Sleep is for the weak: Sleep training week 1

We often ask just about every parent we meet, "How did you get your kids to sleep?  How did you put them down for naps?"

One answer we have consistently heard was, "Hmm...you know, I don't remember."

Well, that's not going to be us.  We're no loser, I-can't-remember parents!  So, we're going to note it down on this blog.  And hopefully you can glean some helpful information from our journey.  Or at least learn what not to do :)

This is week 1 of our serious sleep-training for Camille.

Thursday, February 3 (Lunar New Year)
To be honest, I don't remember much of this day.  It was the first day that we put forth an earnest effort to sleep train Camille.

It all started the day before, Wednesday.  We had dinner at Chung & Alice's (Chin's brother & sister-in-law) that evening and Chin made a comment that Camille would be sleep trained by now if it hadn't been for my unwillingness to let her cry it out.

This comment hurt me a lot, actually.  It was alarming that at 6 months, Camille could not fall asleep without the aid of being nursed, rocking (which usually involves crying anyway), riding in a car seat, or being carried in a carrier.  It also called my attention to being more united with Chin on this sleep-training front.

So I decided that the next day, I would try to see if there was truth behind Chin's comment -- whether Camille could be trained to sleep if she were left to cry.  I've always believed that it could work.  I just don't know if it would be a good fit for Camille's temperament and our lifestyle.

For the first nap of the day, I calmed her down, read her a book, and sang to her some sleepy time tunes (songs that I've been singing to her around bedtime since she was born).  The book we read had a scary gorilla on the front page and it freaked her out a little.  Okay, perhaps not the best choice.  So, I put her down in her crib, told her that I loved her, stroked her fro, and said, "It's time to take a little nap!"

She cried for about 25 minutes before falling asleep.  And then she woke up after 15 minutes and cried for about 10 minutes.  Altogether, there was probably 35 minutes of crying for 70 minutes of sleeping.

That afternoon, she napped for about 40 minutes in the car seat while I was running errands.

That evening, she napped for about 25 minutes in the car seat again.

I nursed her at our normal time, 10:00pm, and she fell asleep pretty quickly.

All in all, she seemed a bit tired and docile after the crying-out session.  The crying really dug at my spirit.  Chin was right, deep down I was really bothered by her desperate cries.

Friday, February 4

• Early, early morning, I think she woke up twice to nurse.  I can't remember exactly.
• 9:15 woke up
• 11:30 put down to crib, played, turned 90 degrees and starts kicking crib rails, laughing
• 11:40 I go in and picked her up to turn her around, gave her a little hug, put her down in crib, she started crying shortly thereafter
• 11:54 she's out!
• 12:36 up and crying
• 12:41 back to sleep
• 12:50 up again
• 1:15 fiiiinally back to sleep
• 2:10 woke up, nursed
• 3:45 put down to crib, started crying
• 3:50 she's out!
• 5:40 I had to go in to wake her up because we had a dinner to go to at OCB :)
• 7:30 napped in carrier at OCB for ~ 30 minutes
• 10:00 started night time feeding
• 10:45 she nursed until I was completely drained, but was still not asleep.  I sent Chin in with a bottle, she took about .5 oz - this girl still does not want to take the bottle!  She was pleasant and not crying, but we knew she was tired.
• 11:15 we put her in the crib and let her cry - the first time we've ever let her cry it out at night.
• 11:31 she's out!

Saturday, February 5

• She woke up twice to nurse.  Pretty uneventful, though.
• 10:00 woke up playing in crib
• 11:55 put down for nap
• 12:05 she's out
• 1:20 woke up, nursed
• 3:30 fell asleep on the way to Ikea
• 3:55 woke up in the As-Is section at Ikea.  We tried to get her to go back to sleep but were not successful.
• 7:13 cried "loud and violently"
• 7:39 went to sleep
• 7:48 woke up
• 7:56 back down
• 8:05 woke up for good. Then Chin & I had a conversation, debating whether to continue with cry-it-out.  It was a hard talk.  We decided not to continue it.
• 10:00 nursed to sleep
• 10:42 Chin wrote a blog entry about us stopping the cry-it-out training

Overall not a great sleeping day.

Sunday, February 6

• 4:30 woke up to feed. She woke up when I put her back into the crib.  I let her cry and she was out in less than 5 minutes.  "What?  You're going to let her cry?  I thought we decided not to do that," Chin said.  I replied, "I just don't see it working out any other way.  I am too tired to rock her to sleep."  Chin agreed.
• 9:30 woke up playing, Chin takes her and also composes a "proposal for sleep training."  It's pretty sweet. :)
• 11:15 nursed (at church)
• 12:40 fell asleep in car
• 1:15 woke up at Jumbo dim sum restaurant (who can blame her?)
• 2:15 nursed
• 3:30 put down for nap, cried for < 20 minutes, I think
• 5:00 woke up, nursed
• 8:15 napped in carrier
• 8:40 woke up
• 9:30 bedtime feeding, played and took a long time to fall asleep
• 10:17 finally asleep (took a lot longer than usual)

Another not-great sleeping day.

Monday, February 7

• Woke up twice to feed.  Again, I don't recall what time it was.  I tend to block out those painful memories.
• 9:30 woke up, played in crib, EC'd, nursed, played, blah blah blah
• 11:10 put down for nap, started crying
• 11:15 out!
• 12:45 woke up, played in crib
• 1:10 nursed
• 2:15 nursed a little again
• 3:03 put down for nap
• 3:08 she's out
• 5:50 woke up (prior to waking up, she was stirring a little bit but no crying), very pleasant, nursed
• 8:10 Chin wanted me to put her in the carrier to see if she would fall asleep, she nodded off a few times
• 8:45 Definitely not sleeping, wanted to play
• 9:45 bedtime feeding, fell asleep by 10:10

Great day, if you ask me! :)  I also noticed that Camille has less of that docile look and she is back to her interactive self.  I would say that she is even happier.  Perhaps because she is finally getting the much needed rest.

Tuesday, February 8

• 1:40 woke, fed on one side
• 4:55 woke, fed on other side, put back into crib but woke up, fed other side, back to sleep by 6:00, put back into crib around 6:15 but woke up and played
• 6:35 changed, fed again, woke after having fallen asleep, blah blah blah, walked around, rocked on bouncy ball for 5 mins
• 7:15 fiiinally back to sleep in crib!
• 9:10 woke up, played in crib for 20 minutes, changed
• 9:50 nursed
• 11:20 put down for first nap, started crying
• 11:24 sleeping
• 12:54 woke up playing in crib, very pleasant
• 3:03 put down for nap
• 3:05 out!
• 3:47 woke up, started crying
• 3:51 stopped crying, but started playing and turned 90 degrees
• 3:54 I went in to turn her around and put the pillows back on top of her. (We put two heavy pillows on top of her while she sleeps.  The weight of the pillows calm her.)  Started crying.
• 3:58 back to sleep
• 5:15 woke up, played in crib, changed, fed
• 7:30 asleep in car
• 7:55 woke up
• 9:30 nursed to sleep, took a while to actually fall asleep

Wednesday, February 9

• 2:15 fussed a little, picked up and rocked for 5 mins
• 3:50 woke up to feed, right back to sleep
• 5:08 up again for feeding
• 6:55 up again to ruin my life (changed, fed)
• 8:45 woke up playing
• 9:15 fed, not very well
• 10:57 fed again a little bit
• 11:05 down, already asleep from nursing
• 12:57 woke up, pleasant
• 3:08 put down for nap, crying
• 3:19 out
• 3:55 woken up by the damn squeaky kitchen faucet knobs, started crying after 3-4 minutes
• 4:06 out again
• 5:18 woke up, pleasant, nursed
• From 7 to 8:30, she showed signs of being pretty tired but did not fall asleep in the carrier and, after crying for over 10 minutes, she was just not going down.  Oh well.
• 9:00 nursed, fell asleep
• 9:45 put her down in crib, woke up, nursed a little bit again, back to sleep

There.  More to come...