Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Getting your kids to sleep already!

Okay, so having an 8 month old means we haven't slept for like 8 months. So we decided enough was enough! I remember that I never did anything to help my 8 year old get to sleep on his own and I was still singing him to sleep at 6, not this time!

Last night was the first night of the rest of our lives. I did the whole bedtime ritual thing, bath, pjs, book (mostly Vince eating it) and bottle (which he didnt' want anything to do with). And then I turned out the light and put him in his crib. I sat by his bed for one full hour while he cried and cried and fell asleep and then woke himself up and then cried somemore. As crazy as it sounds, it was actually a much better experience than our normal routine of rocking and bouncing and tricking him into going to sleep. I had made up my mind, sat down and waited. When he finally went to sleep, I was so proud he did himself. He was out by about 7:15. He did wake up at 11 pm but again, I fed him (didn't him fall asleep with the bottle in my mouth like I was told) and then put him in his bed. This time it only took 10 minutes and he was out. And the best part was, he slept until 6:45 am!

So, I am not sure if this will continue or get even better tonight, but I do know that an hour of crying is worth a full night sleep anytime. The hardest thing as a parent is to not give in, which in the short run makes it easier on us. I just wanted to share my story because I think most of us have something we know we need to break our kids of but we don't do it because we are either afraid it won't work or just too tired to deal with the process itself. But in the end, a couple days or weeks of misery will usually break the habit for the long run. And the benefit of the process itself is that it gives up back the control that we so often give up.

Good Luck!

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