Sleep Improving!

I made my plan, implemented it, and things are improving around our house for everyone! Here's a synopsis of what we did.



Hannah Grace had an association of nursing to sleep, and it usually happened on the couch, so I began our transistion by getting her used to the notion of falling asleep in her crib. She got a bath, a massage, a bedtime story, a lullaby, and I put her in her crib. I climbed in there with her, (yes, you read that right) and nursed her to sleep in her bed. I was hoping that falling asleep in the bed even with my presence might be enough to keep her there, but no luck. She woke about 15 minutes later, and 15 minutes after that and so on.



After about a week of falling asleep with mom, I let her nurse in bed for a little while, but not until she fell asleep, told her goodnight and left the room. Of course, she fussed. I immediately went to check on her, patted her back, and left. I came back two minutes later to reassure her again, then returned in four. After that I didn't come back. At that point I felt continuing to go in her room would extend the protests rather than soothe them. After 30 minutes of crying total, she fell asleep. She slept for four hours, which was an immediate improvement from the ususal. I fed her when she woke up because even though a seven month old can go longer than that without eating at night quite easily, her little system had been awfully used to eating around the clock, and might want to make the adjustment gradually.



The second night I gave Hannah Grace a couple sips of chamomile tea from a spoon in hopes that it might calm her a little bit and help her deal with this adjustment period. It may have been just the thing. She cried about two minutes, fell asleep and stayed that way for six hours! The third night she cried for about one minute and the fourth wimpered for a few seconds and was done.



I am so thankful to have the evenings back! It has been a blessing to everyone. Aside from sleeping better, Hannah Grace has had quite an eventful last two weeks. She has begun belly-up crawling, pulling up to stand, and even doing a little cruising on furniture. I'm so thankful that the Lord has blessed her progress in learning to sleep and growing in total. He has been so wonderfully good to us. Next up is naptime. I'm praying Hannah Grace' s transistion to her crib will be just as easy during the day!