I put off sleep training for MONTHS - out of fear. Yes, I was afraid of my children. Perhaps some of you out there can identify. Those two little darlings had me fearing every time a door closed or a floor creaked. They had me dreading every night, knowing that I would be getting at least one wake up call, if not 3 or 4. They had me declaring to my husband every morning that I was literally being driven out of my mind by his children. They had Rob and I calling "not it" on the bedtime rocking routine, that had morphed from a 5 minute easy out to a 30 minute struggle that more often that not resulted in the other parent having to give it a shot.
So, one hot summer night, with two babies refusing to sleep, we declared war. As my husband so eloquently put it "They need to figure their shit out!". Agreed, dear, agreed. That was on the 22nd.
War is never easy. Those dumplings fought, and they fought hard. They reminded us that first night of why we hadn't been able to follow through on this before. Avery cried as though her little heart were breaking, and in the process just about broke ours. Lauren wanted to give up, but Avery persuaded her to fight us too. Eventually though, they did sleep, and we breathed a sigh of relief. There was only one wakeup call that night, a little mini battle between Avery and I where I refused to pick her up, although I was cringing with every scream, positive that Lauren would soon join her (she didn't). On any previous night, Avery would have been whisked quickly and quietly into my bed so Lauren wouldn't be disturbed, even though the results of that were that Rob and I were disturbed. So I was proud of myself for that 1 a.m. battle (I may have even bragged a little to Rob the next morning).
Naps were on my own, and they about drove me crazy. Rob received MANY texts where I vented my supreme frustration. Poor guy! But sleep training alone is not easy, and I needed to feel like someone was on my side.
Days 2, 3 and 4 got progressively easier. The struggles got shorter, the naps got longer, the night wakings disappeared.
Now, I was close to declaring victory on day 5, before my darling Avery made a last minute suprise attack on a solo mommy in an attempt to reassert her control over our entire family's sleep, but I did not retreat. I did text my late-working hubby to declare that, even though he was stuck working late on a Friday night, I was having the worse time, but I did not let that child win.
So today, on the 30th, it is 10:20 a.m., and my lovelies are midway through what has become a RELIABLE, DEPENDABLE, EASY 90-120 minute nap. At 2 they'll go down again for another 60-90 minutes. And at 7:15, they'll squawk for about 60 seconds, and then pass out for the night, not to be heard from until 6:30 a.m.
I am in heaven. My chores are done, my house is clean and quiet. It is amazing what babies who sleep well can do for your sanity.
Someone tell me why I didn't do this months ago!
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| This is what Avery looks like when she's actually well rested. |
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| Sleepy Head Lauren |
