Sunday, May 3, 2009

Detachment Parenting - Day 1

Haha, that title is not to be taken literally...It's really because I am so committed to my child that I am letting her cry herself to sleep to learn how to sleep on her own. Unlike most babies, who are content to sleep just because their mother is nearby or they are on her, mine fidgets while on me and wakes herself up! Thereby, missing out on crucial naptime. Additionally, she will not just sleep because I'm holding her, I have to rock her, etc so getting her to sleep on her own will be beneficial to all parties involved!
We started sleep training Dillon today thanks to the wonderful words of encouragement from my father's new wife. D cried loud for maybe 1/2 an hour. Then slept for half an hour but the minute I walked out of the room, we got maybe 5 minutes and she was awake. See, when I read the Baby Whisperer, she says that babies are not in their deep sleep (REM I guess) until 20 minutes. So, whatever you do be prepared to invest 20 minutes of it in order to make sure the baby is fully asleep before you move onto other things.
Well, in Dillon's case, I'm beginning to notice that it takes her THIRTY minutes and why? Because I think she spends the first 10 minutes of shut eye, winding down but fully alert with ears and touch to make sure that you are not leaving her. When she is good and satisfied that you are there and as sleep takes over, then we can start counting the minutes.
When she woke up the second time, I tried to get her to go back to sleep but after about 15 minutes, it was coming up on her feeding time so I fed her, played with her for a short time and then it was back to bed.
Surprise! She cried for maybe less than three minutes and fell asleep! She slept for about 30 minutes and then woke up. I think because I had stopped rocking her at 20 minutes (this was before I came up with my realization that D takes 30 minutes to fall into deep sleep). Well, by this time Tina and Greg had come home and though Tina means well, I think she forgets that babies are easily stimulated so while Dillon was having a minor meltdown, Tina continued to talk to her and then my dad came in and it was just a little bit of pandemonium. Finally, I just said, "Don't you think there's too many people in here??"
And Tina immediately realized and said, "Oh yes! Let's get out of here."
It took a while to get Dillon to go down, maybe 15, 20 minutes, but she did finally fall asleep and now has been sleeping for almost 2 hours!
That's TWO HOURS that I had free! I didn't have to hold her. My world did not have to stop. It's amazing.
And now, Tina has agreed to stay with me while Greg is away all next week! For emotional support! I'm so excited!
Umm, Rocky was just in here licking his bone, playing and then heard a noise and barked! Dillon is still sleeping. Amazing.
Hallelujah!!

2 comments:

  1. yay!!! you are doing a great job. tina sounds like a great person to have around!!!

    Go B!!

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  2. Thank goodness for Tina!! I actually got to hear from Belinda today. YAY!
    -Su

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