On Rosie’s worst night, she slept 37 minutes. When I say 37 minutes, I don’t mean at a time, I mean total over the course of the night. It didn’t matter what we tried, she wouldn’t sleep. She will now sleep 12 hours at night (straight) and takes 3-4 hours of naps during the day. I don’t say that to brag (although I am very proud of that!) I say that to show how far we’ve come. I get asked about her sleep often. The questions come mostly from tired moms who (after months of not sleeping) are ready to try anything! Here is our story and I hope it helps some of you. It will get better, I promise!
Four Months of Trial and Error
By four months, we got her sleeping 3 to 4 hour stretches a time, but never any longer than that. It was a struggle to even get that! One of her biggest challenges seemed to be digestion related. She had the worst gas and would just kick and scream at night. To get her to sleep at night we knew we needed to get her more comfortable because her gas seemed to be a lot of the problem. We also read books, talked to her doctor, and even went to our acupuncturist! We were willing to try anything at this point.
Things We Tried:
- Snoo Bassinet (see my review here)
- Sound Machine
- Moms on Call method
- Taking Cara Babies method
- Acupunture
- Herbs
- Propping one side of her bed up
- Different formula
- Cutting our dairy from my diet
- Baths every night
- Consistent bedtime routine
- Pacifier (and putting it back in all night)
Even after trying all of these things, Rosie was only sleeping 3 or 4 hours at a time at best and not guaranteed. I think that a lot of these things did help (the Snoo and the sound machine for sure!) and I did take a lot of tips from Taking Cara Babies, but it still wasn’t enough. Mom and Dad were ready for some sleep!
Sleep Training
When Rosie turned 4 months old, we got the blessing from her pediatrician to do some sleep training. Her weight was great and everything else looked great so she said it was okay to let her ‘cry it out.’ She also said it was okay if we wanted to move Rosie into her own bedroom.
When Rosie was about 4.5 months, we began the sleep training. We moved her into her own room and into a crib, and because she was not rolling at this time, we kept her swaddled. Then we made her cry it out. I read sections of the Ferber book, but ultimately made up my own way of doing it. We decided to let her cry for 20 minutes at a time before going into her room to feed her. The first night I had to go in 2 or 3 times (which was pretty normal). The next few nights I had to go in once or twice, and by the 4th night she slept through the night!
Where We Are Now
Rosie is now almost 8 months old and will sleep 12 hours almost every night (like a champ!) When she stared rolling, we transitioned her into the Merlin sleep suit. She first wore the small and is now wearing the large. Eventually she will need to transition into a sleep sack, but she still seems to love the suit. She goes to bed around 7:30pm and gets up around 7am. Every once in awhile she gets up around 10 or 11pm and I think it’s just because she’s hungry. It seems to happen on days where she has slept a lot or not eaten as much. This is super rare though!
Naps
Night sleep seems to click before daytime sleep. I read this over and over again and it was certainly true for Rosie. Rosie was not a great napper at all until she was about 5 months old. She only slept in her car seat (while in her stroller or while I was driving). I could not set her down to sleep EVER. Now she is a GREAT napper. Sleep begets sleep (as they say) and I think Rosie was so tired all the time that she couldn’t sleep well at any time of day. Starting at around 5 months, she started taking 3 consistent naps a day. Now that she is close to 8 months, she is down to 2 naps (most of the time) but still takes a third one early evening if she needs too. If you are struggling with naps, I highly recommend getting black out curtains!
Rosie’s Schedule at 8 Months
This is a sample schedule and Rosie has probably never done this exactly, but this is kind of the goal. Sometimes the wake windows are shorter and the naps are shorter and she ends up taking a third nap. I keep it flexible and Rosie seems to work better with a less rigid schedule!
- 7:00am – Wake up
- 7:00am – 9:30am – Awake
- 9:30am – 11:30am – Nap 1
- 11:30am – 2:30pm – Awake
- 2:30pm – 4:30pm – Nap 2
- 4:30pm – 7:30pm – Awake
- 7:30pm – Bedtime
Sleep Products
The products that we used to get her to sleep 12 hours (and that we think worked!) are the following: