DaniJude
You're My Home <3
Member since 11/06 14815 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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Our road to sleep training and our CIO experience:
I wanted to share my experience because I felt like all of the experiences I have read on here from people posting helped me tremendously!!
So our odyssey began on Sunday evening as we realized that Julian is really too big to swaddle anymore. He has loved being swaddled since the day he was born and as he got older it became how we put him in his comfort zone lol he would even smile as we swaddled him up! It was great when he was real little but at five months, he is now over 30 inches long and weighs around 22 pounds - very big for his age. He is in 18 month clothing!!!!  It's really the length - he is SO long. But, because of that, swaddling has become next to impossible. And I think he is really done with it as well. It has gotten to the point where he really wants to be free - he would break free from time to time.
Sunday night we decided to unswaddle him and begin the sleep training process. So, we did his bedtime routine like normal minus the swaddle - and he has a set routine each night of a bath with the Beatles playing and then we sing while he is being changed into his PJ's and then we read a book and I rock him (usually swaddled). So, I did everything but the swaddling and put him in his crib when he was very drowsy... like always. Well, he looked at me like biitch where's my swaddle?? I was like uh oh  He started to cry and I consoled him for a few minutes by rubbing his chest/belly and giving him the bink. He still cried/screamed. I left the room and let him go for ten minutes, he would scream but no tears. Then, I went back in, gave bink, reassured him verbally and by rubbing his back. Tried putting him on his side. After about 40 minutes total of that process, on and off, he went to sleep - probably from exhaustion. He would sleep an hour and wake up and we'd repeat the above  ALL NIGHT LONG. It was a TOUGH night Sunday night. Mom and Dad got around three hours sleep and Julian probably had a total of six hours sleep the whole night. Since we were both off on President's Day yesterday we figured NOW or never.
Now, that is very unlike him - to put it into perspective since he came home from the hospital he goes down at 7pm and doesn't wake until 7am unless the crib goes on fire. I mean, the kid is a fantastic sleeper. We used to do a dream feed at 3am from birth until about 3 months and then he didn't even need that anymore. Even with that, he didn't wake for it, just ate and went back. So, this was a shock to our system and his.
Monday morning - mom and dad had A LOT of caffeine. Julian woke up pretty much his usual happy self but def tired. The day was OK - he usually naps swaddled for like 30-45 minutes on his own in his swing. And then he likes to be rocked/held to sleep longer. Breaking him of this became our second order of business. Talk about the perfect storm. Poor kid  So, no more swing, no more swaddle and no more rocking.
We did the same thing - rocked him unswaddled til he was drowsy, slits for eyes, and he went in the crib. He would cry like you have to be kidding me, my naps too?  So, I would do the same thing - console and after a few minutes he would still cry so I would leave the room, this time it was better though - less crying and for less time. After five minutes I went in and gave him the bink, consoled by SHHHHing him and patting him. He went to sleep and was OK in about 20 minutes. A BIG improvement from the first day which was the evening before. I found that letting him cry for 5-10 minutes and THEN offering the bink helped because if I offered it from the beginning he just spit it out. But after getting out some frustration he was more apt to take the bink and subsequently be consoled. That's a helpful tip!! He only napped about 25 minutes though which is to be expected during this transition -- so, no rocking and sleeping in our arms anymore. It was up until the next nap and that was it until the next feeding so we had to try and really play with him but he was DEF crabby.
Then, last night, same thing - routine like normal, no swaddle. He cried angrily this time like, wow you two are not going to give up! He was pisssed. So, after about 5 minutes of that, I went back in, gave him the bink, pat his back - tried putting him on his belly because the ped said he is definitely old enough and big enough now but he didn't want it. So, on the side seemed to work best for him - propped him up with a wedge which helped a lot. He went down and was happy after only around 15 minutes!!! WHAT AN IMPROVEMENT! So, he fell off and we figured he would wake up after an hour or so but no - he went FOUR hours and then squeeked unhappily a little - we went in, his bink fell out, gave him the bink back and patted him and he went RIGHT back. Which was a great thing - a big victory for us. Then he was good until around 5am, where he wanted the bink back again that he spit out at some point. No biggie.
Then, this morning - keep in mind we started this Sunday evening so we have had TWO full nights of sleep training - first one was completely sleepless for us (pretty much) and last night was infinitely better (about 8 hours total because we went to bed early -- we had to wake up three times for him)... And we have had two days of sleep training with napping - day one was not so bad because it was after the HELL of night one. Day two was today --
He fell sleep WHILE PLAYING with his play mat. I mean, that never happened before because he always needed the swaddle for sleep!! So we were thrilled - we feel this is a sign that he is being broken of the swaddle routine. So, the big thing was the transfer from there to the crib for nap -- we did and it went perfect. Crying time: 0 minutes. This was a huge victory for us.
I will update and see how tonight goes but I think after two/three-ish days we are well on our way and have seen major progress. I think by night five, day four we will be "trained" for the most part. Of course we are going to have other hurdles in the future but for now, we are over this hump.
One of the reasons we decided to do this now: he is five months old, he is a good sleeper and generally very happy so we figured he could take it (he's pretty easy going). The swaddle was becoming a problem because of his size so we knew we had to get rid of it. And he is not standing yet BUT he CAN roll over (both ways - front to back and back to front) so we figured that once he can stand in the crib the sleep training would be more difficult. But now that he can roll over he has more options for sleeping and trying to soothe himself. And that theory proved right. I think I can definitely go out on a limb and recommend this age - or around this age as a great time to do this. I mean, at least for us he responded real well to it so far. I thought we'd have AT LEAST three or four sleepless nights so I'm happy that's not the case. I will update though if all of a sudden it takes a nose-dive and goes to awful.
I really hope this helps everyone - I mean, I know all of your posts and past-posts help me TO NO END with tips and experiences. 
Some pics from the whole experience...
This was a pic from before of him swaddled - this is from a while back because this was when we transitioned him from his bassinet to crib (we put the bassinet mat under him at first to transition him. But it'll give you an idea as to how he was swaddled snugly underneath his sleep-sack...
When we started to realize he was outgrowing his swaddle -- he busted his little hand out from the swaddle one night while sleeping...
This morning: fell asleep WHILE playing on his mat, which would have never happened before we started training him and breaking him of his need to be swaddled:
A clear sign that he was definitely ready to move on from the swaddling days :)
After he transitioned to his crib - no fight this time, yay, progress!
DH just sent me this -- he fell asleep eating his apples in his highchair lol
Message edited 2/18/2014 3:14:10 PM.
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