Cry It Out??

Since Macey will be five months this Friday, I've decided we need to work on her sleeping habits. I feel like she is at the age of soothing herself and putting herself to sleep. If only I could discuss this with her and have her agree to fall asleep without crying...

I guess what pushed me over the edge and brought me to this place of needing a better sleep habit is her inability to take a nap in her crib without me rocking (and bouncing and walking...) her to sleep. I love holding and rocking my little angel, but her five month body is getting a little heavy for mommy to bounce-walk for thirty minutes before each nap. On Saturday I found myself putting her in her car seat and driving around the neighborhood until she fell asleep for her afternoon nap. I know some parents do this with their children but I feel like there has to be a better way for us both.

So we are trying the method of "Cry it Out." I don't like this one single bit. We started with her morning nap yesterday. I put on her mobile, kissed and told her good night. She watched her mobile, rolled around, got stuck in the bars of the crib, rolled around some more until the mobile stopped. Then the crying started. I put her on her stomach, pat/shushed her until she stopped crying and left the room. I repeated this a couple more times until she was fast asleep. whew! Last night, I did the same thing but it took a little more crying and pat/shushing to get her to sleep. Two CIO's down. I've read that this method takes 3 - 7 days to work... We are on day two and so far so good. She woke up at 3:30a last night and I knew she wasn't hungry. So I got up and worked the CIO method for about 30 - 45 minutes. Although she did go to sleep without me taking her out of her crib or feeding her, it was tough on us both. Hoping it gets easier on us both!

Just a few sweet pictures of our baby girl... Sorry there are so many but it's hard to stop taking pictures of that smile!