The Thorpe Family Sleeps

It's amazing what a good, uninterrupted night of sleep will do for you. For the first time in 18 months I am sleeping through the night. Trevor, Rosie, and Lindsey are all sleeping through the night! She's never been a great sleeper, she's always nursed at least two times a night, but the last few months she was nursing around 5 times a night. Personally, that's TOO much. So once we got settled here in Virginia, we decided to make the move and get her to sleep through the night and in her own room. I relied heavily on The Baby Whisperer forums.

First, we got her out of our bed. I put her crib RIGHT next to my side of the bed with the railings up for the first part of the night while she slept in there alone. Then when it was time for me to go to bed I would ever so quietly drop the railing and move it to the other side of the room. This way her mattress could be flush to our bed - it was a pain in the butt, and a full body work out, but I wanted this to be a smooth transition for her.

Then I night weaned. I put my FOOT DOWN to nursing 5 times a night. It had seriously gotten out of hand. In the beginning all of her night wakings were caused by her tummy issues so I'd always nursed her back to sleep. It was the best way for all of us to sleep. But since we took her off of pasteurized milk and started taking her to a chiropractor, her gassy nights are no more! She then was only waking out of habit and then out of habit I would nurse her back to sleep. Anyway, the first week she'd wake up over and over again and I would either pat her bum or rock her back to sleep. Neither one of us got much sleep that week, but she seemed to be getting the hang of it. Soooo...

We moved her into her own room. Ahhhhh! I was a sad momma that night, but Rosie loved it. It was not sad to her at all and mostly just giggled about it - thanks a lot, Rosie, for being so sensitive to your mother! But she did really well! She did still wake up crying, and required me to go rock her back to sleep, but that only lasted about a week.

Two weeks later, she's SLEEPING! I remember the first night, I woke up at 5 o'clock freaking out! Why hasn't she cried out?! What's wrong?! Oh, wait, she's just peacefully sleeping :)