Sleep? What's That? - #2

Sleep, how important it is. When Lenka was born she was pretty good about sleeping through the night; unlike her little sister Janika. For the first few months of her life she would wake up all the time in the middle of the night and Angela would get about 2 to 3 hours of sleep. Not only did it affect her daily life, but it affected our relationship too. Something had to change, we had to take control of Janika’s sleep pattern and we had to do it now.

This was going to be the first time we actually had to do some sleep training. Lenka was really easy, we kept her awake from 7pm to 9pm every night and when we put her to bed, she was basically fine until morning. That technique just wasn’t working with Janika. Parents with more than one kid will know that even though they are siblings, they are completely different. What works for one, will not necessarily work for the other. Angela started reading a book by an author that was against the cry out method. Since the girls were sharing a room crying it out wasn’t an option. The book suggested that when the baby cries we go and get them so they don’t feel abandoned. Also, make sure when you put the kid to bed, make sure they are awake so they don’t wake up in a strange place. We tried all of this, but it wasn’t working. We needed another idea and Angela turned to her fellow moms and the idea she got worked like a charm.

Separate the girls; at least for awhile (We put her in play pen)
If she starts crying; let her cry and after 5 minutes go check on her and comfort her and talk to her for 1 minute. (Do not pick her up or feed her)
If she continues to cry wait 10 more minutes and then comfort her but do not talk to her for 1 minute.
If the crying continues wait 15 minutes this time and then comfort her for 1 minute.

We just repeated this going up 5 every time and so far she has not lasted longer that 20 minutes. She eventually realizes that no one is coming and she went to sleep. And the biggest thing was, she still loved us the next day. No sign of trauma in any way. We realized the first time around with Lenka that crying for a baby is just the way they communicate. The do cry when they are in pain, but that is a different type of cry and being a parent you should hopefully know what each one means or at least trying to figure it out. (Not that I really know or anything)

So to wrap up this second entry I want to stress how important it is for not only your baby to get some sleep, it is even more important that you sleep. What good are your kids if you are not conscious to enjoy the time you have with them when they are a baby.