Maddie's First Christmas (and sleep training success)

Wednesday, December 26, 12

It is the day after Christmas and we feel so blessed! We had such a wonderful time spending Christmas Eve at my parents’ house and seeing my Aunt Pam, Uncle Bill, Uncle Kenny and my cousins, Brittany and Ashley.  We had good food and great conversation. Maddie had a difficult time, unfortunately. I think she is used to quiet since it isn’t typically very loud when she is home with me, and she just got overwhelmed by the different smells, people, sounds…etc.  A couple of times, I brought her upstairs to change her and it was completely quiet and she took a deep breath and put her head to the side as though she were about to fall asleep.  She was very relaxed by the change in atmosphere.

We put out cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph

Towards the end of the night, we opened gifts, which was a lot of fun.  Having Maddie makes me feel like a kid on Christmas again! She got spoiled with so many fun toys and cute new outfits.  I am so grateful to everyone. 

Phil and I woke up Christmas morning and made waffles together (delicious!) before Maddie woke up at around 9.  It was hilarious: she looked grumpy on Christmas morning.  This will probably be the first and last Christmas we can enjoy without her jumping out of bed at 5am and waking Mom and Dad up to open presents and it was so funny to think about that and see her expressions as we opened gifts with her. She was genuinely excited about the little tambourine toy that we bought and she seems to like the exersaucer.  Success!

"This is it?"

Phil’s parents stopped by later in the afternoon along with Phil’s brother, Nathan.  We ate turkey and stuffing and just hung around and talked.  We exchanged gifts, too, which overwhelmed me.  Everyone is just so absolutely generous with us and Maddie.  All-in-all, we had a wonderful Christmas filled with so many blessings. 

Maddie and Daddy opening up presents. She loved the tambourine!

Merry Christmas! From Daddy, Maddie and Luka! 

Mmmmm. Delicious paper.  Mommy and Maddie after we opened all the presents.

Another gift we have been given is the gift of rest: Maddie has been sleeping during the day like a champ! Dare I say that the sleep training worked? For the past 3 days, I have been able to rock Maddie for a couple of minutes while I sing “Mary had a little lamb,” and then transfer her into her crib fully awake. I immediately leave the room and she, on her own with no assistance, has been drifting off to sleep after a few minutes.  Sometimes she whimpers a little, sometimes she bables until she wears herself out, but eventually she sleeps.  I am so excited and thrilled that I decided to do the sleep training and stuck with it through all of those VERY difficult days.  Here’s a breakdown of the schedule I followed, which I modified a little bit from various websites that I read:

Always start out rocking in the glider and sing “Mary had a little lamb” – I did this so Maddie would begin to associate that song with going to sleep.

Day 1-3: put Maddie in her crib and sit next to her. Help her fall asleep by touching her, talking to her, shushing her…etc.  If she became inconsolable, I would pick her up and start the process over again. I had to do this every so often, but rarely.

Day 4-7: Put Maddie in her crib while awake and sit next to her. Help her fall asleep by talking and shushing but do not touch her. If she becomes inconsolable, pick her up and start the process over. I think I had to do this 3 times over the course of the three days.

Days 8-9: Put Maddie down in the crib fully awake and move the chair further away from the crib. Help Maddie fall asleep by shushing her and talking to her. No touching.

Days 10-11: Here’s where I modified it a little bit. I put Maddie down in her crib and moved the chair a little further away.  I would shush her if she started to get fussy, but after a while, I decided to let her cry a little.  I timed 3 minutes (which is longer than it sounds!) on my phone and let her cry. Once the three minutes was up, I walked over to her and shushed her and putt he pacifier in her mouth, then sat back down in my chair. She quietly drifted off to sleep on her own.

Days 12-13: I have been putting Maddie down and leaving the room immediately. If she starts crying, I wait three minutes before going into her room. I give her the pacifier, tell her it’s time to go to sleep and then leave again (I’ve only had to go into her room to do this once or twice over the course of the past couple of days).  So far, she has gone o sleep right away!

SUCCESS!! I am so happy that this is working. I feel like I will get a little bit more time back during the day to work on other things rather than trying to rock Maddie to sleep for hours.  YAY!

Maddie loves playing in her exersaucer. She doesn't grab at the toys a lot, yet, but she will soon, I am sure.