Sleep Training

Carly has had trouble sleeping at night since day one.  While I expected it for the first three months, I didn't think it would go on for 6 months.  So a few weeks ago when she started demanding twice a night feedings, I decided it was time for some sleep training. We used the Ferber method with Katie and it worked very well so I assumed we would have the same success with Carly.  Unfortunately, I assumed wrong and after a very difficult week we gave up.  We were trying to break two habits.  The first was was needing to eat in the middle of the night and the second was not being able to fall back asleep without her binky.

The first night started out fairly well and she only cried for 30 minutes before falling back asleep on her own.  The second night was too good to be true because she slept a whole 9 hours without waking up!    I knew that probably wouldn't last but I assumed that we were headed in the right direction.  The next three nights were ok but she was still waking up at least once a night and sometimes crying for a whole hour.  I kept up with it because I knew that change doesn't come easy.  Christmas Eve came and she slept the whole night again and I really thought we had turned the corner and I would soon be getting caught up on 6 months of sleep deprivation.  I thought wrong.  The next night Carly cried for three hours and I gave in, popped that binky in her mouth, and had Jeff rock her back to sleep. 

So, we are back to using the binky but only when she is in her crib.  And luckily I succeeded with one of my goals because she is no longer eating at night.  I also made life easier during the day because without the binky, her naps were way too short and she was fussy and tired all day.  I still believe in the Ferber method but it just didn't work for Carly right now.  We will probably try again in a month or so but for now she is only waking up once a night.  After I make a few trips into her room to replace the binky, she goes back to sleep peacefully and doesn't wake up until around 6:00.  All was not lost and one day (hopefully soon) I will consistently get a full nights sleep.