Sleeping Angel...Finally!!

Hey everyone,
I am so amazed I have to share this.. I have never believed in crying it out sleep methods etc but recently I read (And re-read) Elizabeth Pantleys No-Cry Sleep Solution book, thanks to the lovely ladies on here that reccomended it!!
This woman is a god send!!

I have only tried a little of what she has written in it, but we set a routine for bedtime for Madison early this week, Monday I think, which consists of two books, milk then bed. (A bath first at night )
And TA-DA! This morning I read her two books, wide awake baby, then gave her her milk, still wide awake, layed her into her cot where she grabbed her blanket and cuddled teddy and bang, asleep!

Its been taking me and DF about an hour to get her to sleep recently, and all she has needed is a familiar routine!!
It means alot to us that she is happy with sleeping and today she was actually eager to sleep, I am so proud of my lil girl and all you other super mums out there should give it a try!

Thanks for listening to my rant

God, it feels good when they go to sleep happy without hours of screaming doesnt it? James is doing much better and now I can sometimes go in and cuddle him and put him back in bed awake and he goes to sleep without fuss...its amazing.

I also LOVE it when they wake up smiley and happy...or better yet you find them awake playing with their teddy and they smile when they see you...so much better than hysterical screaming.

I was impressed with the book. I didnt really do anything from it other than be reassured we werent abnormal...or the worst. I thought the most useful step was to record what happens at the start so you can see it getting better...even if only slightly.

Most parents don't want gentle ways though, cause gentle ways usually take more time and they want a quick fix. Well that has been MY observation anyway.

When I read it all we did was move his bedtime forward and hour and voilà, and though we have had some challenges in the 12ish months since we did that it seemed to make ALL the difference in the world.

I think the other good thing about her is that she's non judgemental........by that I mean unlike pretty much every other baby sleep book out there that essentially tells you that you've done the wrong thing, she tells you what worked for her, gives you the information and then lets YOU decide what you want to do with it. I've read the Toddler book as well and I think it really helped to understand sleep cycles for babies/toddlers, putting it all into perspective, and hopefully helping you to realise that though everyone seems to think there is something abnormal cause your baby/toddler has sleep issues, that in fact they are indeed 'normal'.

And I am rambling.....glad things are going well, and hope that they continue.

I'm so stoked this worked so well for you! I wish we could say the same :(

It's one of the books that we read (as well as Pinky McKay's Sleeping Like a Baby) and went through and worked on with Bethany and unfortunately it wouldn't work for her. And we honestly really, really, really tried! Just a quick note from a mum who wasn't looking for a 'quick fix' and never intended to let her baby (or any baby) CIO for any reason... sometimes our methods have to be defined by our babies personalities, and in this case the only thing that worked for us was a variation on CIO. It wasn't taken on lightly (I'd always refused point-blank to listen when my plunket nurse kept telling me to do it), and in the end it was done in degrees that allowed Bethany to know that while we were there, she was the one who needed to learn how to fall asleep. We worked on this between 6-12mths of age (I could NEVER have tried it any earlier, as it was my heart still breaks if she cries) and now she's an amazing sleeper, day and night! We did follow a programme recommended by a friend (via an e-book) and couldn't believe the difference.

So yeah that's just my wee bit of experience. I truly hope that my next bubs will respond like yours did so that we don't have to go down the same track again. Again, I'm so stoked that Elizabeth Pantley's ideas made the difference for you & Madi :-)

Edited by kmarie