Independence Day

Night one of Sleep Training went far, far better than we ever could have imagined. It took 50 minutes for him to go to sleep, but he didn't cry for all of that - it was probably about 35 minutes. Bec woke him up to change him and feed him at just before 11 pm. He went back to sleep without a single peep, and then he slept until 630 am! Barely a peep out of him through the whole rest of the night! Amazing!

Of course Bec & I slept on pins and needles. There was one interlude at 530am where Quinn started to stir. I checked the video monitor and he was trying to roll himself over from his stomach to his back. This is a skill he has only recently learned and he hasn't mastered it enough to usually be able to do it by himself at night. However, our recently purchased Sleep Plan said helping him turn over was verboten, so Bec & I were glued to the 2" video monitor screen quietly cheering Quinn on as he struggled to roll over. He eventually made it. Then he went back to sleep. We were so proud.

I think we happened to choose the perfect time for sleep training, quite by accident. He has established a strong bond with us - there was a change around the time we went to NS where his crying became less desperate when he needed something. It's like it transitioned to a signal from an expression of fear. I think he now knows we are there for him when it matters. He has developed the physical skills to hold his head up and roll over both ways. He has developed a large enough stomach capacity to make it through the night. We have been observing a consistent bedtime routine for a month, and he has been sleeping reliably on his own for several hours in the evenings for most of that time. However, the bedtime routine hadn't gone on so long that it was completely entrenched. It was the Right Time, and I'm glad we didn't do it sooner.

I am desperately stuggling to not have high expectations for the coming nights. While one night went far better than we imagined in our wildest dreams, it doesn't constitute complete success. I'll put my emotional helmet on again tonight and we'll see how it goes.