The first night of Operation: Sleep Through the Night, Belle went to sleep in her crib at 7pm. When we went to bed at 10pm, we woke her, but let her cry in her crib until we all could sleep. Unfortunately for us, she fussed for about 40 minutes. When she woke again hungry at 1:30am, I fed her and put her down to sleep in the Pack-N-Play in the living room. I went back to bed, but immediately changed my mind and went to sleep on the couch in the living room next to the Pack-N-Play. Some maternal instinct wouldn't let me leave Belle alone on this first night. Somehow, I felt like if I was nearby, I could handle her screaming better. She woke at 5am, fussed for about ten minutes, and went back to sleep until 6:20am at which time I fed her (she was up for the day then).
Since then (it's been six nights now), she has gone to sleep easily before 7pm, woken up to eat between 11:30pm and 1:45am and gone back to sleep in the Pack-N-Play in the living room with no trouble. She has woken and fussed one or two more times (we can still hear here from our bed), but gets herself back to sleep. And when she wakes, it's a short fuss- less than five minutes for sure- each time. Then, she wakes hungry and ready to play after 6am.
I guess we'll consider her sleep trained once we don't hear her between the middle-of-the-night feeding and 6 or 6:30am. I don't know how long that will take.
As far as my concerns, it has not been so bad for me. I still get once nighttime snuggle/feeding session. My body seems to be adjusting OK to the decrease in feedings. This morning she woke at 5am, but got herself back to sleep until 6:20am, so the wake-up/play time has been reasonable.
I have a plan to get together with some college girl friends over the weekend. Babies are invited, so the real test to this sleep training operation will be a sleep over in New Jersey when the stakes are higher (waking other non-parents and other babies). I hope Belle's sleep skills rise to the occasion.
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