Sleep Training... Night 1

(Warning, very boring unless you are also attempting or thinking about attempting sleep training! :) )

We brushed teeth with Venily and did Venily's bedtime routine (read 2 books, sing 2 songs).  I could tell Haven was tired.  So then Haven and I read 3 of Haven's books together while Venily was sleeping.  I turned off the lights, brought her in her room, and sang her a song.... told her I loved her, kissed her, said "Good night" and put her in her crib.  I put the timer on for 5 minutes.  She cried the whole time a little, but wasn't screaming or anything.

When the 5 minutes was up, I went in there.  She was of course standing in her crib crying.  I told her I loved her again and that it was time to sleep and I put her back down and left the room, setting the alarm for 7 minutes.

Her crying escalated a bit after I left, but went back to just a little crying.  There were periods of time when I'd hear finger sucking in between the crying as well.  I wasn't sure I should go back in, but I did.  I found her sitting in there.  I shushed her and tried to lay her back down.  She wasn't having that.  As soon as she saw me, the crying escalated again for a minute.  I left the room and set the alarm for 9 minutes.

I could hear longer periods of time of quiet... and then some crying... then some quiet... then some crying... at the end of 9 minutes, I went in again.  She was sitting again.  The crying escalated again.  I tried to lay her back down and left the room, setting the alarm for 12 minutes.

After only 3.5 minutes, silence for 5 minutes straight!!!!  YAY, success!  Or maybe not?  The crying continued then.  I didn't know if I was supposed to start the timer over or not... so I just waited.  After a few more minutes, silence again.  Then some more slight cries...then silence... more cries... and finally complete silence!

The HARDEST part was not picking her up when I'd have to go in there to comfort her!  I did get off pretty easy though since there was no real screaming, just sad crying, which is hard enough!  Hopefully it does in fact get easier, but overall, it went a LOT better than I thought it was going to!  :)  I'm excited to have a baby that sleeps on her own again!  Fingers crossed!