A Good Night's Sleep

A few months back I wrote a post on how horrible our bed time was. Chance and I have been feeling down about the whole situation. It was getting harder and harder to bed share and with Ryker coming we knew it was a bad idea. I didn't want to be up with both boys numerous times at night. We finally gave in and followed our doctor's suggestion.

We tried to make our routine extremely specific. First we went out and bought a Lightning McQueen pillow. Rather pricey at $20 but B took right to him. Our first attempt (a few months ago) we put B to bed at 7:30. After reading an article on facebook I chose to move this time back. At 8:15 every night we drag our pillow & a hot wheels up stairs to take a bath. Sometimes the bath is short and others it's really long. It all depends on how B is doing. When bath is done we brush his teeth and head to Mommy & Daddy's room. We dry him off and get lotioned with lavender. He loves to help and tries to lick the lotion. We still use our lullaby oil and let B roll it on himself. I massage it in and make sure he gets relaxed. Before his diaper and clothes we use coconut oil just incase a rash might appear. He really likes to help put it on. He thinks it's really funny. After this long routine we walk him to him bed and give him cuddles and kisses. He cries for us and Coco but lays in his bed cuddling his pillow. When we leave we have to lock his door until he calms down or he will escape.

The past few days it takes anywhere from 5-10 minutes for him to fall asleep. We then go upstairs and open his door just incase he wakes up in the night. He normally wakes up at least once and Chance walks him back to his room. I'm really surprised at how well this went.

The first night he was still in his crib and we had yet to lock the door. He must have climbed out and came downstairs 15 times before I told Chance to lock his door. After that he was asleep in 15 minutes. He did fall asleep in his rocking chair so the next day we converted his crib and he's done so much better. We're now on day 5 and he's been doing so well. He does wake up super early though. Some days he'll come lay in bed with me and sleep and others he's ready to get up.

I was completely against CIO. It really hurt my heart and I wanted to cuddle and love him so bad. When our doctor suggested locking him in I was a little taken back. It took us a while to finally accept the suggestion but it has done wonders for us. This was by no means our first option. We have tried so many times to get him out of our bed. We've tried moving his bed to our room and sliding it up against our bed... nothing worked! This has really taught me something. I LOVE my babies but co-sleeping isn't for us. I will definitely start Ryker in his crib very very early to ensure he can sleep alone.