TRUE LIFE // surviving baby months 4-7
BABY MONITOR | WALLPAPER | SIGN | CRIB CANOPY
If you follow me closely, you may have noticed that the struggle was more than real a few months ago. This past Spring was rough and we are finally coming out of it. Pearl went through major sleep regressions and I really struggled with whether or not to sleep train her. I am so attached to her like any mother is to her child, but I also have just been trying to soak up every possible moment with her because I know she is likely my last baby. So for a while there… we co-slept a lot.
Happy to report that at 8 months old, she is officially sleep trained and loves her crib. Here’s how we did it.
Talk to anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you I’m not going to read a book. I might buy 10 or so on a subject, and scroll through. But I can’t calm down long enough to pay attention to a self help book unless it really sucks me in. Ha! Yes, school was hard for me. ;)
I typically take the trial and error approach when it comes to parenting, lol, to be honest. PJ slept great until 3 months old then was rolling over and we had to transition her out of the swaddle. Eventually my issue was that I really didn’t want to let her cry.
She has always pretty much slept through the night so my major issue with her was that she wouldn’t nap during the day. Because of that, she would just whine all day. That, plus teething, and OH MY GOSH I WAS LOSING MY MIND.
We waited until she was about 6 months old (yes, for two months I laid down with her everywhere) and I started letting her cry it out a little. I watched her diligently in her crib and I would notice that she would easily find her pacifier and soothe herself. She’d lie down and start to fall asleep and then bounce back up and cry for me.
That’s when I knew it was time. This girl was straight PLAYING ME.
So I let her cry. And it sucked. Really bad. We never really had to do anything like this with Emmie, and I’m not sure it would have been right for her.
But after a few times she really got the hang of it and realized I wasn’t coming in there. She finally started taking her daytime naps.
And this, my friends, has been a game changer.
In summary, this is how our sleep time goes right now (she is almost 9 months old).
9:00AM, 2:00PM, 6:30PM - I feed her a bottle and rock her. She doesn’t fall asleep but it’s our special time. Then I put her in the crib with her paci. She cries for a minute then goes straight to sleep. Most days she doesn’t even cry. She sleeps anywhere from 1.5hours - 3 hours for her naps and then 12-14 hours through the night. She is SO MUCH happier.
If you came here for a magical sleep training solution, I don’t have one for you. But I can tell you this — go with your gut. I don’t regret co-sleeping for those several months with her. But in my heart and soul I knew she was ready for her crib and ready to be without me. A mother’s intuition is everything. Was she ready before 6 months? No. I really don’t feel like she was.
I have to say this - if you choose to co-sleep, please make sure you research safe co-sleeping habits first. Tragedies happen often, as they also do in cribs. Just be smart, and don’t ever let anyone make you feel silly for wanting to check on your baby. I am 100% in support of parents even with kids who don’t have any medical issues using an Owlet and a reliable baby monitor.
It is your job as a parent to make sure your kid is safe, and this creates a lot of anxiety in motherhood. For me personally, I absolutely have loved the Lollipop baby monitor. It links to my cell phone, plays music or sounds, and records everything. The cry detection is spot on. Highly recommend it and it’s often on sale on Amazon here. We don’t have the sensor but I recommend getting it.
