I’m a mid-thirties, married, stay at home mother of two. My first, “Lulu,” was born in October of 2006. My second, “Blue,” (a boy) was born in August of 2008. They are 22 months apart.
I started this blog, initially, as a form of therapy for getting through sleep training with my daughter when she was around 5 months old. There is an extremely detailed account of the process on this blog, which can be found in the “Sleepeasy Solution” category. That’s the book we used – the Sleepeasy Solution and it DID save our marriage and sanity in those early months.
Now that my daughter is a preschooler, I can say from experience that doing the sleep training was the best thing ever, for all of us. She’s still an amazing sleeper, to this day, and I totally credit that to following the book’s suggestions. All the same… the actual process of doing a cry it out method of sleep training was harrowing and requires nerves of steel. Or being deaf.
Aside from the sleep training, I’ve gone on to sporadically share some highly intimate and 100% honest experiences with other things related to family life. The only way I can write so frankly about certain topics (my breasts, sleep training, discipline, etc) is that I’ve tried to make my account as anonymous as possible.
So, if you’re looking for some real life experience, you’re at the right spot. I guess my general philosophy here is that these lessons are hard won and if, by sharing them, I can make anybody else’s passage through them easier, then I will be gratified in my endeavor to record them.
Thanks!
I am trying the Sleepeasy Solution and my 4.5 month old wakes early from naps usually 30 minutes into it. Should I do the check in from that point up until the full hour? She goes to sleep pretty quickly so there is usually a half hour left. Thanks.
Hi,
I know this is really late, since you posted this in 2007, but I’m going to answer it anyway, in case someone else has the same question. The book explains that check-ins aren’t helpful during naps — it’s just too short of a time. So, I’d suggest not going in until the hour is up. If, after a few days, your child is still spending this time crying, frantically or whimperingly, instead of playing contentedly or going back to sleep, I’d suggest a few days of driving naps to get them used to sleeping as LONG as possible for naptime. Somewhere in my journeys of reading about sleep and babies, I learned that 3 days is the minimum for establishing a new pattern. Thus, if you go the driving-nap route, plan on doing it at the same time of day for three days in a row. When you get back to the crib, expect that you may have some resistance to napping in a crib again, so just psychologically set yourself for another round of sleep training.
Hope this helps!