Yesterday, Abby didn’t nap so well during the day. It’s clear the naps are going to be a challenge for a while yet. But.
Jeremy put her in her crib last night at 8 p.m. I didn’t give her a dream feed – for no good reason other than I was too busy with work and never thought she would get through the whole night anyway.
She woke up at 6:40 this morning, without so much as a peep overnight. And she played in her crib this morning for about 10 minutes before we went to get her.
Almost 11 hours straight. Amazingly, 12 hours doesn’t seem so farfetched right now. 
Sleep training is a challenge. It’s hard to stick to the house as much as we did. And it’s tough when she doesn’t want to nap – do you force it or let her stay up even if she’s getting overtired? But all I can say is we’re really glad we did it. We both woke up feeling well rested, which means we can engage her and care for her better during the day.
It took about 10 days to get to this point, but it was absolutely worth it.
February 11, 2009 at 2:20 am
BRAVO to you all!
Isn’t it magical when you actually get a decent night’s sleep? It just changes everything.
Good girl, Abby, for sleeping so well! Now she’s set a precedent, so even if it’s not every night, you know she can do it.
Naps: It took a long while for daytime naps to become consistent with DD – I would say at least from 6 months to 9 months it was a challenge (she is 11 months now). It seemed that one day she would nap for 2 hours and the next day for 40 minutes, it was so bewildering and frustrating. But I learned to trust that she will sleep as much as she needs. Also, you will learn how long one sleep cycle is, and gradually she will learn to put herself back to sleep for the second cycle. I kept DD’s room dark and cool, with no stimulation, and it helped. But every baby is different of course.
Abby is such a quick learner, and you teaching her these good sleep habits so early on is a wonderful gift for all three of you.