Feeding and Giggles

As *everyone* knows I am trying to sleep train Erica. It's all I seem to think about lately. This sort of thing does take over your life when you try to do it. There are really 4 parts to sleep training:

   a) Have a schedule and a routine.  She has nap#1 at 10:30, nap #2 at 3:00, bedtime at 8:00.  Routine is set: jammies go on (except at naps), play, breastfeeding, more play, then the walk around the house with Daddy (or Mommy if it's a nap) and then in crib awake.

   b) Break all negative sleep habits. Basically put them in the crib awake. If you rock/feed/sing them to sleep they will not be able to sleep on their own unless you rock/feed/sing them to sleep. This way they learn to self soothe and sleep on their own.

   c) Steel yourself against the crying.  Erica is upset, but the crying usually goes down pretty quick. She is also getting to the point where nothing will prevent the crying, even if she is breastfed right before she goes down, she was still having a rough time going to sleep.  With the method I am using, you can go see them if you want to. However with Erica: it gets her even more upset if you go in.  Right now she's been down for ... 20 minutes (at the most) and she's tlaking to herself in her crib.

   d) Stick with it: it takes at least 2 weeks. This is the hard part! It takes alot of discipline.

You have to be very aware of the time, and what you are going to do and when. It's been OK so far, but there is one amazing benefit that I never thought about.  I can have a fun time with her when she is breast feeding.

First: let me say I'm a big advocate for breastfeeding (BF). It's best for the kid, it's super cheap (I mean, how's free for ya), there are benefits for Mom, and once you get the hang of it, it's really convenient and  easy. One trick: it's not as easy as it looks at the beginning. But now that we are experts, it's really easy and I enjoy our time together.

When I used BF to get her to sleep, I had to be quiet, and just rock her or whatever. Now, since she isn't going to sleep right away, I can really interact with her. Today she is finding "High Fives" really funny. I kept giving her high fives while she was feeding, and she kept giggling. Really cute. So, hopefully by the end of two weeks I will have accomplished two things: 1: she will be sleeping through the night, 2. I will have got her to laugh milk out her nose.

It's good to have goals.