Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Sleep Training


In my opinion, figuring out how to get a baby to sleep is one of the hardest parts of motherhood!
Especially when they are so tiny. 
Sometimes they are a bit picky about it! 
"Mom, you want me in my rock 'n play? On my boppy? In my swing? No thanks!" 
Seriously, that's how it was with Maeva. 

The only place she wanted to sleep was on my chest or in our bed.
And that worked for a while, until it didn't...


Maeva is a squirmer and grunter in her sleep. 
So much so that all that wiggling and noise making, was keeping us awake! 
Not to mention that we had to be so careful getting in and out of bed as to not wake her.
Then, there was one night where she just kept on waking up every hour.
I was exhausted the next morning and so was she! 

I decided that something needed to change and I had seen this post on pinterest about getting a newborn to sleep through the night. 
It pretty much summes up babywise, which is what we did with Braden.
I needed a refresher, so I read it, and started doing it with little Maeva.


First thing first was moving her out of our bed. 
This was something we'd decided before I read that post. 
One night she just wasn't sleeping so we put her in a different room.
She fell asleep right away and slept amazingly well. 
I felt refreshed and she was much happier!

The article mentions that in order for a baby to sleep well, their tummies need to be full.

Its so true... if Maeva eats well, then she sleeps well! 
I make sure she is awake every 3-4 hours to eat (during the day) and at night, before we go to bed, I wake her to eat. 

That last feeding is so important because yes, she is still sleepy, but she will eat, be full and then she'll go to sleep easier. 
Its also important that I not let her sleep all day or at night she'll want to be wide awake! 
This works well for us and well for her because we all get enough rest! 


Do you have any tips or tricks that help your baby sleep through the night?

2 comments:

  1. I made sure Melody was full and I actually trained her to sleep through the night using the swing...it wasn't ideal, but she slept best in the swing...once she slept through the night in the swing, I moved her to her crib. Now she loves her crib at night. She has never slept with us (even when I want her to) because she just likes her own space...she slept in her swing until she could roll over...she just liked being snug...we swaddled her until she was 6 months old...now she spreads out like nobodys business! haha. My focus wasn't so much AT FIRST about where she slept as much as sleeping through the night...then I moved her to her crib. not sure if that helps...thats just what I did...

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  2. My baby girl is a grunter and squirmer too. We moved her out of our bed and into the bassinet next is her crib in her room. I need to re-read baby wise too since I read it before she was born and can't remember it now.

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