Baby Pizza is nearly 19 months old which means that she has been sleeping through the night for about six months now. When I think about the difficulties we had with Baby Pizza’s sleep and then finally sleep training her when she was 13 months old, I am so relieved and thankful for her current sleeping habits. There are many reasons why sleep training was worth it for us.
She sleeps through the night. Having a baby sleep through the night is truly a blessing. I kept waiting to sleep train Baby Pizza because I thought she would eventually learn to sleep through the night on her own. Lil’ Pizza started to sleep through the night (7:30-6:30) when she was around 6 months old, so sleep training was helping her learn to fall asleep on her own once. I didn’t realize that sleep training could also involve helping a baby who wakes up frequently throughout the night to fall back asleep on her own. Now, Baby Pizza sleeps around 11 hours at night. I do hear her waking up in the middle of the night at times, but she is able to fall back to sleep on her own now.
The bedtime routine helps her look forward to going to sleep. Things aren’t smooth every time Baby Pizza takes a nap or goes down for the night but our little routine in the room (reading a few books and holding her as I sing “Amazing Grace”) helps her to know that it’s time to sleep. I wanted to make the time right before bed (including naps) to be pleasant in her room so that it didn’t seem like the room was just a place where I left her. As soon as I start singing and holding her near the crib, Baby Pizza will lean herself into the crib and then just lay there as I finish singing the song to her. When I leave the room and close the door, she will fall asleep quietly on her own. It’s reassuring to know that she is content and able to fall asleep on her own.
I get more rest. The week before I sleep trained Baby Pizza, I was staying up with her for 2 hours in the middle of the night. I was sleeping poorly and often checking the monitor throughout the night. I was near a breaking point and was beyond exhausted when I knew I had to do something about her poor sleeping habits. My rest at night is still not the best (does anyone else nap at 9pm instead of just getting ready for bed?), but at least now it’s on me to get a good night’s rest and I don’t feel like a walking zombie most days.
I’m less anxious. I didn’t realize how anxious I was at home with Baby Pizza waking up so unpredictably. I couldn’t get much done around the house and I think I was constantly on edge and stressed. It’s nice to finally have two kids sleeping throughout the night and not be so consumed about Baby Pizza’s sleep. I didn’t even like going out much on my own because of her erratic sleep patterns and her strong preference for me to put her to sleep. The few times that Mr. Pizza and I both went out, I was constantly wondering if Baby Pizza would wake up and we would often rush to come back home. It’s definitely freeing to be able to not worry so much about sleep.
There are more opportunities to go out. Mr. Pizza and I still have some work to do on this one, but I feel much more comfortable with leaving the girls while they are asleep than I was before. Now, the next step for us is to let someone else put the girls down to bed (hopefully we can work on that in the new year).
I am not consumed on the subject on sleep. In the first year of Baby Pizza’s life, I was consumed with her sleep. I would be wondering why her naps were short, why she was waking up so frequently, whether she could have a medical condition which was causing her to sleep so poorly. After she was sleep trained and sleeping better, those thoughts and worries faded. Yes, there are still times when she doesn’t sleep well but thankfully, sleep isn’t something that I am constantly thinking about.
Happy and ready for bed
As I reflect on Baby Pizza’s sleep, I am so so glad that we sleep trained her. Prior to sleep training I would read about people’s experiences, and what always stood out was the echoing statement that it was worth it to sleep train their child. And I also wholeheartedly agree. It was so worth it. The days of sleep training cab be rough, but once you get past it, it’s definitely a game changer. I only wish I had sleep trained Baby Pizza sooner.
If you sleep trained your child, what made it worth it for you?
guest
I didn’t sleep train my first. As a first time mom I thought the idea of letting my baby cry-it-out was horrible. Now, at 4, she is still a horrible sleeper. I truly think her not getting restful sleep impacts her moods and development. My second baby I had a little bit more experience, and was determined to get some sleep. I sleep trained him sometime between 6 months and a year and he is such an easy baby and awesome sleeper. Baby number three is 6 months and we started sleep training about 2 months ago. We had gotten into a good groove, but a recent RSV infection had me in her room every 20 min, all night long, for a week. I am now sleep training again. I am like you, my anxiety is through the roof when I don’t get enough sleep. Sleep training is a priority for me and I think ultimately helps my kids because they are able to function better with good rest.
guest
I like the way you described sleep training as more than cry it out. I viewed creating positive associations with sleep and sleeping in her room as an important part of teaching my daughter to sleep. I started feeding her in her room exclusively even while she was sleeping in a bassinet in our room. We established a bedtime routine early and always did it in her room (even when she was sleeping in a bassinet in our room). We started getting her to nap in her room first and gradually transitioned her out of our room at night at around 6 months. She didn’t sleep through the night until 14 months, when we night weaned. But it was 2 nights of her crying with dad for a little while and now we mostly sleep through the night. We also practiced observing her when she cried or woke up to see if she’d be able to settle herself before we intervened – now she will often settle herself if she wakes up. That said, she’s also a kid the sleeps pretty well, who knows how much credit we can take for that.