Sleep training (O.o)

When it comes to sleeping I'm pretty sure this is what Eva Lind would say if she could talk:

I will admit that we definitely made a mistake which was probably causing my little Eva Lind to feel a bit agitated and restless. When we started giving her solids at 4 months I decided to give her this powder like porridge which helps bulk up babies.

 It tasted really good and she actually really liked it. But it was causing her to poop less and poor thing was just full of energy and sleeping was not really an option! She was even drinking more during this period but even so, for her 5 month doctor's visit she had only gained 300 grams! But again, muscle weighs more than fat and I'm pretty sure all her standing up exercise is turning fat to muscle! Anyways.

I decided to stop giving her this powder porridgy thingy and now she only eats vegetable/fruit mush and breastfeeds and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! Her sleeping has improved a lot!  She goes to sleep at night at around 18/19 (depends on how much she slept during the day = still highly unpredictable!) and she's waking up twice a night to drink (which I'm allowing due to how active she is and weight). Today for example she woke up at 6 am which made mommy really happy because she slept almost 12 hours! Poor thing, when she was sleeping the least she had circles under her eyes and red eyes from rubbing them due to lack of sleep. 

Now as she finally started sleeping more we noticed immediately that she was a lot more content, feeling better about herself and more relaxed. 

Sleeping with "Kúri"

So now what did mommy decide it was time for? 

 Sleep training! (insert highly dramatic music)

WOW.. Nobody could ever have warned me about how difficult this process is!! You need a lot of consistency, time and patience!  What's helping me is staying focused on the goal;  Helping Eva Lind feel more confident and being able to self soothe more easily (which in turn will help her sleep better through the night). 

Tired but won´t sleep!

According to BabyCenter: "Between 4 and 6 months of age, most babies are ready for sleep training and are capable of sleeping for a stretch of eight to 12 hours. You can start setting the stage at around 6 weeks by developing a bedtime routine. But don't worry if you're already past that time. It's never too late to start."

I´ve always had a sleep routine with Eva Lind at night.  After our walk in the afternoon at the beach we played a little and then she would take a bath and the whole process started.. Dim the lights, talking softly, putting on her pajamas and singing to her.  As she got a bit older I started noticing that she'd only get more energetic after her baths so I stopped giving her a bath before sleeping and now I read to her instead (more like, she tries to eat the book hehe).   

I had read a lot about both Sleep Training Methods and Self Soothing and I felt confident to start this process (I'm laughing at myself now).

Oh boy.  

Stay focused.

Remember why you're doing this.

Eva Lind crying is not the end of the world. 

You can do this.

Be strong.

Cortisol flying around my body.

I just want to pick her up.

I can´t do this to my little one.

After feeling like I was failing terribly at this I talked to my cousin in Iceland, Halla (takk aftur elsku Halla!) who is a pediatrician and a mother of two beautiful boys.  Coincidentally she had just sat a lecture the night before on sleep training!  She gave me some really good tips and along with those I also followed this article from Parents.com; "Teach Baby to Sleep in Just 7 Days". 

Halla Hrund and her beautiful boys

7 days?? I doubt it. But today is day #4 (we had some interruptions - she started teething and then she got her 5 month vaccination) and it´s already taking much shorter time than it did in the beginning and I can feel her being less nervous (or maybe it's just me being less anxious!). It´s still hard to get her to nap longer than an hour during the day, but hey she slept 12 hours last night which doesn't happen often and she's napping more than 30 minutes during the day so this must be working! In fact, as we speak she just woke up from nap #2 and she slept 1 hour and 10 minutes!  

I´ll admit that in the beginning just sitting in her room and listening to her cry made me feel like a terrible person and my heart was aching. I have become a bit of an anxious person after a terrible life event I went through and after talking about this with my psychologist I realized that she was probably just picking up on my anxiety and thus having a hard time relaxing. As I realized this I tried doing my best to stay calm in there with her and it´s working! Now it takes her 10-15 minutes to fall asleep instead of 40-60 minutes! Victory!!

I almost gave up on this a couple of times and I know some people think this is really cruel and some have even called this "child abuse" (seriously). But I'm definitely noticing how much calmer she is and she's also being able to play by herself more without having to call for our attention all the time. 

Google Image Search is always right!

Whatever I can do to make my little Eva Lind a happier and healthier person I will do and I won't give up! 

Best place to sleep

I'd love to hear from you about this topic!  How did your sleep training go?  Did your little one sleep better? (in other words.. please tell me this is all worth it hahaha)  Also feel free to leave any sleep training tips/advices you have up your sleeve ;)   

Well, that´s it for now!  I hope you enjoyed this post! 

L8er G8er