Sleep and schedule

Stephen started rolling over in his sleep about a month ago. He would fall asleep on his back and then roll over sometime in the night and wake up screaming. It was hard to get him back to sleep so in order for us to get any sleep we started sleeping with him in the glider or big chair. After a month of alternating nights, Stephen and I were exhausted and just couldn't do it anymore! I had used a program called Moms on Call when he was 2 months old that helped us get him on a schedule and sleep through the night so I decided to try their 3- 12 month program.

I have always been very much against crying it out, but mostly because I think that 2-3 months is way to young for that. I knew it would be hard, but the Moms on Call program says to put them to sleep and shut the door and don't go back in until 7 am. And no swaddle. At first, I thought there was no way I could do this, but as the day went on and nighttime approached, I desperately wanted to sleep. So we gave it a try. I was prepared for at least an hour of crying when we put him down. The first night he cried for 17 minutes (yes, we were counting!) straight and then fell asleep and slept all night without a peep!! The second night it took 15 minutes, the third night 12 minutes of on and off crying, and the next night 8 minutes but he was more just moving around than crying. Last night, he cried for 1 minute and then fell asleep! Yay! Some nights he does wake up in the middle of the night and cry, but he puts himself back to sleep.

I am so proud of my boy, he is doing so good! And I think it was important for him to learn to fall asleep on his own. Plus, we are going to be much better parents when we get some sleep!

Here he is Wednesday napping without his arms in the swaddle.

This was Thursday night. He was so tired because he didn't get his 2 hour evening nap like he was used to. He was so upset while I was making his bottle, I had to put him down because I was afraid I was going to drop him. Thankfully it didn't last long and we had some fun later that night.

Friday night he was also a little fussy. It is going to take some time to get used to not having his evening nap.

Saturday, napping peacefully for 2 hours!

We have also been following the schedule from Moms on Call. Here is what it is:

7 am- awake and bottle

8 am- breakfast

9 am- nap

11 am- bottle

1 pm- nap

3 pm- bottle

4:30 pm- dinner

5 pm- cat nap

6 pm- bottle

7:30 pm- bath

8 pm- bottle and bed

We will add lunch in a few weeks. For now we are just doing breakfast and dinner to let his body get used to the solids.

He has also done great with his naps. This weekend he took 2, 2 hour naps each day plus a cat nap in the evening. He went down with very little crying each time. I really think he thrives when he is on a schedule.