After 14 months of still getting up at night to nurse Maddie I decided that something NEEDS to change! My problem however, is that Maddie has no idea how to put herself to sleep, let alone put herself back to sleep. I devised my plan when she woke at night I would pat her and "shush" her in her crib. One night of that and I learned that is not the right way to attack this problem. We were up for two hours with Maddie Screaming and me becoming VERY frustrated. The next day Maddie fell asleep in her high chair! While I felt bad that the night before had taken such a tole on her it told me that Maddie can fall asleep on her own. We had to take Maddie in to the doctor anyway to have a boo boo looked at so I took the opportunity to ask his advice. He told me that I can't tackle the night feedings and waking until I get her to fall asleep on her own at night. I was a little discouraged...how long would that take??? But I looked over the sleep lady's plan and decided that I would try that. So on Wednesday I nursed Maddie until she was sleepy...I still held her because I knew putting her in her crib would really send her over the edge. But then I patted her chest and "shushed" her. She fussed, she cried, she tried to get up but after 40 minutes she was sleeping. She slept 12 hours! I even had to go in and wake her up! For nap time I did the same but this time she only fussed a little and it took me half the time! Tonight she didn't cry at all and it only took about 20 minutes! Once we have succeed for a good length of time I will start to put her in her crib but continue the patting and "shushing". Eventually we will eliminate those things. The best part (besides me getting to stay in my bed) was seeing her tonight starting to practice self soothing techniques. She is such a smart little girl I knew she would catch on fast!
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