Things to be Stroud Of

So my 12 month old almost sleeps through the night. About 14 (yes 14) days ago I decided our little nighttime up all night days were over. My boy has never slept consistently, sometimes up twice, sometimes up every 45 minutes and was still going strong on this at 12 months! And let me tell you, those up every 45 minute sessions and waking up to go to work = no bueno. I've tried every approach I could think of and research. From the Baby Whisperer's "shoosh and pat", to Dr. Ferber's "7 minute checks", to 3 nights of "extinction" and nothing worked. And I was frustrated beyond belief. 

When we brought Easton home from the hospital I was told to set my alarm for every two hours during the night to breastfeed, I will not be doing this with the next baby (unless of course they are way underweight). At the beginning I responded to every little noise this kid made and hearing him cry was gut-wrenching to me. We didn't even think about moving him to his crib until he turned 4 months. With baby numero dos, the second they start sleeping longer stretches, it will be time for their own crib! And at 4 months when the Dr. says they can go about 8-10 hours without eating during the night...I will believe them, otherwise I will be stuck at 11 months nursing 5 times a night...again.

 So what did I do? I realized his crib is safe for him. I realized he eats 3 meals, plus snacks, 2 bottles and nurses 2 times a day. I realized he isn't teething or sick. I realized that in a year I haven't slept for over 5 hours at a time, and It was showing. I realized that I, yes I made my boy a bad sleeper because I haven't taught him how to sleep or to soothe himself. And I realized, I wanted my boy to feel good and get adequate sleep for his growth and development.

So one day I decided I would put him to sleep and when he wakes up after 6 a.m. I would get him and we would start our day. And yes the first night was terrible, I wanted to rescue him so badly. And then the second, third, fourth and so on I stood strong. And on the 8th night he still woke up once (where did this kid come from?) but only fussed for 3 minutes and slept, until 7:45 am (almost 12 hours). He may or may not wake up a couple of times...but he has learned to "soothe" himself back to sleep after a couple of minutes.

So what have I learned? Obviously sleep does glorious things in a household and we almost have our nighttimes figured out! This is one happy mama here!