Sleep Trained

(Olive hogging our bed at around 10 months old)

Getting Olive to sleep in her own crib was so difficult. More difficult than anything I have had to go through with Olive (that isn't medically related) I am a pro-co-sleeper. I am all for bonding and making breastfeeding easier on new Mommies. When we brought Olive back from the Hospital the first time she was about 2 weeks old and I was in major pain from c-section complications. Devin went right back to working both jobs and taking college classes. So I was on my own when it came to taking care of Olive and cleaning and cooking as soon as we got home. Needless to say I didn't eat for about 4 days until Devin found out I hadn't and fed me. The c-section left me crippled. I still couldn't stand up straight and walking to the restroom just to pee was so excruciatingly painful I would cry each time.

All of this led to me keeping Olive in the bed with me. I was not able to bend over the crib and put her in or take her out. I guess Devin and I became comfortable with this arrangement because we never tried putting her back in the crib. Than her second surgery came. Staying in the hospital, they have rules about co-sleeping. Their rules are YOU CAN NOT CO-SLEEP. I felt like I was a criminal the way that the nurses talked to me about my decision to co-sleep with Olive at home. That is a different story. When we got back home Olive refused to sleeping her crib, she was in pain and wanted to snuggle with me.

(Olive sleeping next to me in our bed)

Well when Olive turned one I had enough. She is a big girl for her age (length wise) and she takes up a lot of the bed. Devin and I couldn't sleep comfortably in our queen size bed anymore. I decided that I was going to get her to sleep in her crib. WRONG. It was a nightmare. We went through many horrible experiences trying to get her to sleep in her crib. After about 2 months of not sleeping and being extremely frustrated I gave in. I bought that stupid book by Dr. Ferber. I vowed to never buy the damn thing, but I broke down. To my surprise the stupid thing worked. After two nights of doing what he wrote to do, Olive was falling asleep on her own in her crib and sleeping without waking up for 12-14 hours at a time.

(Olive always folds her pillow over and squishes herself in the corner of her crib)

It feels AMAZING to accomplish something that was giving me so much trouble and to do it on my own. I felt like a great Mom. But I missed her so much when I was sleeping. I didn't wake up to her in the middle of the night and every morning I wake up and love taking her out of her crib. But I refuse to give up nap time. Nap time with Olive consist of her sleeping on my chest while I read or watch some TV. Dr. Ferber recommends that nap time is also done in the crib but screw him! I need that time! Nap time is my favorite part of the day. Olive looks so "baby-like" and I get to sit down and take a break from cleaning, cooking, sewing, marketing. For that 1 to 11/2 hours everyday is my "Mommy time" as all the books and articles tell us to take. Nap time is for me to hold my baby and regress back to the days when she was not mobile and NEEDED me.

So for now I am keeping nap time.

(As you can see she has no problem sleeping in her crib now.. she makes herself comfortable)