Sleep Training: Part 1

I believe it was exactly 1 week ago that I told everyone how I had given in and let G take all of her naps in the K'Tan. Well, for about the next 7 days after that I was trying to get her to take at least one nap a day in her crib and that was a struggle!  Seriously, it was like World War III to even get her to let me rock her or bounce her.  She would fight everything!  David could only get her to go to sleep by holding her in his arms and doing high knees up and down her room!  Well our bodies have had it from the countless hours spent bouncing on the exercise ball and doing high knees while simultaneously covering her eyes and holding her binky in, so yesterday in the midst of a nap taking fight I decided it was time to sleep train.  And for real this time...stick to something for a solid week.  A little abrupt you may think.  Well you know what else is abrupt?  Being expelled from a womb, and we weathered that storm.

On top of all of the fights to get her to sleep she will only stay asleep for one sleep cycle aka 30-45 minutes.  That amounts to 30-90 minutes of trying everything in the book to sleep her for a measly 30-45 minutes of sleep (20 for which she has to be held).  Who can blame her though?  A baby falling asleep in the warmth of her mother's arms and waking up in a crib alone is akin to you falling asleep snuggled up with a blanket on your couch and waking up on your bathroom floor.  So just like that, cold turkey, we started sleep training.  And whats colder than a turkey?  Doing it for ALL naps and bedtime.  (I promise I love my daughter more than anything in the world - so much that I will do what it takes for her to learn to sleep on her own, a skill she will use her entire life.)

I have read a ton about sleep training and different methods and we decided that we would do the cry it out method.

Please save your judgmental comments for the comment section below.  The reason we chose this was because from everything I have read and every mom I have talked to who has done this, it is the fastest most effective way to sleep train.  This even came from one mom who's baby cried a record breaking 5 hours the first night.

At first we tried the modified cry it out method, but apparently Dr. Ferber has not met Gretchen Pehrson.  Every "check" I did on her just seemed to fire her up more so as I sit her writing this post I am implementing the extinction method.  If a baby is smart enough to know if we have done one thing out of order in her bedtime/naptime routine, she is surely smart enough to know that she is safe in her room and we will come get her when she wakes up.

Out of every story I have heard from parents who have done this, Gretchen has out-cried them all (with the exception of the 5 hour crier)..she is a stubborn girl; must get it from her dad.  She is also a smart girl though so I am sure she will get with the program shortly.

Well this is a "Part 1" because we have yet to see the results of this hard work.  YES listening to your baby cry is hard.  On the bright side, she has got a ton of practice rolling and scooting around in her crib.  I have even noticed that she can fully push herself up onto her hands while on her belly.  She is sure to be crawling in no time.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our sleep training adventure.  If at a week there is no improvement then I guess Gretchen will be deemed one of those babies cry it out doesn't work for.

Current Score:

Gretchen 2 (naps skipped)

Mom 2 (naps taken...after 60-90 minutes of crying for each one...praying it will get better).