Sleep

Now that we're on a schedule, we decided to let baby Jacob "cry-it-out". He is more of a whiner (or fake cryer) and we were letting him go with that before, but every once in a while his whining would turn into crying. So we would go in and console him and he would stop crying... until Bryce or I would put him back down and leave the room. Without fail, he would start crying again within 5-10 minutes. The worst was the night before last. He woke up at 5 and I fed him, burped him, and changed his diaper and put him back to bed, pretty much asleep. He was quiet for a few minutes and then started crying again. We let him cry for a few minutes, until it turned into basically screaming, and then went back in to him. There was nothing wrong--diaper still dry, he wouldn't burp, not too cold or hot--so I fed him again and he ate until he fell asleep. I put him back in bed and the same exact process took place (for the most part) every hour until about 11am. I was exhausted. He finally went down for more than 30 minutes and so I decided to get us back on schedule for the day. His next feeding was at 1pm, so I woke him up, fed him, did the whole routine and put him back down, right after he started yawning and fussing. He cried. It seemed like he was crying forever, but in reality he only cried for about 10 minutes and it wasn't even full-out crying for more than about 1 minute. Then he stopped crying and slept. During that nap he had 2 more short crying spurts, but when 4 pm rolled around and it was time for him to eat again, he woke right up with no crying and stayed alert during his feeing. He had his wake time and then I put him down and he didn't cry nearly as much as the time before. He slept well, woke happy, and ate really well. This has continued since then, with him waking up only once during the night to eat (5 hours after his last feeding). He woke up about 45 minutes before his normal morning wake time, so I moved his next wake time up a half an hour and this next wake up (in about 20 minutes) will be right back on schedule. So here's the breakdown--

BEFORE:

• Jacob was waking up around every 3 hours, but usually woke too early from most, if not every nap
• At night, he would only have one long spurt between feedings, somewhere around 4-5 hours and then was up every 2-3 hours after that (if not every hour)
• He would cry at every wake up and usually through his feedings as well
• Had to eat or be rocked/held to sleep or use his pacifier to sooth himself in the crib

AFTER: 

• Jacob has to be woken up at 3 hours, or is lying in his crib, just opening his eyes when I come in
• At night he goes 5 hours between feedings (only waking once)
• He wakes up happy (no crying) and eats extremely well (no crying) and is alert during eating
• Goes down and cries less each time. This last nap he only whined for about 5 minutes, no actual crying

All in all I think this is very successful for my little boy. I understand that not everyone can do that with their child, nor do I think they should, and each baby likes different things. My child is very much my child and he likes the structure and, so far, the independence. Things are going well and the sleep I got last night has made me a new woman. I think I'm going to go clean my house now.