It's an amazing thing...

... a full night's sleep, that is. Jack slept pretty well from about 2 months til about 8 months and then, not so much. He'd have a battery of complaints (at least I think he'd complain if he could talk) including reflux, teething, illness, illness, illness - we've been sick a lot this season. It seemed that if one thing wasn't waking him up in the night it was another and the easiest way for me to get him back to sleep quickly was to trudge into his room and nurse him. Now mind you, Jack is a power nurser so he never nursed for more than five or ten minutes before he fell back asleep. Then I could just put him back in his crib and return to my nice cozy bed. The catch... I was up usually two, sometimes three, and sometimes FOUR times a night! I'd been without an uninterrupted nights sleep for months and it was starting to wear on me. Don't even get me started on naps - Jack was still napping in his swing mostly (I know, I know... terrible habit). So, this past Thursday, I decided to do something about the situation.

I started the Sleep Sense program. It's a way of sleep training your baby and it's completely logical - which is probably why I didn't do this sooner! The main premise is to get rid of all "sleep props". Well, I figured I'd already done that when I got rid of Jack's paci several months ago but, apparrently, I became Jack's sleep prop... a human pacifier if you will. He didn't know how to get to sleep without me when he would wake briefly in the middle of the night. I also moved Jack's bedtime up from 8:00 to between 7:00 and 7:30. What a difference that makes as well!

We started on Thursday night - it was no picnic. He woke up several times crying for me. I'd go in and tell him it was "night-night time" and pat him on the back or stroke his hair til he calmed down. Then, I'd leave the room. Which, of course, started another crying jag but it had to be done. Friday night was better; I only had to go into Jack's room once to calm him down and then he slept til 8 am! Saturday night Jack went to bed at 7:30, woke briefly at 3:45 but didn't need me to calm down, and then slept til 7 am! That brings me to last night... Jack went to bed at 7:30 and slept all the way through til 6 am! Soooo exciting. I feel like a new woman! I forgot how good it feels to get that much uninterrupted sleep. It's dreamy! (pun very much intended)