How We Got Our Baby To Start Sleeping
Our no-cry approach as first time parents
When it comes to baby sleep… I have never been through a more humbling experience in my life. As a first time mom and a great sleeper myself, I never could have imagined that my baby would have the hardest time getting to sleep and staying asleep! So I’m writing this today to help other new mamas out there know that A) you’re not alone B) you WILL sleep again C) how we FINALLY are getting some shut eye these days.
You can read my blog HERE on how we temporarily got through the 4 month sleep regression. This blog will go over an in depth rundown of our sleep experience and how we have transitioned Dallas from contact naps, to crib naps, how we have helped him to sleep through the night and give you an update on where we are at now in regard to his sleep schedule!
I do want to emphasize that there is no “one size fits all” method when it comes to helping your baby sleep! Each baby and each parent is different. What worked for us might not work for you. Trust me, I know this because I tried a lot of things that worked for my friends' babies that didn’t necessarily work for mine. All of that to say: There are so many stories out there on what parents have done, this is just our story!
Let’s get into it!
Step 1: Download the Huckleberry app
When it came to learning and understanding what the heck “wake windows” were… I was clueless! I seriously wish I had gotten the Huckleberry app sooner. It does a TON of things to help keep a diary of sleep, feelings, etc but one of the best features is the “sweet spot” feature. It notifies you when your baby is ready for the next nap based on the appropriate age your baby is in. He falls asleep on the exact minute of these sweet spot times… it’s wild. It also creates a custom sleep plan based on personalized data about your baby and your family. It’s just… chefs kiss!
Step 2: Stopped baby wearing at 13 weeks and transitioned to crib naps
I get so many DMs from you all saying your baby will only do contact napping and you’re not sure if you should transition them to the crib yet…and my advice to you is to soak in those days of contact napping!! It definitely makes it harder to get things done, but you will miss those days when they are gone and if that’s what baby needs at that time, I truly believe there is nothing wrong with doing that. We did solely contact napping for the first 13 weeks of Dallas’ life and transitioning him to crib naps was definitely the hardest transition we had to make - both for him and myself. It took him almost an hour every single nap, to get to sleep. Being that I don’t let him cry for more than a minute, I do believe that is why it may have taken longer than most to transition him. But it’s the way I want to parent and I think you should never let anyone push you into doing something just because everyone else is doing it. I wanted to give up but after a month of consistency, he finally started sleeping in his crib! He didn’t want to nap longer than 30 minutes off-body, but I knew he might have just not been developmentally ready for longer naps.
Step 3: Started sleeping overnight in the crib around 4 months
At first we just did crib naps during the day, but eventually we transitioned him to sleeping exclusively in his crib through the night. He was still up multiple times throughout the night, so we would go in and give him a bottle or bunny, rock him back to sleep and then put him back in his crib. It was sad to see him leave our room (lol) but it did feel nice to get some one on one time with the hubs without having to be as quiet as a mouse.
Step 4: Stopped feeding to sleep and moved some nighttime calories to daytime calories
This step was probably the most helpful for getting him to sleep for a longer stretch at night! We stopped feeding him to sleep during the night (except at bedtime) and worked on moving those nighttime calories to daytime calories. He was eating more than half of his intake at night, so that was causing him to wake up a lot more throughout the night. When we started giving him more calories during the day (we did this by tapering off one ounce at night every other night), he was more full at night so was able to start sleeping through the night without waking up multiple times!!
Step 5: Stopped rocking him to sleep
Around 6 months we decided to start working towards teaching Dallas to be able to put himself to sleep without mom or dad rocking him. So this was step one in that process. We would sit in the chair in his nursery, give him his bottle (for bedtime sleep only) or binky, but then just hold him until he fell asleep rather than rocking him to sleep. This helped him to be less dependent on that rocking motion to sleep so that the next step would be a bit easier!
Step 6: Start teaching him to put himself to sleep in his crib
This is the step we are currently on and oh man does it take some dedication lol. Now, instead of sitting with Dallas in the chair until he falls asleep, we are laying him in his crib right after he finishes his bottle (again only for night sleep) or right after we put him in his sleep sack. We sit there and pat his belly or butt until he falls asleep. The first couple weeks of doing this it would take about an hour total to get him asleep, but that time is starting to dwindle down each week as he gets better and better at putting himself to sleep without mom or dad holding him! It’s week 3 of doing it and he not only goes to sleep in 10-20 minutes with us leaving the room but he is also connecting his sleep cycles and napping longer (1-1.5 hours). The end goal with this step is to be able to lay him in his crib and leave the room while he puts himself to sleep without crying (sometimes he fusses and I pat him to go back to sleep but I try to never take him out of the crib since we have worked so hard on this!).
And that is where we are currently at with Dallas’ sleep! It has definitely not been an easy journey and we still have rough days/nights, but I am learning every single day and we are slowly figuring it out! He is starting to slowllllly sleep through the night so while doing the above steps plus him being developmentally ready for those steps, we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! I hope this blog helped you feel more prepared to take on the journey of figuring out your own little’s sleep routine, and if you are already in the depths of the process, I hope this helped you to feel less alone! Just remember you are doing your best and this phase is only temporary. You will get through it!!
XOXO, TAY