Update on the Sleep Training

So Luke was waking up every 1.5-2 hours every. single. night. He was impossible to put to sleep and to keep him asleep. It was driving me and Scott bonkers!

So Friday (Nov 14th) we decided to try something new. We moved Luke into his crib. Luke's room is on the 2nd floor and our bedroom is on the main floor, which is why i was reluctant to do this--I didn't want to go up the stairs every 1.5-2 hrs every night! Anyway, Friday we moved him to his crib. We gave him a bath, put him in comfy PJ's, and i hummed to him while he nursed to sleepiness. He went down to sleep about 8:30 without any trouble. Woke up at 10. He only cried until 10:20! Then he woke up again at 12:15. Cried until 12:30. At 3 am, he woke up again, but this time I went and fed him. Our goal was to get him to sleep longer, but we didn't want him to have to go all night cold turkey. He woke up again at 5:30, i changed and fed him but he slept again until 8!

DAY 2. We put him down at 7:30 and he didn't wake up again until 12:30, cried for 10 minutes. I fed him when he woke up at 1:40. He slept again until 6:40 and then again until 8am. He wakes up happy and waits for us to come get him!

Last night was probably the best of them all! Down at 8pm, up at 1:30a. Up at 5:30a. Up at 8a. YAY! Each time he wakes up i'll change him if he really needs it, otherwise i skip it.
He eats for 20 minutes or so and goes back to sleep as soon as I lay him down! I can't even tell you how wonderful this is!

We're still figuring out nap times. He takes a morning nap with no trouble, but it's hard to get him down sometimes in the afternoon. If he sleeps less than an 1 hr he needs 2 afternoon naps and an earlier bedtime. It's a process, but we're slowly going to figure out naps too. "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" recommends learning to look for signs of tiredness. Usually this after they've been awake (either from bed or naps) for an hour to 2 hours. If you help them back to sleep before they get overtired, they will go down easier and be able to sleep longer. If you wait TOO long, they won't be able to sleep well or fall asleep well because of the adrenaline running through their bodies because of the stress of being overtired. Overtired= wired. This is very true with Luke, so I'm trying to learn his sleepy signs and get him down before he gets overtired and wired.

Being a first time parents is very much the biggest learning experience there is in life, but Scott and I are getting the hang of things and learning what works best for us. We're just so blessed to have such a cute little guy to practice on.

Whew.