The other day a friend babysat the kiddos and was surprised at how easy my almost-four-year-old was to get to sleep. I’m proud to admit, she’s right. Averie is a no fuss going-to-bedder. I also have a 4 month old who’s been sleeping through the night since before she was 2 months. She, as well, is (usually) a no-fusser when going to sleep. The funny thing? Two totally different methods that I’ve used. What are your methods or routines? I’d love to hear them!
With #1, Averie, well . . . she was my first. So, everytime she cried, I was there. I’d feed her until she went to sleep and put her to bed that way. Sleepless nights were the norm back then. She was a screamer, too, so it wasn’t like I could sleep through her fussing. I went in there every single time. But, we kept to a strict bedtime routine. A bath, followed by a baby massage, then the same night-night book, white noise, and bottle-to-bed. At 10 months I was sick of sleep deprivation, and being cranky all the time, so I tried the cry-it-out method. It took two nights of her wailing for a good hour (which was treacherous) before she finally only fussed for thirty minutes before conking out. Only two weeks of that until she finally learned how to soothe herself on her own without the help of mommy.
One thing we’ve kept tradition was a constant night-night routine no matter what. It’s changed as she’s gotten older. Her toddler routine was bath, brushing teeth to “The Brush Your Teeth” song, a dance, the same book, a few songs (the same every night) and good night kiss. Her older toddler routine was similar, but we started letting her pick her own books so they varied each night. We did the same songs (5 of them) for a whole year, and then she started the “Mommy, Daddy, Neville!” Routine. We leave her with her sippy of water and say goodnight after our routine, then we wait in the hall as she calls for us and the dog (Neville). We go back in for another goodnight. And now, books are interchangeable with telling stories (like of when she was a baby), we pray, and she still does “Mommy, Daddy, Neville, Alaina”. It’s complicated writing this all down for the babysitters, but it’s proved effective. Every night she goes down, straight to sleep, without any issues. And, (this may be due to her personality type instead of something I’ve done) she use to never get up until I said she could in the morning (she’d ask while she was still in her bed). Now she gets up usually on her own, sometimes she still asks, and all is well.
As for the baby, well, being number 2 child, things are always less worrisome. I knew when Alaina was crying it wasn’t because she was in pain or hungry or dirty, she was tired and didn’t know how to soothe herself. So just before 2 months old, I let her fuss a bit to see if she could get herself to sleep. After ten minutes I’d go in there and pop her paci back in (mind you she isn’t a screamer like Averie. If she were, I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle the “fussing”). It took two days/nights of this. Now, she goes to bed awake and can get herself to sleep on her own. Granted, we have this fancy European blanket my mom got her and she can’t seem to sleep without. (Shown in picture. I’ll be adding the link as soon as I get it).
So both methods have worked. Even though my firstborn kept me sleep deprived for almost a year doing that method, she is such a great sleeper now and has never woken up in the middle of the night to jump in bed with us (not that I wouldn’t mind every now and again). And though I agree to tend to my baby whenever she’s crying, I feel differently about when it’s time to sleep. It’s our job as parents not to just soothe them but to teach them and help them thrive on being independent people. One in which is to nurture their ability to soothe themselves to sleep on their own.
Please share your own ideas with me! You never know how many other parents we can help or inspire by sharing what has worked for us in the child-rearing battlefield.
Posted by christacarol 
