Since that 4 month regression we have been working and working and working to get our full night of sleep back. And, with the risk of the blog jinx, our baby girl is now sleeping through the night!
We have hit over a week of going to bed at 8ish and not waking up until 8:30 or later the next day. I am here to tell you, its as wonderful as they say it is. I love me some sleep and having a full night back has been amazing. Let me tell you how we got here...
When she started waking up at 2/3am around 4 Months we decided it was a growth spurt and she needed the extra feeding. She wasn't up for long, just enough time to drink her bottle and go back to bed. In total I was up for about 30 minutes. Not bad. So we continued on.
At 5 months she started waking up twice. Once at 2/3am and again at 6am. Not cool. So we fed her twice. Same story, awake just long enough to eat.
Then she dropped the 2/3am and started just waking up at 5:30/6am. She would eat and then go back to sleep til around 8:30 or 9. I could live with this. I was up for 30 minutes and then I could go back to bed for a bit and have time to get up and get ready before she woke up for the day. She continued on this way for about a month.
After a month of a solid schedule, out of nowhere, she started waking up at random times. Sometimes it was midnight (wha? -- had never been that early before), sometimes it was 4am and sometimes it was 2am AND 5am. What in the H?! Something had to change.
Our doctor told us that she was waking up multiple times now because WE had trained her to need a bottle to go back to sleep. Thus every time she woke she couldn't soothe herself back to a slumber. So it was our fault. Great. A plan was set forth.
The Plan:
1. Start by weaning the amount in each bottle (we were giving her 5oz)
2. Be quick! No talking. Feed and back to bed.
3. Quit rocking her to sleep at her bedtime.
4. Let her cry it out the second time she wakes after weaning for a week and each time she wakes after reducing the bottle amount to 2oz
So we set the plan in motion. And we had setbacks and excuses and we got the bottle down to 2oz and then didn't take the next step>>no more bottle. We were afraid and tired. We knew if we gave her the 2oz she would go back to sleep.
I had noticed something though. After the 2oz she wasn't falling asleep in my arms anymore. And she didn't seem all that interested in the bottle. She was down to only one wake again and I knew it was time. So one night, we cried it out. All of us, together (because I was in tears too, and Im sure the dog was crying on the inside from being annoyed). It took 30 minutes. Then the next morning she woke up and just moaned and mumbled to herself for 15 minutes, we didn't even go in. She went on with the moaning/mumbling for a few days and then nothing. Silence. Not a peep! I was worried something had happened to her. But no...our baby had slept through the night! We put a sticker on her memory calendar (this is a big deal folks!).
So here we are. Almost 9 months old and a solid week into sleeping through the night. She goes to bed with no fuss. Goes down at nap time without problems. It only took 9 long months to get here. But oh so worth the reward.
Goodnight sweetheart.
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