September 07, 2009

Success????

Kalia is adjusting quite nicely to most of the changes she's had to endure in the 4 1/2 months since we became a family. One thing she still struggles with is sleep. She has yet to sleep a complete night in her bed without waking up not once. We've had some good nights....where she'll go to bed around 9 and sleep till 6, but there are always a couple wakeups in there, where she'll go right back to sleep if I pat her back. Most the time I get good sleep from 9 til 12 or 1, then she has to sleep in our bed the remainder of the night (or noone gets any sleep).

A couple weeks ago I began to wonder if she was feeling constrained in the crib. She's a mover and continuously hits her head on the sides. I also wondered if maybe she associated the crib with being in the orphanage. I began to think about maybe it was time to convert the crib into a daybed. If either of those were how she was feeling, maybe converting the bed would help.

So yesterday we took the plunge.

Naptime was our first attempt. I think it went fairly well. She went from this....

to this

in approx. 10 minutes.

We tried again for bed and got the same results (though it took about 15 minutes that time). She still wakes up, and we still have to pat her back to sleep, but she doesn't fight it. As long as we're sitting beside her and patting her back to sleep, she's good for a few more hours.

Will it last? That, my friends, is the million $$ question!

3 comments:

  1. Sleep and nightime is the worst of it, and nightime insecurities last for a while ! We abandoned the crib she just got to distressed and we co-slept with her and after 4 months she went into her own bed and 8 months into her own room. Just do it at her pace, but it does get easier as her confidence growns!

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  2. I gave in from sleep deprivation and put Mia back in the pack-n-play next to our bed for a while longer. I was so tired every day I was beginning to slur my words and forget things. It wasn't good! In the crib in her room she wakes up 4-5 times a night where I would have to go and pat her back to sleep. In the pack-n-play she sleeps 830-5 and maybe wakes up once in the night. At 5 I change her diaper and give her a bottle and she is back to sleep until 645 or so. I'd rather do that and get some sleep than try and make her sleep in the crib! :)

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  3. It does get better. We dumped the crib as well. The more confident she becomes the better it gets. Isabella goes to bed at 7.00 and wakes up anytime between 5.30-6.30 every day. After 6.00 or 6.30 is fine as we get up for work! Anyone know how to get her to lie in at weekends! Getting her to bed later does not work!

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