Saturday, April 25, 2015

The evil training on her sleeping habits

We heard babies sleeping overnight (8 hours straight) at 1 month old.
Not ours.
I read that young babies sleep between 16 to 17 hours a day.
Not ours.

At around 8 month old, we put her to sleep around 8pm, she would walk up at 11pm, 2am, 5am &7am. It was very tiresome, I breastfed her to go back to sleep. Sometimes she ended up sleeping in our bed, and since I didn't get enough sleep I actually had to take the second morning off as I was sleep deprived.

During winter school holidays, we sent both girls to my in laws' house. She received what I considered an evil training there. Three days later, she was sleeping through the night (12h straight)!

So what did we do?
First night : we put her to sleep around 8pm. At around 11:30pm, my MIL woke her up and fed her a bottle of milk. Then, she slept in a room alone, and we only picked her up at around 7am the second morning. No response to her crying during the night.

Second night and third night : same strategy except that we withdrew the 11:30pm bottle. She slept from 8pm to 8am, with some whining in between, but we let her cry and she fell back asleep after.

After the holidays, she came home and ajusted to the new routine with us. She woke up during the night but we insisted that no one would come to tend to her. Gradually she got the message, and since then has been sleeping sound for a around 11-12 hours during the night.

Down the memory lane

Photo shows the baby sleeping in her bassinet. She refused pacifier since she was born. After we got home from the birth clinic, every night I felt like entering a war zone (my room), as I shared the same bed as her, and she was waking up every 2 hours for milk. Hubby had since escaped from the scene, he prefered to sleep somewhere else.

At around 3 month old, we went to grandma's place. She protested when we put her down to sleep. She moved her feet so much that one foot was rubbing the side of the bassinet which caused her to bleed. I felt so bad when I discovered that her little toe was bleeding. Around 4 months old she outgrew the bassinet, as she knew how to flip over which led her to fall on the floor. Her sister stayed longer in that bassinet.

From birth to around 3 month old, I carried her with a scarf, she loved it and could sleep for long hours in it. Now I carry her with a baby porter.

She loved to sleep in this baby bouncer. Unfortunately the mid wife said she should stay there maximum 2 hours per day, as it wouldn't be good for her bone development if she stays too long. She used it until around 4 month old. 

She used to cry a lot in the car, it seems now she gets the idea and could sleep quitely while we travel in the car. She would still cry if she is too hot.

After she outgrew the bassinet we put her in this crib. She outgrew it around 7 months old as she was moving too much and kept banging on the sides. We got rid of that crib, and her as she has been sleeping in her sister's bed and room. I miss the time sharing a room with her, as I can hear her farting, fidgeting, wiggling. lol

Just a note : she is not even one, we have to get rid of the bassinet, the crib, the bouncer and soon her car seat. That's the reason why we borrowed, reused the equipments, babies just outgrow them too fast.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:08 AM

    Ah, sleep... Mark was very very hard to put to sleep. He started to stop napping when he was around 6 months old. I was NOT happy as I need the time off to work! We also used to wake him up for a late-night feed so that he would sleep in the morning, since we both work late and are not morning people. He loved sleeping in the sling against me when he was a baby but he would wake up as soon as I put him down. Again, I wasn't happy with that because I needed the time to take a shower, eat, etc.

    We are having sleeping issues with him again now that he is older, he started to be wake up often during the night and he gets up, turn on the light and all. I don't even know what to do with that!

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  2. Thanks for sharing. My baby is 5 months old, and she was sleeping through the night at 3 months. When she was a month old, she was sleeping in her crib and I had terrible nights, was waking 3 times at night. I've decided to share the bed with her and she was starting to sleep through the night. I only used the baby sleeping bag at 2 months. Didn't think it was useful. Since using the gigoteuse, she sleeps very well.

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  3. La petite ressemble beaucoup à sa soeur .

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  4. Seems like the training is very effective.

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  5. My son slept through the night even at day one. He whines for milk at ungodly hours, but never open his eyes while nursing. When I slowly nurse him only during the day and last one at 8 pm, giving him a sippy cup filled with water, he never even complained. He just slept on till the next morning. His sister was also the same.

    Only time I ever had a tired moment was when the sister has nightmares and we have to deal with it. Hard to sleep if someone is screaming and crying and SLEEPING at the same time. Otherwise, yes, I never had problems with the kids during the night.

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