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I have been so excited to share how I sleep trained my baby to sleep through the night! Let me tell you, this was not easy. The entire process is really stressful and very difficult. Having a baby that consistently gets up every couple of hours is so hard on you physically, mentally, and emotionally!
I remember those days so clearly as they were just months ago. As of today, we all have been sleeping through the night for 3 months! We certainly can all feel the benefits of this!!
So if you clicked on this post to learn more, I am assuming that you are either pregnant, have a new baby, have a baby that is keeping you up all night, OR know someone who is struggling.
If this is the case, let’s help out other tired mamas and share this post or even pin it to save it for later!
Why We Decided to Sleep Train
When my first child was a baby, he had a great routine. However, he got up 1-2 times a night until he was almost a year old.
One of my biggest regrets with that first year is not researching sleep training and implementing something. When my daughter was born, my husband and I were already mentally prepared to not sleep for another year. Right at Christmastime, our daughter who was almost 6-months-old at the time was getting up every 2-3 hours again. This is no exaggeration.
We could not deal much longer.
It felt like we had a newborn all over again.
I decided one day to research different sleep training methods. You can research these methods more by reading the 5 Different Sleep Training Methods.
Against everything I ever told myself about any cry-it-out method, we tried the Ferber Method.
The Ferber Method
Parents Magazine explains The Ferber Method really well. Instead of telling you exactly what is already written in the other article, I want to share with you EXACTLY what we did to sleep trained our baby- because it worked!
The first night, I gave our daughter a bath, dried her off, rubbed lavender-scented lotion on her, and got her in her pajamas.
It was pretty easy to decide that that night was the night to start because my husband and I were just so stinking tired! We knew it was time to train my 6-month-old to sleep through the night!
When I brought her upstairs to bring her to bed, I put her in her Nested Bean Sleep Sack. We have an amazing Glider that we actually had from our firstborn that we use every single day or night with both of our kids. Rocking my almost-three-year-old will NEVER get old for this mama!
While rocking her, I read her a story (or three because I was nervous to put her down). I then turned off her lights, except her Hatch, and kissed her goodnight.
She obviously cried right away as she has been put down asleep every night. I knew she would become upset so I had my Sleep Training Log ready. My Sleep Training Log helps you know when you should next check it. It also will show your baby’s progress from night-to-night!
Night One:
- I let her cry for about 5 minutes
- I then went in and just rubbed her head, told her I loved her for about 25-30 seconds, and kissed her goodnight again
- I walked out
- She then cried for 10 minutes
- Then I went in and just rubbed her head, shh’d her for about 25-30 seconds, and kissed her goodnight again
- I walked out
- She then cried for 9 more minutes and put herself to sleep
- I did not need to go in again.
She woke up again around midnight and I let her cry for 5 minutes. I went in and just rubbed her head, shh’d her for about 25-30 seconds, and kissed her goodnight again. I walked out.
She put herself to sleep.
She then slept until almost 6 o’clock in the morning.
I woke up stunned!
Night Two:
I did all of the same things as above except I went in at 10 minutes instead of 5.
She cried for 4 minutes that night. Put herself to sleep.
Woke up one time in the night without the need to check-in.
Slept until 6 o’clock.
Night Three:
She did not cry that night and put herself to sleep. She slept through the night.
Note: I wrote down how long she cried on a piece of paper so I could see progress. I never thought it would work so quickly! Grab your cry-it-out tracker here!
Disclaimer:
Every child is different. This is simply our story. I felt so blessed that sleep training was that easy. It was something we needed to do for not only our daughter to have a better rest, but for our mental health as well.
I swear that since she started sleeping 12 hours through the night, she has become a much happier baby. Sleep training her at night has also made nap time an easier task. But that is a discussion for another day.
Other Sleep Items for Success
Our daughter was already sleeping in a Nested Bean Sleep Sack. The Nested Bean Sleep Sack was perfect for her. It has a light weighted sack that goes either on the chest or on the back. The great thing about this sack is that you can reverse it if your baby becomes a belly sleeper time (ours did).
This sleep sack also has a wide base, so her legs don’t feel trapped. She is still able to roll back-to-belly and belly-to-back throughout the night. They have both cotton and fleece materials that you can get and plenty of patterns to suit your little bundle of joy.
Both of our kids use the Hatch as a sound machine and nightlight. We love this thing! I have been quite tempted to buy one for my room!
We also have a humidifier in every bedroom. We live in an old farmhouse and when the heat is on, it can get dry. When our ACs are going, our bedrooms can also get dry. We run these occasionally for the comfort of our little ones.
You can read more about the Best Baby Items for Sleep here.
Remember to grab my Sleep Training Log to track your baby’s progress!
Conclusion
I’m happy to share how I sleep-trained my baby to sleep through the night with you! I wish this was something we decided to do with our firstborn. The Ferber Method is absolutely something we would attempt again with future children.
I believe every baby is different and every experience will not be the same.
Not everyone sides with methods that involve crying-it-out and I totally get it. I refused to do cry-it-out with my son and that meant rocking him completely asleep and getting up 1-2 times a night until he was a year old.
This just worked for us and I hope it works for you!
If you enjoyed reading about how I sleep trained my baby in 3 nights then you may also like:
How I Save Money on Baby Diapers
Best Baby Items for Feeding Baby
How I Save Over $600 On Baby Food A Year
Best Baby Items for Sleep for a Newborn Baby
XOXO
Olivia