So it's been too long since I posted updates! Right now, Adlai is asleep in his crib for a nap.
This is HUGE.
For the first month of his life, he hated his crib. Even with the adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar sheets, he hated it.
He just wanted to be snuggled.
Not swaddled, snuggled. By me. Or Fitz. Or well, anybody. But so that meant his sleep in the crib was very short and not pleasant.
A few weeks ago, however, I implemented Operation Sleeper, or a few days of intensive "sleep training." I have no idea if that's a real term or not. But, any time he wanted to sleep or needed a nap, he went in the crib.
He hated it.
And hated it some more...until finally...
He fell asleep.*
Victory! And he's even sleeping for five hour stretches at night. In his crib.
And the latest victory has been happening over the past couple of days, but we caught it on video last night.
Adlai sucked his thumb. The days of the pacifier are coming to an end!
*Just to clarify, we're not implementing "cry it out" per se...Fitz and I are just too soft. Way too soft when it comes to Adlai and his cute baby self.
Yay! I'm so glad he has adapted to his crib and is sleeping well for you! We had a lot of issues with naps when Ambrose was younger. He always slept well in the Pack n Play or his crib for nighttime sleep because that's where he was used to being at night... but he was SO bad about naps. In the beginning, you know, they fall asleep while eating all the time and/or just randomly in the bouncer and whatnot, and that was great. But when he got too interested in the world for that to happen regularly, he just started napping less and was very grouchy... So then we started putting him in the swing for every nap. And the swing was great! It worked like magic from about 2 mo. to 4 mo... and then he had a magic developmental leap again and got to grown-up to fall asleep in the swing. He just wanted to look around at everything and cried about our trying to make him sleep. So finally we decided we just HAD to get him to nap in the crib. And we were shocked that it really started working well within a few days. Then it got screwed up a couple weeks later b/c he started rolling onto his tummy and didn't like it there... but after about 10 days he decided sleeping on his tummy was suddenly the best thing ever and has been mostly great ever since! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think it is so hard sometimes to figure out what they need developmentally. I don't know why, but nobody ever mentioned anything to me about, "Hey, so they will fall asleep anywhere at first, but you'll have to put more and more effort into creating a good sleep environment for them as they get older." It totally makes sense now, but it never really occurred to me before, so we were just like, "Ahhhh! What is happening!" I hope it was less bewildering for you, lol. And it sounds like maybe he's napping in the crib even younger than Ambrose was --> hopefully you won't have any more issues to deal with until rolling or teething! :-)
Glad to hear you all are doing well.
Also, we wouldn't describe out methods "cry it out," either, but I have found some of the information about sleep in Ferber's book to be useful. (He's often described as "cry it out," but that's not how he would explain his own methods... and his book is about much more than his "progressive waiting" approach to helping babies fall asleep, too. He has useful info about the science of sleep and a plethora of sleep-related issues. Ambrose has always been a good sleeper, but I feel like learning more about sleep has helped us be better able to prevent future sleep issues, you know?)
Hey Ashleigh! First of all, Ambrose is ADORABLE! Swwet, sweet face : ) So glad to hear how well Ambrose is doing...time flies, doesn't it? And huzzah for unique A names!
DeleteI totally agree about how to create a good sleep environment makes sense...but it doesn't occur to you for a while! I bought Dr. Karp's The Happiest Baby Guide to Sleep, and while definitely the 5 S's worked, it just cemented in my brain (finally) that he had to sleep in his crib, at least at night, for his safety and for our sanity (I did do research into co-sleeping and just decided it wasn't for us, though I know it works great for some friends of mine). And it is amazing, because once we committed to it, after a few days, magic happened! Babies are smart!
And so true about mastering something only to have it disrupted shortly thereafter. I'm bracing myself for the 3 month growth spurt that's due a week or so...
And yes, "progressive waiting" is an excellent descriptive term. Thankfully, Adlai is pretty easy to convince on the whole about sleep.