Leia started off her newborn life as a great sleeper. The first night in the hospital, my amazing night nurse helped me work a solution that allowed us to get hours of perfect sleep. She swaddled her and put her in the crook of my arm and there we slept for hours. We repeated this same process until we were discharged. We repeated a similar process at home until her two week visit when her pediatrician expressed concern about her weight gain. I had to start waking her up every three hours for feedings. Yes, wake a sleep baby! Who does that? So slowly our nighttime sleep eroded and we had nighttime feedings.
After returning to work, I felt blessed that she only would get once or twice during the night which was fine. I am not exactly sure how long that last before a third feeding crept in occasionally right and then sometimes another... So the months crept on and my fear of messing with my milk supply led me to continue to get up and nurse at each whimper until this week. I started to realize I beat! And being exhausted was no better for my milk supply. After a few pep talks from a friend (also a co-co-worker) and a gal who rode home with me that Tuesday evening, I knew it was time. I didn't need to set a date or read a book, just do it!
We went through our normal bedtime routine, (thankfully she goes to sleep fine on her own), until about 10:15 when she woke up. I went in, gave her her pacifier, covered her up, patted her bum and walked out to a fussing baby. I laid in bed for a minute and Daddy offered to rock her. I sleepily agreed and he went into her room. A few seconds later, he come back saying tonight was the night to let her fuss a little and we closed our door. I have no idea how long she cried, we feel asleep! The next thing I knew it was 2:27am and I woke up a little disoriented. I crept out of my room, peeked to make sure she was still in her crib (crazy, huh?), went down to pump, and then checked on her. She was spread out like a starfish, paci in her mouth, and sleeping like a rock. I covered her up and she returned to sleep until 4am. And guess what? The next next nights she didn't even bother! So all my worry and fretting was for nothing, this girl is amazing. She told me, "Hey mama, I got this..stop bugging me while I am trying to get back to sleep. " And now we are both happier, though I am still getting up to pump in the middle of the night for the time being which is fine with me. Once is way better than 3-4 times per night.
Sleep training for babies...for me it was her teaching me!
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