This story is of Emma’s family practicing our child to sleep separately at young age, helping him to sleep better and also be a great support to his parents!!
At 4 months old, he has been in his room and sleep on time just like adults!!!
(Example image of child at age of 1)
From the time he was born, he has been sleeping alone in his cradle, Emma has been only holding him in the day time and while he was napping. At the age of 3 months, he was able to sleep from 10 p.m. till 8 a.m. without any disturbing. To be able for him sleep without crying, I usually breastfed him on bed and held him until he slept before putting him into his crib. It’s very comfortable for us to sleep like that since even with a startling up, he wouldn’t disturb my sleeping. I would be afraid to cover him in sheets while he was sleeping with me. He loved being held and fed while sleeping but I don’t recommend this since it’s not good for him: he might not sleep without my presence.
When my son was at age of 4, we decided to move back to Washington. Our house there has two bedrooms, one for me and my husband, one of his own. This was the time he was trained to sleep on time.
Do you know that he had a 1-week-training? We had scheduled him to sleep at 7.30 p.m., meaning at this time, he should be in crib. Before sleeping, he was breastfed to full then be changed into his PJ and read to sleep before I sing him to sleep and put him into his cradle. He completely refused this method on the first day. He cried his lungs out for a long while since he would like to be breastfed and held until sleeping. I told him not to do so since it was not good for him and when he was awake without me, he would scream.
He cried for 30 to 35 minutes, he knew that Emma was crying with him for not standing his crying. But his father was braver than I was, as he knew that’s the only way for him to sleep on his own. We had consulted, read and followed doctor’s instruction which suggested this behavior to be normal if we would like to practice this sleeping alone method. In the end, he finally followed our schedule, after a while of crying and not having me to hold him up, he finally slept. And he slept straight till morning.
For the next 5 days, he followed the same schedule of sleeping at 7 or 7.30. The schedule was the same as we changed to his pijama, read him to sleep before putting him into his cradle, which made him cry upon being put down. But his crying was getting less, sometimes just 5 minutes of crying since he knew his crying wouldn’t help, I would only check on him. The first few days, he was not used to it and required 2 times of breastfeeding per night.
On the 7th day, he was finally in shape, he would be sleepy following his training schedule. The drill was the same, changed into his sleeping clothes, read to sleep then put him into his crib. On that day, he stopped crying and fell asleep on his own.
Do moms know that he starts being sleepy at around 6.30 p.m.? He cries sometimes but not for long. I have some tricks up my sleeves in case he does not behave. I can read him before putting into crib. If he cries, I will turn on the light and keep reading rather than breastfeeding. This make him feel comfortable to sleep.
For him to be able to do so, I have cried a lot, I blamed his dad as well for letting him cry that much since he was in charge of observing him because of my unable to bear listening to his crying. At that moment, I usually exercise and when I am finished, he has felt asleep. It has been a struggling week for us but thanks to it, he has created his own routine as a grown up.
Small tips for moms to schedule up sleeping time: Parents should be determined. No one can stand their children crying but after a short time, it saves you a good amount of time. This is the method to let them cry then sleep, named “Cry It Loud”
This is his night schedule, what about day napping? A week ago, I was still holding him to feed and to sleep with me on bed. I usually did this when he was sleepy in the morning since you usually sleepy at 9 a.m. His grandma has told me many times not to let him sleep with me since after raising his head, he may roll off bed. I didn’t listen to her because I had never learnt how hurt his falling is.
That day, as usual, I brought him to bed and fed and let him sleep on bed. Just in case he may wake up or roll, I had set pillows around him so he could sleep alone. He slept 90 minutes that day and woke up. I was baking while he was awake. Instead of crying, he decided to crawl around until falling to the ground. He screamed out of fear which rushed me into bedroom. He knew I was in panic, I cried for letting my son fell to the ground from bed. I was worried as he may get something broken or be hurt. Thankfully, the ground below was covered in carpet so he was OK but the sound of his falling still haunts me until this day. I was terrified! From that day on, I have decided that even napping would be in crib. Every sleepy time is crib time. I usually play with him a while before letting him sleep. A few first days were disagreeing days but he got used to it.
Every day is the same now. He sleeps from 7 p.m. till 5.30 or 6 a.m. He is held for feeding then playing, watching music programs for 2 hours in total till 9 a.m. when he is sleepy. At 10.30, he has lunch and play for 1 hour more before his noon napping. He sleeps till 2 or 3 p.m. and plays till 4.30 for dinner. He finishes his dinner and played with parents before bed at 6.30 or 7 p.m.
He wishes friends of his peer to have the same routine so their parents can be less struggling 🙂