Sunday, March 17, 2013

Sleep training

We are now on day 4 and tonight is night number 5 of sleep training and oh how things have thankfully improved!  Last night saw Zac crying for a mere 3 minutes before settling himself and falling asleep which is a vast improvement from the first night which saw him crying on and off for 45 minutes.  He then woke up at 9:45pm, but after about 5 minutes he was asleep again and he stretched through the night until 5:30am! I wasn't sure whether we should have started the day at this time or try get him to fall asleep again so I decided to listen to what the sleep trainer had instructed me to do which was to continue with the sleep training until at least 6am.  Thankfully I did that and he went back to sleep until 7am! Brilliant.

The first night with the sleep trainer didn't quite go as planned.  I had visions of being up all night with a screaming baby who we would need to continuously train. We had paid this woman a mini fortune so I was looking forward to some heavy duty training going down.  And of course, Murphy's Law, after the initial put down of 45 minutes and one wake up an hour later, Zac decided to sleep right through! The first time in his little life!  So the woman who we were paying to work that night just sat on the couch waiting and waiting for him to wake up!  I was so disappointed.  Thankfully the second night Zac woke up twice so we could get a little training done - made it a little more worth the money spent.

And after 2 nights, the sleep trainer was done and I was left to continue with the training on my own.  I have been incredibly strict and have followed her instructions down to the letter.  Things are improving every day and I'm sure in a few more days I will be able to put Zac down to sleep without any crying at all.  Already his cries are intermittent and consist more of moans than anything else.

I'm already feeling more refreshed with much better nights. I don't know how I'm going to get used to actually enjoying a full night's sleep again! I think I'm going to have to train this body not to wake up during the nights as it has become accustomed.

Sleep training is definitely the way to go when you're enduring nights like I'd been having.  I totally believe in the process and Zac was never left to feel abandoned or unloved.  Everything was done with the utmost love and care possible.  I would have paid almost any price to hire Erica - I was that exhausted! And quite honestly, I don't think you can put a price on sleep. It is SO needed!!!

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