My (Failed) Attempt at Sleep Training

Eli after his second night of sleep training.

Two weekends ago, I decided to start sleep training Eli. He was still waking up twice a night and not taking a good feeding at either time. When he slept an hour past his morning wake time, I thought it was time to teach him how to sleep through the night. I started right at three months, even though most say that you shouldn't start until four. I knew it would be rough in the beginning but I figured it would be worth it if I could get a full night's sleep when Tali started school (30 minute drive each way!). 

So, the training began on the Saturday night of a long weekend. It went exactly as I thought it would the first two nights (awful then a bit better). And then I really threw a wrench in the plans. A few people had been trying to convince me that it was time to drop the swaddle because Eli was three months old. I thought he still needed it but after a bit more thought, I figured maybe they were right. He was a terrible napper and since I already doing the sleep training, I might as well do this at the same time. WRONG! We went 1 1/2 nights without the swaddle and it was awful! He woke up every hour crying. In the middle of the second night, I swaddled him and fed him (yes, I caved) and he happily went back to sleep for a few hours. At that point, I decided that maybe it was too early to train.

Eli had his three month visit the next day so I spoke to the doctor about it. Yes, it is too early to train. And, yes, some babies need the swaddle past three months (even in to the fourth or fifth month). So now we're back to feeding at night. But we're down to one feeding instead of two. My fingers are crossed that he'll sleep through the night on his own soon. I could really use a full night's rest!