Night Sleep

Last night, Dawson went to bed at 7:30 and didn't wake up until 5:40. He went down without any struggle and woke up happy. It hasn't been easy to get there, though.

Erin and I have been following pretty closely the guidance in the book Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, recommended to us by our mutual funds rep, Brian. Dawson has been sticking with the sleep milestones and habits Dr. Weissbluth outlines in his book; two long naps during the nap and waking up once for a nighttime feeding. With Dawson approaching 9 months however, Dr. W says it's time to phase out the night feeding. So Sunday night, I sent Erin to sleep downstairs so I could do the "work" of helping Dawson break his habit of a midnight bottle.

2:30, Dawson woke up crying for his bottle, right on cue. I put a binky back in his mouth, tried to quite him but it didn't work. It was then time to let Dawson cry it out. 3:00 he was still screaming full strength so I went back in, put the binky back in his mouth and laid him back down. That didn't work, so there was another 20 minutes of crying but the cries were lessening in intensity. I went back in to check on him and saw that he was at least laying down by now and I knew he was about to give in to sleep. 10 minutes later, he was asleep, not waking up again until 6:45.

Now, believe me, that hour of crying was not easy. I laid in bed for awhile, did some reading but mostly kept reassuring myself I was doing the right thing. "If he doesn't learn to sleep now, he'll never learn and I want him to sleep at college," "crying is a form of amnesia, it will help him unlearn his waking up habit," and "babies have to learn to self soothe and if you do it for them, they'll never learn." Those principles from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child kept me strong.

The next night, he woke up again and cried for another hour. This time, I didn't do anything to sooth him and he eventually fell asleep on his own.

The third night, I woke up at exact same time but NO CRYING BABY! At 4:00 that morning, he cried out and I thought he was going to wake up but he went right back to sleep.

This round of self-will has been won by mommy and daddy. Not only do we gain the benefit of a full night's sleep but Dawson gains the benefit of learning how to sleep through the night and how to put himself back to sleep if he wakes up. It's a great, great feeling and I'm VERY glad it's over.

This morning in church, I was recommending that book to sleep-deprived parents of a one month old. I was told by another family that when they decided to break their son of the night waking habit, he cried for 6 straight hours! Dawson is such an easy baby.