AJ has always been an over achiever when it comes to sleeping. At three months old she was sleeping at the very least 10 hours through the night. I will never forget the first time waking up and realizing I hadn't heard a peep from her in 12 hours. I remember D and I both opening our eyes and just being still, listening to the silence. My heart raced and I wondered if she was even alive.
We had started the transition from AJ sleeping in our room to her own room, and it had been a concern of mine that I may not hear her if she woke up. I have since learned that pretty much any noise she makes in the night is picked up by my super sonic Mom ears. Even little sized 5 feet shuffling over the carpet on her way to our bed springs me wide awake.
Anyways, on this morning after an uninterrupted night of sleep, I was questioning what was real and what was a dream. After D and I both laid there stunned and worried for what felt like hours, we tip toed to AJ's room to make sure she was breathing. Thank Goddess she was. We crawled back into bed feeling like we hit the jackpot, but all I could think about was how she must be hungry.
A Mother always worries, right Mom?
AJ's awesome sleeping habits continued up until about two months ago. She all of a sudden began waking up in the middle of the night calling for me. At first I would go in and read her a couple books till she drifted back into dreamland. When that wasn't good enough anymore she wanted to come sleep with Mommy. Now, don't get me wrong I adore snuggling up to my AJ and having a snooze, but we all know what happens when a child invades your bed.
Let's just say that 99.9% of the time, I ended up at the foot of the bed with half my body hanging over the side. Whether I was getting up to urge her back to sleep, or letting her crawl in with us, I wasn't getting enough rest. I gave in, left her door open at night and allowed her to come and go as she pleased.
Once Bella moved in with us not only was AJ getting into our bed every night, but she had also lost interest in going to bed AT ALL. She seemed to be affected by some change in the house and wanted to just be with Mommy. Loved it. But was not loving the loss of the two hours of little freedom I had each night, not to mention the lack of bed I was getting.
Enter sleep training.
The idea is to get your child into a good bedtime routine, or in our case to get AJ into a routine again, and when your child gets out of bed, you silently place him or her back in. No words. I saw an episode of Super Nanny once where it took the Mother 58 times to get her child to stay in bed. 58!!
So, firstly I made sure she didn't eat anything to give her energy, I kept her she calm and made sure she knew bedtime was coming. She brushed her teeth, said her good nights and I read to her. The first night she fought me a bit and I had to silently place her back in bed about five times. Then it was as if the clouds parted and heaven shone a light on us. AJ laid down and said "Ok Mommy. Night. Love you." She simply learned, very quickly, to accept it was time for sleep.
The first night she slept "Aaaallll night!" as she likes to put it. The second night she was right into bed after some stories, but woke up at 1:30AM. Her first instinct was to come to bed with me, which was not in the cards. I offered to read a book; she refused. I offered to lay with her; she said no thanks. I said, "Ok night then." Kissed her and got up to leave. "Blue's Clues, Mommy" - she wanted me to read to her.
After the story was over I said "Night night baby girl, see you in the morning."
And I did.
It breaks my heart to feel like I am pushing her away, but it's more important that she gets the sleep she needs. And it never hurts for Mommy to get the sleep she needs too! It ends up being better for the whole household.
Right, Hunny?
