ALL OF THE SLEEP

Alright so I truly can’t call myself an expert on the topic of sleep scheduling because first of all, every single baby is different. Secondly, I’m not a doctor or a professional baby whisperer. However, I know what worked for my little babe, so I hope this post helps you with yours! Aubree has always been a pretty good sleeper. Around two months she started sleeping for about 7-8 hours a night (I know, feel free to hate me.) Then, we moved her out of her bassinet next to our bed and into a crib in our bedroom...And there went all of her great sleeping! She started to wake up and fuss half a dozen times every night and unfortunately, I’m too sensitive and had to coddle her every time that happened. Needless to say, my husband and I were not getting much sleep. Once we moved her to her crib in her own room, things looked up a bit because we got her on an actual sleep schedule. While sleeping in our room, she didn’t have much of a schedule except that she went to sleep at the same time every night (the same time my husband and I would go to sleep.) Getting her on a sleep schedule was SO HARD. You guys, I cried on my kitchen floor eating peanut butter while she cried in her crib, but I’m so happy I did it! We used the "Cry It Out" method, and though it was hard, she caught on so quickly! Aubree is 20 months and she sleeps 12 hours a night and 2 hour naps during the day. Here’s how we made that happen :

Immediately after she started sleeping in her own room : 7am - Wake up 9:30am - 11:00am - Nap with mom (or anyone really, whoever was watching her would snuggle) 2:00pm - 3:30pm - Nap in crib (This is where Cry It Out was the hardest! But try to push through it!) 7:00pm - Bedtime in crib She usually would wake up about 3-4 times at night, cry, and yell “mom” or “dad.” When this happened, we would give it 15 minutes, and if she continued to cry, we would go in and hold her hand. We never took her out of the crib! I think this part is extremely important. We made it a habit to only hold her hand at night because then she did not completely wake up. Once she was sleeping again, we would walk out. After a few weeks we began waiting 30 minutes before going in.

Once she began to get over her morning nap : 7:00am - Wake up 9:30am-10:30am - snuggle with or without nap 1:00pm-3:00pm - Nap in crib 7:00pm - Bedtime in crib The only time we would ever go into her room at night is if she cried dramatically for more than 30 minutes. I think that happened maybe only once or twice.

Once she was COMPLETELY over her morning nap : 7:00am - Wake up 12:00pm-2:00pm - Nap in crib 7:00pm - Bedtime in crib

"Cry It Out" was such a tough method to follow because no momma ever wants to hear that little baby cry! However, after only a couple of days, Aubs caught on really quick and started to understand that I was always going to come back! I think this method also helped with her separation anxiety. She is still pretty clingy with me, but she is able to go to sleep with absolutely no problems leaving me. In fact, she asks to go to sleep half of the time! XO, J