Jet-lag + Sleep Training + a Twin Bed = A Very Tired Family

  As the title indicates, we are a very tired family this morning, and last night went better than most have since we got home.  We have encountered a perfect storm of sleep problems.  The first one is jet-lag.  Thailand is 5 hours behind us and we're all having trouble waking up on time in the morning and then going to bed when we need to.  Sky has been staying up as late as 9PM when her usual bedtime is 7.  D and I have been having the same problem so we're all dragging when the alarms go off in the morning. 
  To add to the jet-lag, Sky is having trouble sleeping alone and has figured out how to climb out of her crib.  We all slept in the same bed during our vacation in Thailand which was fine while we were there but has come back to bite us in the butt now that we're home.  We only have a full size bed here and Sky is a flail-er, which means that the family bed doesn't work here.  To be a good Mom, I need my sleep and I can't get it when she sleeps with us in our bed.  When we tried the method of sleep training that we used with her before, we discovered that she could get out of her crib, something she'd never done before vacation.  For a few nights, we took turns sleeping with her in her twin bed but that wasn't a long term solution. 

  After some internet research and some advice from a few other moms here on island, we settled on a plan and started implementing it last night.  We're slowly working her bedtime back to her usual bedtime by putting her down 15-20 minutes earlier every night but getting her up at the same time every morning.  So far it's working- she was down by 8:10 last night.  We're back to rocking her all the way to sleep rather than letting her fall asleep on her own but we'll tackle that eventually.  We only want to climb one screaming mountain at a time.  We disassembled the crib and now only have the twin bed in her room.  The last two nights she's woken up crying and come looking for us in the middle of the night.  The night before last, D rocked her to sleep but last night, we started our twin bed sleep training.  The advice we were given was to go to her every time she gets out of bed and put her back in bed.  To tell her that it's time to sleep and to stay in bed, that we love her and we're here but it's time to be in bed.  To tuck her in and to be kind but not to spend a lot of time or to pick her up, and not to talk or comfort her every time we went in there.  We were warned that it could take a hundred times the first night but the second night may only take fifty and that it would be hard but that we should stick it out.
  And stick it out we did.  Sky woke up a little before midnight and I put her back to bed.  Again and again and again.  D put her back to bed again and again and again.  I meant to count how many times we did it but D took over at 20 and I lost track.  Sky cried, screamed, tried to get us to rock her, pulled books off her shelf and said, "read!", even asked us to change her diaper, anything to get more attention.  It broke my heart but we stuck it out.  It seemed like it took forever but it actually only took 20 minutes until she fell asleep in her bed.  Towards the end she was saying "Bed, mommy, bed", meaning that she wanted me to lay down with her.  I found her stuffed pig and put it in bed with her and put her arms around it and she fell asleep shortly after that. 
  This morning, she woke up tired and needy for affection so we gave her lots of it, and told her how brave she was to sleep by herself and how proud of her we are and what a big girl she is.  Tonight we'll make sure that she has her pig when she goes to bed and we'll keep up the training if she wakes up in the night.  Hopefully we'll all be back to a more normal schedule and that Sky will be back to sleeping through the night soon.

Comments

  1. Be encouraged! I've done this myself, and it DOES work. You'll all live thru this. :)

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