Taking a Stand

Well, I haven't posted about this lately, mostly because I have simply been too exhausted, but Maya's sleep habits have deteriorated as of late. And really, it's all our fault. I swore up and down that we would Ferberize at the four-month mark like we did with Nikos, and get Maya on a good sleep schedule. But we ended up only doing the sleep training at bedtime. When she would wake up during the night, we would either give her the pacifier, feed her, or (when all else failed) bring her into bed with us. And so a bad habit was formed... The more we did this, the more frequent her nighttime wakings became. I know she can't talk yet, but I swear that she wakes up on purpose because she hopes she'll end up in our bed. She is such a little snuggler! But it's still not a good habit, and I never wake up feeling refreshed when she sleeps with us.

Anyhow... It got worse and worse this week, to the point where she was waking up every hour or two all night long-- and she has NEVER done that, not even as a newborn! Gus and I finally decided that it was high time to Ferberize again, only this time we would follow through on it. It's hard to do this when both of us have to get up early for work and we don't want to wake Nikos up with her crying... But it definitely needs to be done. It may seem easy to stick a pacifier in her mouth or feed her, but to do that over and over and over again all night long is not fun.

So... We did it! Last night, Maya actually slept for a longer chunk than she has lately, waking at 2:15am. I nursed her (since I'm pretty sure she does still need one nighttime feeding-- I won't stop that just yet!). I laid her back in her crib, and she drifted right off... Only to wake up crying about half an hour later. So, we followed the Ferber method. She probably cried off and on for a total of 20 minutes, but she did put herself back to sleep. And she didn't wake up again until 6:15am! Add to that the fact that today was Sunday (my day to sleep in), and I actually felt rested and refreshed for the first time in WEEKS!

So yes. We are sleep training again. We'll do it right this time!