Sleep habits... ( Sleep training)

 Anisten began sleeping through the night on her own at about 6-7 weeks. At about week 8 we ( SNIFF SNIFF) moved her to her own room. Up to that point she had slept in her pack and play in our room. Since she was no longer waking 4 and 5 times a night, we decided that we could move her to her room. Not easy.
We started out with her right next to our bed, then we moved her pack and play to the foot of the bed, and then across the room. During the day I would put her in her crib to play, a.k.a. look at the mobile, and also for naps. So it wasn't like just " boink here's your new room sweet heart!" We did the smooth transition.

At 4 months she began waking up again to eat/play/ look around. She was becoming more and more aware of the world around her. So by this time she is so used to her crib that she wouldn't sleep in her pack and play at night, so guess what? We had to walk all the way across the house several times a night to get her. But that went on for about a month. We were both just EXHAUSTED! So almost month 6 I decided that she was ready for sleep training. We were rocking her to sleep every nigh, which I lovee, but it got to the point where she would stay awake for longer than 30 mins. So again, I would set a time to rock for 30 mins and if she wasn't sleeping by then, I would put her in her crib awake/drowsy. She would cry. And eventually go to sleep. So then we got to where we weren't rocking at all, and just put her in bed at or around the same time every night. At first it's hard to listen to her cry, but then you realize, if she's crying she's ok ( so to speak, she's BREATHING ALRIGHT!) And it's ok, to let her cry as long as she's fed, dry, clean etc....
(( A whole other blog, but some people don't let their kids CRY at all.... NEWS FLASH, they are gonna cry!))  So I know that everyone has their " methods " and their way of doing things. This is ours. It worked...
At first we would go in and check on her every 15 minutes ( she never cried longer than 30ish) quietly give her her binky flip her to her tummy and quietly leave. After a week, she was putting herself to sleep. It was work, and it was worth it. Not only does it TEACH them to sleep ( which we are not born with the ability o know how to have sleep habits, we have to be trained) but it frees up your time and your not so stressed at the end of the day.
Now, we lay her down and she is asleep with in 5 minutes. She knows " hey it's sleep time, and no matter how much I fuss, mom aint comin back!" She's learned.

When we started her sleep training she was still waking up. So what we did was ( this is hard b/c your trying to sleep too!) we cut out one wake time at night. So lets say she woke up at 11, 3, and 5. I would  get her up at 11 to nurse, and let her cry at 3, and get her up at 5... She usually cried for 10-15 minutes and would go back to sleep. Now my baby goes to bed about 7 ( kinda varies based on what we're doing but we try to keep it at that time) and sleeps til 7. She takes 3 naps still every day. It's great. I would love for her to drop her evening or morning nap and just add on the time to her mid day nap, but we'll take what we can get =) Anyways, I know that I have alot of mommy friends that read this with smalls ones,and I know how hard and stressful bed/nap time can be, and just want to say I've been there, and I survived! So I am here for ANY questions you may have. I had to go to my friend ( and parent teacher) Jessica. I remember her doing this with her baby when he was younger. And so I went to her as a friend, and a professional... I'm so glad I did. Really you just need to know that shew ill be ok, she doesn't think that you are abandoning her, and that in the long run, you are giving your baby a gift of a life time! Healthy sleep habits.