Bedtime Battlefield

I really thought Jonathan and I had it made as parents. Once Dakota got out of the newborn stage, she started sleeping like a champ. For around two months, she slept through the night. It was amazing. Then reality hit us hard. She stopped. For no reason that we could really figure out. We tried EVERYTHING to get her back into that routine. We started being very strict on bedtime, and the routine before bedtime. We tried things like lavender scented bath soaps and lotions. We bought a sleep serenity wall plug. We were strict on her putting herself to sleep for naps and bedtime, thinking if she could do that then the middle of the night wake ups wouldn’t be so bad. She was getting up two or three times a night for an hour or more at a time. 

We tried evaluating everything, what had really changed? Was is sleep regression? Was it because she was learning to sit up, to crawl, to stand? She would try to go back to sleep but she just couldn’t. Even when we tried to help her. I would breastfeed her two or three times a night, even though the doctor told me she wasn’t waking up because she was hungry. Anything to keep her from staying up so long. It worked for a little while but then she started staying up after being fed. Laying in our bed didn’t help, rocking her didn’t help, rubbing her back worked sporadically but then she would wake up after twenty minutes and we started over. We couldn’t really let her cry it out. She didn’t prefer any stuffed animals. What was left? 

Then two nights ago my husband had an idea. From the day Dakota came home, she slept in a Graco Travel Lite Crib with Stages. I should of thought about that! I had loved it! I didn’t want her in her own room immediately so this little bassinet stayed right by my bedside from the night we brought her home. When we moved, we were planning to buy a house within a month so we rented a small one bedroom and we moved her to the big pack and play instead of the crib, which left me able to take the travel crib to work. She slept great in the pack in play for a few weeks, once that stopped we tried the crib. Same problem. Awake every few hours for at least an hour at a time. Jonathan said for us to just try the travel crib. ANYTHING to sleep better than the three hours we had the night before. So we did. Night one, she slept 8:30 p.m. to 6:15 a.m. She didn’t wake up once. Night two, she slept 8:00 p.m. to 4:50 a.m., woke up once in the middle of the night for her pacifier. Those two nights were great! Did we find our sleep solution? I don’t know but I hope so. If not, then it won’t be much different than the past three months. If so, then at some point we have to start the transition to her crib all over again.

If you have any tips on how your child transitioned to the crib please feel free to share them! Dakota was in hers for two months and it wasn’t going well, I am curious how long it took everyone else!