The One Week Mark

The difference a week of sleep training makes! This is the first time we have ever had any sort of progress with teaching Nolan to nap. Night sleep is still totally hit and miss, but I'm okay with dealing with that later (soon). My prime concern was getting him to accept that during the day, sleep=good and we're headed in the right direction. It's not great, but there is some real improvement.

The first couple days last week, Nolan would fuss and cry longer than he'd actually sleep at nap times, and he required a few stroller walks to sneak in a cat nap so that we could get through the day. This is classic Nolan. The change after one week? Yesterday (which I'm sure is exceptional), he had minimal fussing/crying and actually managed to sleep about 1.5 hours TWICE in one day. The change in this baby is amazing! He's happy, he's smiley, and he actually enjoys play time. 

It really goes to show how important it is to be well rested. He still likes and wants to fall asleep while nursing, but I've cut that out completely - even at night time. The key really is that he needed to learn to put himself to sleep without any help from me. The added bonus, which I'm surprised to see after just a week, is that he's been able to go back down by himself when he wakes after a sleep cycle. He doesn't do it every time, but there have been a few instances where he'll be asleep for 30-40 minutes, he will cry out briefly, and then it's quiet again. HUGE success in my opinion. 

Nights are going to be the next conquest. He did STTN 3 times in a row at the beginning of last week, when we first started sleep training. I didn't think it was going to be a sure thing then, and I still don't think it will be now -- until I crack down on it. His most recent schtick is that he wakes around 9:30-11:30pm and 1:30-4:00am and wants to nurse. I've been going in to top him up because, frankly, it's easier to nurse him for 10 minutes and go back to bed than it is to listen to him scream for an hour or more, twice a night. Once I feel that nap times are consistently going well, I'll tackle the night waking. For now though, all my concentration is going to naps.