Success after one night!

After scouring the internet and this Reddit for everything there was to know about getting your baby to sleep better, my husband and I finally decided to take the leap to sleep train/pacifier wean after I woke up 17 times in one night with him. My mental health was bad and my baby was always grumpy. I was reluctant, but at one point my husband said that as parents we know best and is our baby waking up this much really what is best for him long term? Definitely not. I decided let’s do it. We were almost certain the pacifier replacement was the culprit.

My bubs was just over 4 months and it had been a solid month of wack sleep. We got out noise cancelling headphones, warned our neighbors, followed wake windows very strictly that day, followed our bedtime routine we had been using for the last month, and put him to bed.

We decided on cold turkey pacifier and ferber method. My husband did the check ins to help it be easier on me. First night was ROUGH. I really think he just kept screaming cause he wanted the pacifier. We stuck to our intervals though and after 42 minutes, he was asleep.

I dream fed him at 11 and he went back down with less than two minutes of crying. At 1:30 he woke up and cried for 20 minutes total in which I would visit him after the intervals. One more wake at 2:30 for 10 minutes total of visiting him during the intervals then back to sleep. I fed him one more time at 5am, went back down with no crying and we were up for the day at 8!

Night 2 I was expecting some resistance but for it to be a tad easier, however he went down no tears no screaming right away! It’s stuck and he still goes down easily once he is in his crib, lights are out, and sound machine is on. It went so well I was able to nap train in the same week and now he goes down for naps no crying as well.

I will admit, my baby is definitely a thumb sucker now which I knew would happen, but I had to weigh my pros and cons of each option..our family get some rest and be less cranky, or have a thumb sucker. I decided on the sleep and the thumb sucking we could worry about later!

It was hard that night but one night of hardship for MANY nights of bliss? I’ll take it. And for people who tell me I’m traumatizing my baby by doing that don’t see how much happier my baby is cause he’s getting better sleep.

If you’re thinkin of sleep training, do your research on wake windows, bedtime routines and times, sleep associations, recommend ages, etc. once you have all that down, pick a method and go for it. I don’t regret it one bit and if you’re on the fence, I don’t think you will afterwards either.