During Brooke's first month of life, she had difficulties sleeping. Well, let's say she had trouble falling asleep and wouldn't sleep by herself. If we put her down in her crib, she would only sleep for about an hour before waking up in hysterics. So each night, I would sleep holding her in the recliner chair in her room. (Note: Our decision to buy a Lazy Boy for her room has paid off!) Although I slept, my back suffered.
On the night before she turned one month, Brooke surprised us by sleeping all night in her crib. She only woke up once for a 3am feeding. I was able to put her back in her crib after that and she slept another 4 hours. That morning I woke up in a terrible panic thinking Brooke had died of SIDS since I hadn't heard a peep out of her. Now she has been sleeping in her crib for almost a week, so I am feeling pretty confident that she is "crib-trained."
Our next task is to train her to fall asleep for naps during the day. Brooke stays awake after feeding, gets over-stimulated and then cries because she is over-tired but she won't fall asleep. The only way she would sleep is if we put her in the Baby Bjorn and carried her. So, I finally gave in and bought a pacifier. This was a tough decision since I have always felt like these were a sign of being a bad parent......long story involving my grandmother and mom saying that kids with pacifiers look like retards. I decided to ignore the teachings of my elders and am using the pacifier to lull Brooke to sleep. In our defense, we only use it for naptime. So far it is working wonders. Let's hope the good work continues....
Like Mother, Like Daughter...
