Sleep training Clara, Day 2

For disclaimer and a run down on our first day of sleep training, click here.

Day 2: 9/5/12

• 6am - Clara wakes up and I rush in to greet my baby with smiles. She seemed quite happy and (despite the two hours ten minutes of crying a few hours earlier) well rested. (While a 6am wake time might seem extremely early for some, I feel it is unfair and unrealistic of us to expect Clara to make it to 7am right now. If she does then great! But if she wakes at 6am or anytime between 6-7am I will happily go and get her!)
• 6:15am - feeding and then playtime. Turned on all the lights and played some music to help her learn that this is wake time! 
• 7:30am - I start watching Clara for signs of sleepiness. Weissbluth recommends no more than two hours of wake time and thus Clara's morning nap would be close to 8am. Yet he also suggests that for post colicky babies, sometimes their limit of wakefulness is anywhere in the 1.5-2 hour range. Thus I start watching Clara like a hawk at 7:30pm. I soon notice she is getting still, quiet, sleepy eyes and yawning. My clue to start soothing routine. (The goal is to put baby down during this sleepy state, as to prevent them from becoming overtired and fussy. Basically, you don't want to start the soothing routine at the time of the second nap, that is too late, it needs to happen before). 
• 7:45am - complete soothing routine and place Clara in her crib. Give paci and cover with blanket. She falls asleep quickly with, wait for it, NO CRYING AT ALL. Slept solid from 7:45- 9:30am. At 9:30 she was awake, but completely happy and content, so I let her wake up slowly and enjoy talking to herself for a few minutes before I go to get her. 
• 9:45am - feeding and then playtime
• I notice at about 11:00am she is showing all the normal signs of being tired. She's been up for 1.5 hours which, as stated earlier, might be the maximum period of wakefulness depending on the day. I begin soothing routine. 
• 11:15am - nap #2. She whimpers for quite a while and then, for the first time, rolls over from back to tummy in her bed (she's done this, just never in her bed). Whimpering continues b/c she is now stuck. The book recommends not going in to roll baby over or put paci back in as this reinforces to baby that the more they fuss, eventually mom or dad will rescue. So now I have to sit and see what happens. Enter crying. Hard, hard crying. She manages to maneuver her way to the top right side and then top left side of her crib. Eventually, the crying ceases at 12:00pm on the dot. Cries for a total of 45 min which is 15 minutes less compared to yesterdays nap. 
• 12-3pm - napped like a champ (was on tummy entire nap). She was still asleep at 3pm but I woke her in order to protect getting in (a short) third nap and an earlier bedtime. 
• 4:20 - 5pm - nap #3. We got out to take dinner to a friend and my goal was to be home before 5pm. We were on our way home and at about 4:20pm, Clara fell asleep in her car seat. So I am calling this nap #3. 
• From here I wasn't quite sure what to do. I knew it wasn't likely that Clara could make it three hours, until 8pm, without getting tired. I'll admit the thought of a bed time before 8pm made me REALLY nervous. But. . . I knew Weissbluth would recommend putting Clara to bed during her next sleepy state as opposed to having her nap again and then have a late bedtime (he recommends a bedtime somewhere between 6-8pm). We watched Clara's signals and about 6:50pm she starts showing her sleep signs. We can tell she is fading fast. 
• 7:00pm - begin bedtime routine w/ a bath
• 7:15pm - feeding - literally is falling asleep while eating. 
• 7:30pm - bedtime - she is already totally out of it by the time we put her in bed. 
• 8:15pm - she wakes up and starts crying. (I don't go to her b/c I know she just had a diaper change + a four oz. feeding one hour ago). She rolls to tummy and cries, hard, until 9:05pm.
• 9:05pm - 12:45am - slept well and when she woke at 12:45 she had first feeding of night and diaper change. 
• 1:00am - went right back down with NO CRYING and slept solid for one hour. 
• 2:00 - 3:15am - she wakes up at 2am and starts crying - lots and lots of crying. I SO wanted to rescue her, but I assumed she was not hungry since she ate four oz. at 12:45. I knew going in now would undo every bit of progress made thus far. One hour and 15 min of total crying. 
• 3:15 - 7am - sleeps like a rock. I have to go wake her at 7am to start the day and establish her wake time. 

We made some progress today. . . 

She cried less at nap time (45 min compared to 1 hr)

She took a 3 hour nap which hasn't happened since she was a tiny newborn!

Bedtime was a tad earlier (which is a big goal!)

She cried less during her night awakening (1 hr 15 min compared to 2 hr 10 min)

Progress in her wake time/start of the day (7am vs. a 6am wake time yesterday)

This is HARD stuff y'all. Totally rips my heart out. But I am confident that our consistency will help her establish better sleep habits overall. I have to keep reminding myself that she will be better off after a few nights of protesting/crying vs. several years of unhealthy sleep patterns. At least I am praying it's only a few nights! 

We CAN do this!! 

On to Day #3!!

(Ps - Clara has her 4 month pedi appt. next week and after that I will work on her 4 month update!)