all got better from there.
   

She cried about 10 min the next night once, and then only 1-2 min once each night after that. The last few nights - no crying at all from 9-6 and then even when she woke up, she didn't cry until she saw one of us or it's around 7am. We peek at her without her knowing and she would just play.

Moral of the Story - Crying it Out fully works

• Ferber method didn't work. As soon as she saw Agnes soothe her, her energy to cry was renewed. It's better and faster to just let her cry until she sleeps. It sends a clear method that she needs to go back to sleep on her own and no one is coming. We of course make sure she is safe. Agnes is a trooper and checks on her from under the bumper to make sure Isabel is safe, while avoiding being seen
• Give any method 2 weeks. Isabel is smart and stubborn. She will test us fully before giving up. If I gave in on the 6th night of our 3rd method, she would have won and know she can still get us in there with pro-longed crying. So glad I stayed strong.
• Crying is not bad for the baby. She may sound like she is suffering or hungry, but our pediatrician assured us she can take it and it's worth it to train her. Uninterrupted sleep is the best for her.
  
• She doesn't need to eat at night. We actually developed that habit for her by rushing to her at her first cry. At 12 weeks, she started flipping over swaddled and we freaked out and started rushing to her at her first cry every night after that. Little did we know, that ruined her sleep through the night habit and since then, she started getting up 1 to 2 times a night to feed. I think if we just thought of putting a pillow in her crib to prevent her from turning while swaddled and then let her cry a little instead of rushing to her every night, she probably wouldn't have develop the bad sleep habits that we then had to break with the method above. Oh well, c'est la vie. Such is the life of new parents!

At the end of the day, we are lucky she is so healthy and a good girl after all. I still get up to pump, but since she is sleeping through the night now. I feel comfortable pumping at 5 or 6am now instead of 3 or 4am, so I can sleep up to 7 hours straight now, maybe even 8. Ahhhh, such a blessing!!

- Lei