Monday, April 12, 2010

Ok, ok, Night Weaning

First of all, I don't claim to be any sort of expert or anything. Frankly, didn't mothers used to get to sleep through when the baby was a few months old or something? I'm always kind of curious about that since it sounds pretty darn nice. Anyways, I've never made that happen, but all that said, here's what I do:

I have two Pack n Plays, one in my bedroom, one in another bedroom. I like the Pack n Play because of the mesh sides and the portability.

As a newborn the baby is always in our bedroom. At some point I start putting her in the other bedroom for naps when it is convenient. Once she's comfortable with that then I start putting her down for bedtime in the other bedroom and go to her when she wakes in the night and bring her back into our room. After awhile I start going to her in the night and putting her back in her own room.

At some point I know that she is only waking up at night out of habit and not because she is genuinely hungry or really for any other reason. I also get to a point where I am so tired I can't take getting up any more and it really starts affecting my daytime mothering.

So once I hit that point I make up my mind that I'm not going to get her when she wakes up. She crys. I don't go in.

The next night she doesn't really cry anymore. After that she's sleeping through the night and so am I. I go get her when she wakes at 5:30 or 6am.

Once she is broken of the night waking habit, if she happens to wake up and cry I know it is for something real and not just because she's used to it.

5 comments:

The Staker Family said...

I also love pack n' plays, we actually have a crib that I used with # 2 and 3, but I went back to the pack n' play with # 4 and 5. We do almost the exact same thing. Happy you are getting some good sleep!

Iris said...

Eddie still doesn't sleep through the whole night. He wakes up every 2-4 hours. I am so sleepy all of the time. Thanks for this :)

Reese's Pieces said...

*gasp* you let your baby cry? ;)

But yes... if you don't do it now you will have to do it later! A habit is a habit and will continue for years if you let it! I finally did night weaning at 3 y.o. instead of 10 months like you!

Melissa Morris said...

I still have both in my bed, but I didn't even think of night weaning until 18m. I guess it is harder when they are in bed with us.

Jamie said...

Hi Melissa!
Yes, I think it's pretty much impossible to night wean when baby is right there. We've never been a big co-sleeping family though. I know that disappoints my crunchy friends, but I can't lie about it! I can't fall asleep deeply when a baby is in the bed. I just end up being partially awake all night long. So I most always put the baby back into his own bed even when it is right next to ours. I bet your girls are so big now!