Tracy Hogg, You Saved My Life

I promised a progress report on sleep training, so here it is. A while ago my sister-in-law Amanda recommended Baby Whisperer book to us when we mentioned that we were having trouble with Chase. I was doing whatever Dr. Sears recommended (or so I thought) and already had a stack of baby books from every doctors and best selling authors, so that one also went into the pile that I didn't have time to read. I was feeding Chase on demand and cosleeping with her in our spare bed in the nursery to not disturb Wil. While I loved snuggling with my warm and fuzzy bundle of joy, I was also unknowingly creating a sleepless monster. Whenever she stirred and made a hungry sound, I would feed her. The next thing I knew I was shoving boob in her mouth every time she cried in the middle of the night so I could get one more minute of sleep, and eventually she was up every hour wanting a snack. I knew what we were doing weren't working but just didn't know to go about fixing it until I skimmed ALL the books in my pile. While I appreciated the wisdom in each and all of the books, it was the loving authoritative ways of Tracy Hogg, a.k.a. The Baby Whisperer, that worked best for us. I was first off put by the idea of putting a baby on a "schedule" but came to understand that it was more like a structured routine. Before the book, if Chase woke up after half an hour into her nap, I'd just get her up and resign myself to the fact that I was not going to bathe that day. I never knew I could just say "no, Chasey, you HAVE to nap" and put her back to sleep. Hey, I had more experience with puppies than babies, so all these were new to me. The first day we implemented the E.A.S.Y routine, Chase put up a little fight. I had already been trying to keep her on a similar routine, so the part when she was eating and playing were not too difficult. The true test came when we had to put her down for her morning nap. Chase never had to learn to fall asleep on her own because she was rocked and nursed to sleep her whole life. Lemme tell you, the sound that came out out that child scared the crap out of me. Chase rarely cried. She grumbled and mumbled when she was tired or unhappy but never screamed. Well, she did that day. But after I gave my best 27 minutes of following Pick Up/Put Down technique, my child gave a big heaving sigh and drifted off to sleep ON HER OWN! We were down to 22 minutes for the afternoon nap with little crying. I was dreading putting her down for the night, but I should have trusted that my kid was going to come through for me. I swaddled her, kissed her forehead and filled my lungs with her sweet baby smell before telling her goodnight. She put her favorite thumb in her mouth, grumbled a little, then closed her eyes and went to sleep. Without crying. Without fussing. It was almost anticlimatic. I didn't know what do to with myself now that I was "free" before sunset. She was still waking up quite a bit at night, but it was infinitely easier to put her back to sleep with PU/PD technique. By the third night, she only woke up once. I was besides myself. She didn't cry anymore when she was tired because we recognized her sleep cues and put her down before she got cranky. She would take 2 2-hour naps a day and wake up a happy and hungry baby. No more snacking all day. It was liberating to be able to leave Wil with the baby and run errands without wondering if she was at home screaming in hunger. I knew exactly when she was going to be hungry or tired and could just map my day around her schedule. We had a regression issue for a few days but now she's back to her good habits. Just in time, too, because it was just then that my funky state of mind really kicked into high gear. We still have a little way to go with her waking up at night, but it's only to be expected since she was so accustomed to it. But I can absolutely say we're all better because of what I've learned from reading this book. Amanda, I would give you a big hug if my arms could reach all the way to Ohio. And as for you, Tracy, I'll give you a big sloppy kiss when I see you, hopefully a long time from now, up there. Thanks a million.