Addison has always been a great sleeper. I think she started sleeping through the night at 1 month. She usually goes down around 8:00pm and gets up anywhere from 5:30am-6:30am. Every once in awhile she'll sleep until 7:00. Most of the early rising is our doing since she has to be up at 6:00am during the week.
Addison usually goes down easily most nights. A long time ago I adopted the "Baby Whisperer" approach, it's a balance between the Ferber Method and the Sears Method. I usually sit with her in the glider and read a book which is the indicator that it's time to wind down for sleep. Then I would stand next to her crib and turn on her mobile and rock her for just a minute. That step is long gone because now she just reaches straight for her crib, no cuddling or rocking. I lay her down and wait until she gets all situated before I walk out. She usually has to have a blanket and her puppy. She moves completely against the back side of the crib and rolls around a few times to find her comfortable spot. It's so funny to watch!
Every once in awhile she'll cry after I leave the room. I let her go for about 5 minutes and return to her room to rub her back and reassure her. Once she settles down, I leave again. If she cries again, I let her go a little longer. Most of the time I only have to go in there once. Now all of this is if Doug is NOT around because he completely disagrees with it. He thinks that I shouldn't let her cry but should rock her to sleep. So if he's in the house at the time then he usually steps in and rocks her. There goes the consistency! Hearing her cry is not easy for me to listen to either, but I know it's best for her and she's not going to cry that long or cry every night. Like I said, she goes down perfectly 4 out of 5 times - isn't that proof enough that what I'm doing works?!? Guess not. Oh well, it's just the difference in how we were raised.
Well, the whole reason for this long descriptive post was just to tell you about a cute new thing Addison has starting doing at bedtime! Once I lay her down in her crib, she'll get comfortable and then wave bye-bye - like ok I'm good, you can leave now. It cracks me up. Doug just put her down tonight and told me she did the same thing to him! What a cutie...
Angie I can't get over how big she is getting. Carter has always been a great sleeper as well. And when putting him to bed I would do the same thing as you. I would let him cry. It worked. He is 5 and I can't tell you the last time he cried before bed. You are doing a great job, she is a cutie.
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