Sleep for Baby

My little lady playing around in her co-sleeper after a nap.

At the beginning of September, I started reading a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. It has good information, but I think it would be most helpful to parents with a newborn or at least a baby under 3 months old. Once there already is a sleeping problem/pattern established, it isn't quite as helpful. My daughter was 7 months old and still sleeping in bed with us and napping usually on me. She had become very accustomed to body warmth to sleep. The book did help me realize that we'd been letting her go to bed too late and that is my main reason to be thankful my husband bought the book for me. I stopped reading it after having enough of the guilt trips it would cause if I didn't have my daughter napping at the 'perfect' sleep time. I had started letting her cry for short intervals at naptime, letting herself get used to being on her own for sleeping, but refused to do the "extinction" method of letting her cry until she fell asleep for three nights in a row. I feel for my baby too much to be able to listen to her wail.
After going to our local doctor for a checkup, I asked about her napping problems (she likes to take several catnaps throughout the day rather than two or three long naps). The doctor suggested fixing her nighttime pattern to help correct the daytime....she suggested letting her cry it out for three nights. That, apparently, is the amount of time it takes to program/deprogram a baby's sleep habit. For whatever reason, I felt mentally strong enough that night to give it a try. I thought it's now or never, but I'll play it by ear. If she was really upset or cried for an hour (the book's cutoff time) then I'll go in and pick her up. My daughter had only ever once put herself to sleep. It took 40-45 minutes of fussing and she fell asleep sitting up slumped over her dollie. It had been 2 or 3 weeks since that one time, but it still gave me hope. So I nursed my baby and then rocked her until she was very drowsy with eyes closed, but not asleep, before giving her a kiss and laying her in her playpen (currently serving as a bigger co-sleeper next to our bed). She flung her eyes open and started wailing as I was setting her down, but I thought let's just see and shut the door softly behind me. Our handheld moniter has a video screen on it so I could watch her while listening. She fussed on and off and put herself to sleep between 10-30 minutes (I kept busy cooking dinner and forgot to check the screen at 20 minutes). I thought amazing! I was so proud of our little baby. The next 4 nights went as follows:

2nd night- cried for 45 minutes, was not a happy camper, but I had forgotten to turn on her night light. She had womb sounds playing, but I still felt like a jerk when I realized.
3rd night- fussed and cried a little on and off but was asleep in under 30 minutes. That night and from then on I made sure to have both night lights and soothing music playing.
4th night- okay, tonight would be the test. Did the three nights work? Sure enough, she put herself to sleep in under 20 minutes with NO crying. She only did the initial wail when I very first put her down in her crib. She might be drowsy and tired, but she knows what being set down means: no more momma. This night I was EXCEPTIONALLY proud of her. Under 20 minutes AND no crying!
5th night- fussed and cried just a little, but put herself to sleep in under 15 minutes! She likes to fall asleep on her tummy with her little legs tucked up under her and her head to the side where she's bunched up her blanket. Adorable! She also has been staying asleep until about 3am instead of the 11pm before we started this method.

Tonight will be the 6th night and I hope it continues to go well. I still put her to sleep myself for naps though because that's our daytime sleep routine. Being a parent is tough, but the rewards of seeing your child grow and learn are SO worth it. In fact, I found out yesterday that she knows the word 'no'. She was picking up a big stick with slivers so I told her no and she dropped it and looked at me with this expression like 'OMG what? why?'. That was also a very proud moment :)

There's nothing greater in this world than having your baby's face light up when they see you. There's nothing more precious in this world than the sight and sound of your baby smiling and laughing--happy. I would give my life if it would ensure my baby would stay happy, healthy, safe, and warm. That's what being a good momma is all about :)