We started sleep training with Oscar 3 days ago.  It has been a life saver!  Oscar goes down for 3 naps each day and I have some free time!  Finally some time to blog about this journey more regularly so that Oscar can re-live his babyhood some day.

The downside is that I feel like I’m in Oscar withdrawal.  I went from spending 18-20 hours a day with him to spending 8-10 hours a day with him.  I know it’s for the best.  Oscar is learning how to put himself to sleep, and that is something that will improve his learning, development and overall happiness for the rest of his life.  This morning I was greeted by a happy, smiling baby for the first time!

The most shocking aspect of the sleep training is that Oscar goes down for his naps with zero protest.  This is day 3 of daytime naps, and so far we’re 7 for 7.  I still can’t believe it.  Night time is a little different.  Night 1 he cried for 20 minutes, night 2 was 13 minutes, but night 3 was less than 2 minutes!

No, we don’t just throw him in his crib and shut the door.  We go in every 5 minutes to calm him down, picking him up if necessary since he’s only 3 months old.  It’s a little stressful but it’s working for us.  When we kept him up later, all he did was cry anyway, so this is definitely less crying!

Staying asleep during the night has been tough.  The first night was the best.  The third night was horrible.  Now that I’ve figured out a better swaddling system I have high hopes for tonight and I can’t wait to try it!  I think he escaped last night early on, causing way too many night awakenings.  I finally figured out the new swaddle at 5:30 am, and he slept until 8am!

A not so happy Oscar waking up from his lunch hour nap.

Oscar’s New Schedule:

Nap 1: 9:30-10:30am

Nap 2: 12:30-2:00pm

Nap 3: 3:30-6:00pm

Bedtime: 7:30pm

This is what it looks like, more or less.  I just wait for the sleepy signs like rubbing his face, glassy eyes, and less overall attention.  I think it’s harder to get him down at night because we let him get a little bit cranky which means he’s a tad over-tired.

I am so glad we didn’t wait any longer to sleep train.  He definitely wasn’t getting enough sleep before, and now that I’m feeding him less at night he’s not waking up with indigestion and gas.  If he cries at night we do the 10 minute wait.  Usually he’s asleep by then, but if he’s not I’ll go in, change his diaper, and give him a feed if it has been longer than 6 hours since his last one.  It’s true that first babies are the trial and error babies!  Baby #2 will be getting more sleep from day 1!

Now we go for walks awake and facing out rather than sleeping on mommy!