I got a nice note from Emily over at Purely Diligent, who wrote about great success with sleep training her baby:
To our great surprise, with this routine, L has not cried once. Zip. Zero. Not a drop. We do not know if her phase simply ended or if the magic formula was found. Either way, we are thankful and pleased. With this new routine, L is now sleeping 11 hours at night versus 8. Her napping has also greatly improved going from maybe 1 1/2 hours to 3 1/2 a day. L’s sleeping cues have also become clearer. During those couple minutes of rocking, she will make a certain humming noise when she wants to be put into her crib. A bonus in this ordeal! We are expecting the next child to give us more grief than this. L made it too easy.
Sleep training is an aspect of parenting most do not look forward to. I imagine it is on the list between teething and potty training. No matter what your child’s situation is, DO NOT GIVE UP! Slowly, but surely you will find the magic formula that works perfectly for all parties to get a wonderful night’s sleep.
This highlights a couple of important points:
- Sleep training does not have to involve a ton of crying if you make some changes to the bedtime routine.
- It is often scarier in theory than in practice.