Sleep Troubles

Have I mentioned that we've been having some sleep troubles these days. Probably not, because I haven't had time to blog about anything, because I've been spending hours each night trying to get Leah to sleep. I went from having a well sleep trained baby to a toddler who wont stay in her bed and needs me to sleep next to her each night. It all started when we switched Leah to her toddler bed. She did great the first week. I'm not even sure how it happened but each night things seemed to get worse and worse. She wouldn't stay in her bed and she kept coming out of her room. So Jed and I started laying down with her, just to keep her in her bed. She was constantly chatting and goofing off, we have been spending at least an hour or two each night next to her bed, just rubbing her back and telling her to close her eyes. It is ridiculous. By the time we actually got Leah to sleep it was close to ten and we were ready for bed ourselves. And then to top it all off, she would wake up a couple hours later, come get one of us and we would have to start the whole process all over again in the middle of the night. Basically one of us was sleeping on her floor for the entire night. It has been really hard, but with this new baby coming, I can't have a newborn that's up every couple of hours to feed and a toddler who isn't sleeping through the night. It would kill us. So after getting advice from many, many people Leah and I started a new bedtime routine last night. I owe a big thanks, a hug, and some kind of yummy treat to my buddy Nikki because it was her suggestions and support that made this possible. So thanks friend. I owe you :) This is what we did...

Jed went out of town for work Monday morning. I wanted to have this whole problem solved by the time Jed got home, so we could spend some quality time together. Not to mention that it just seemed like it would be easier if Leah didn't have Jed to run to because I was being tough or vice versa. No one was the hero. So, prior to the toddler bed, our routine was take a bath, get into jammies, watch a show, read some books, and then into bed. Granted, Leah didn't always go to sleep right away. There were many nights when an hour or more would go by and Jed and I could still here her in her crib talking to herself. But thanks to the confines of the crib, she stayed there, didn't get out, and eventually put herself to sleep with no assistance from us. So now I just needed to tweak the routine a little to make it work with her big girl bed. I stopped on my way home from work on Tuesday and bought Leah a new lamp and some new books. These are going to be her special "night-night books." She only gets them when it's time for bed. That night when I picked her up from Papa's house we talked about the new plan. I told her that she was a big girl now and big girls sleep by themselves and that I had new bed time presents for her and if she stayed in her bed all night without Mommy sleeping with her, she would have a special treat in the morning. She seemed pretty excited about it. So after bath and jammies we went to her room and I showed her the new lamp and let her open the bag with her new books in it. And she was thrilled until I actually started to walk away...you could see the shear panic come across her face when she realized that I really wasn't going to lay down next to her. She started sobbing, telling me that she was scared and to please lay down. It was heart breaking! I really thought I was going to cave, but I gave her some big hugs and kisses and told her that we could do this together and she started to calm down. I assured her that I was just in my bed, reading my book and that I wasn't going to leave her. And she relaxed a little. I tucked her in and left. Then I got in my bed and counted minute after minute that ticked by and she didn't appear in my doorway. Finally after 8 minutes, she appeared and was asking for chocolate milk instead of juice in her cup. I told her that I would get her some milk, but this was it, she wasn't getting any more. I made her get back into bed while I got her drink and when I brought it back I told her that if she got out of her bed again that Mommy would be angry and I would take away all her new books. And she asked "Mommy be angry?" and I said "Yes! Don't you get out of this bed!" And she said "OK." Then I went back to my room. About 25 minutes later, she hadn't reappeared and I decided it had been long enough that I could peek in on her and what do you know, she was asleep!

SUCCESS! The whole process took about 35 minutes, a huge improvement. I was shocked! But so relieved and excited that it had worked. I went to sleep in my own bed and couldn't have been happier. And through out the night she did pretty well. She woke up twice and I led her back to bed and refilled her drink. The drinking at night, we'll have to work on, that's a whole separate problem all together. But I was able to tell her that I was going back to my bed and she could go back to sleep or look at her books again. And after she woke at 3:30 am I didn't see her again until 7:30. I was thrilled. I made a big deal about how proud I was of her and what a big girl she is and she was very proud of herself as well. She got her special candy and we told Daddy and her teachers at school all about her big accomplishment. She really is a good kid. She makes me a little crazy at times, but I really am lucky to have such a smart, happy, healthy baby. I just love her to pieces :)