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Written when Galen had just turned a year old
Do you put your baby to bed only to watch him or her roll over and drift peacefully off to sleep? Well, I've been in shock every night for the past week because that's exactly what happens when I put Galen in his bed at night.
We nurse, then he has a potty break and I get him dressed for bed, then I rock him and sing a song. I carry him upstairs, give him a kiss and put him in bed. Then he rolls over and goes to sleep. I walk out of the room and he stays peacefully snoozing.
This is a major change from the crying, screaming, climbing, sleep fight that used to happen for an hour or two every night.
And this new, peaceful bedtime routine came with no crying (from Galen or from me!)
I decided to use Chris Towland's baby sleep system, and I have been floored by just how easily it worked with Galen, and with no crying. Since I didn't want him to cry it took a little bit of time - about two weeks - to get Galen to his "roll over and drift off to sleep" place he's at now. But the techniques worked beautifully and it has been worth the few nights it took to help Galen learn to go to sleep without having to cry it out.
Scott and I really enjoy being able to put Galen to bed at the same time as the other kids, and having some "kid free" time in the evenings - and I like snuggle time at night before Galen comes to bed with us (we still bring him to bed when he wakes at night).
Chris recommends working on one thing at a time, so we got Galen going to sleep nicely. At this point Galen still nurses a lot at night, and since he's not eating much solid food I'm not sure I'm ready to have him "sleeping through the night" so we may just stop here and work on Galen's feeding skills. But Chris also has ideas on getting your baby to "sleep like a baby" through the night, if you and your little one are at that point!
Update: Galen at 16 Months
Galen is now sleeping pretty much right through the night. He's dropped the 10pm nursing and is now sleeping straight through the night until around 5:00am. I get up at 5:30, so right now I'm setting my clock to get him up 5 so I can nurse him. He's on the small side for his age so I don't want to give up that morning nursing. But I want to get up and write at 5:30 before the kids get up around 7. Nursing him and putting him back to bed is working well. Baby Sleep Solution techniques have worked like a dream for teaching him to sleep through the night, and go to sleep when put in his bed. It's so nice.
Update: Galen at 18 months
Naps were becoming increasingly hard. It used to be that I could lie down in bed and Galen would nurse then sleep beside me. That started changing and he didn't want to sleep unless he was nursing. I decided to use the Sleep Solution techniques again to teach him to fall asleep in his bed. I was surprised but it wasn't really hard. I started nursing him downstairs before we went up to nap. Then I put him in his bed. It only took a few days for him to figure out that he was napping in his bed now, and he rolls over and goes to sleep pretty easily.
Update: Galen at 21 Month
Galen has gained a lot of weight over the summer and is doing really well. We've totally dropped the 5am nursing. He's sleeping through the night from when we put him to bed at 7pm until he gets up around 7am. It's really wonderful. He naps in his own bed at naptime every day. I wish I'd had this when the others were babies and toddlers - life might have been much easier! The next step will be to move his bed out of our room. Not sure when we'll do that.
I'm a mother of four - I've read a lot and I've "been around the block" with every baby sleep program you can imagine. The Baby Sleep Solution works - and best of all, it works without your baby having to cry. You establish good sleep habits the right way, so they last and you feel good about what you do for your baby. I recommend it highly.
~Kristen
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