Sleep Training

It's going to be a long week around here... I would so like to be wrong about that but we've decided it is time that Mari learn to sleep through the night. She's been getting up 3-6 times a night each night to nurse back to sleep and I just can't do it anymore.

I've put up with it this long for several reasons. The first is that she shares a room with Hailey and Hailey needs to sleep. The second is that nursing her back to sleep takes less that 15 minutes of quiet, which would be fine if she were only getting up once a night. The third reason is that I am terrible at listening to and dealing with crying in the middle of the night. It usually reduces me to tears.

So we are moving Hailey's mattress into Micah's room for however long it takes to get Miss Mariana on an improved sleeping schedule that will allow everyone to get more sleep. Her doctor only thinks it will take 3 or 4 days. I unfortunately feel that may be a tad optimistic.

The Morning Update:
So last night was night number one and it went much better than I expected! I don't usually have trouble getting her to sleep at bedtime and last night was no exception. Hailey and Micah were excited to have a "sleepover" and they did fall asleep pretty quickly. Mari woke up at 10:00 - right on her "schedule," and this was our longest battle. I went in and told her I loved her and that it was time to go back to sleep and then I left. I came back 10 minutes later and did the same thing, and so on. I knew that I could not pick her up, because if I did, I would be sitting in the rocking chair feeding her in just a matter of moments. She wasn't happy with me, at all, but she did manage to get back to sleep after about 30 minutes.

Round two was at 1:00 am, and I only had to go in twice before she fell back to sleep - about 15 minutes. And round three was at 4:45 am and was the same as round two. So I managed to get just as much or more sleep than I usually do! And Miss Mari woke up happy and hungry at 6:40 this morning.

I had never understood the point of going in and patting your baby while they were screaming to be held. It never seemed very soothing and they don't really stop crying, if anything they ramp it up. Mari's doctor recommended it though saying it wouldn't necessarily calm her down, but it would reassure her that she was safe - angry, but safe. It makes sense to me now - only took three babies.