To sleep or not to sleep?

                           

For the last 2 weeks, Sadie has such a hard time with sleeping (naps and bedtime), hence why I haven't blogged in awhile. She usually took two naps a day and was pretty much sleeping through the night and then all of a sudden she wouldn't sleep in her crib. I rock her to sleep because that is what works for us right now and then when she is asleep I put her in her crib and she will normally stay asleep. Well it was a normal day and I rocked her but when I went to put her down she woke up, started screaming and wouldn't go back to sleep. That night, the same thing happened and then the next day it happened again so I decided to start trying different ways to get her to sleep. We did the cry it out method for a couple days and it didn't work. Sadie is one of those babies that when she gets worked up, she can't fall asleep plus I have never been a fan of letting your baby cry alone in a room for hours on end so we stopped that method. I then tried putting her down while she was drowsy and still awake. Nope that didn't work either so I then tried rocking her, putting her down, patting her back and laying down next to her crib. Can you guess how that worked out? Yup you're right, it didn't work either.

I was so frustrated and exhausted so I started doing more and more research. I bought a book, read everything on the internet and so forth. We did the calming bath wash with the calming lotion and reading a book and setting a calm atmosphere but she would still wake up and the only way I could get her to sleep was either let her sleep on me or in our bed and we didn't want to make that a habit. I started to realize that she was most likely going through separation anxiety so I changed my view on how to get her to sleep. I make myself feel relaxed, I rock her and gently put her down and if she does start to cry I talk softly to her and pat her back. After doing that, she will usually stay asleep.

I was putting so much blame on Sadie for her not sleeping that I didn't realize that I needed to change my way of thinking about it and not get so frustrated about her sleeping habits because let's face it, she's a baby toddler and they change their sleeping habits quite regularly. I also decided to change her naptime routine. She now only takes one nap a day, usually right after lunch and then is in bed by 9pm (I know that sounds late but her daddy doesn't get home till later and that works for us). It seems to be going pretty well so far.

If you are looking for a more loving, nurturing method for getting your baby to sleep, check out this article here. This article is just one that I liked because I'm not a fan of the cry it out method but if you are and that works for you than that's great as well!! Hope this is helpful to any of you who are having sleep trouble with your babies.