Sleep Training Hailey Take 2

Dear Hailey,
Whew, when it comes to bedtime, you put up a good fight. Before we left for Christmas, we did a short session of having you cry it out in order to learn how to fall asleep on your own. That worked pretty well. But then we went on vacation and things got a bit more hectic, so we decided to officially start sleep training you after we got back from our California trip. I think you had gotten over your 4 month sleep regression before we left, so I was comfortable giving it a go when we got back. For both Nathan and Hannah, we sleep trained after we returned home from our Christmas trips.

Tuesday night: You cried 45 minutes before finally settling down to sleep.
Wednesday night: You cried 30 minutes.
Thursday night: You cried 60 minutes and then I went in and helped you fall asleep by patting you.
Friday night: You were calm and quiet for about 15 minutes and then cried for 30 minutes. This totally faked us out.
Saturday night: You fussed for 20 minutes before falling asleep.
Tonight: After going through the routine, as soon as I turned off the lights, you started to cry. I could not calm you down. It was as if you knew you were about to be left alone. So, I put you down to see if you would eventually fall asleep, (since you were going to cry anyways). Well, an hour later, you are still crying on and off so I pick you up and nurse you some. I try to put you down again and as soon as you realized what I was about to do, you cried again.

I decided to change the scenery a bit, thinking maybe you have developed a bad sleep association with your crib, so I brought you down, nursed you a little more, and put you down in our bed. You looked around and fell right asleep.

Nathan and Hannah were both trained in 3 days. Textbook cases. God gave me you to remind me that all children are different.

So, we are going to reset. I'm going to follow my mom instincts and do what I think works best for you. I need to remember that you are not Nathan or Hannah and not feel like I need to do things exactly like how I did with them. You are a different kid.

Here's the plan. I'm going to continue to establish a stronger sleep routine in your bedroom, but then put your down to sleep in our room. I feel like you are more comfortable in our bed (mentally) so I'll sleep train you in our bed. Then slowly, for naps, I'll sneak you in your bed once in awhile to get you used to sleeping in your crib. And maybe in a month, we'll do another session of cry it out in your own crib (after you have learned to fall asleep on your own in our bed) and hopefully, it won't be as bad.

It's been a tough few evenings. For now, my nerves can rest.

Love,
Mommy