3 1/2 months

Carter is already 3 1/2 months old! Time is flying. We had his pictures taken last week professional and they turned out so good. I get to pick up the prints on Friday but here's a preview;










In other news we started sleep training on Sunday. In the past Carter has had such a hard time falling asleep. We would have to rock him and he would cry for a good 30 minutes before he finally fell asleep. I've been doing a lot of research on sleep training and while I don't agree with letting a child CIO (cry it out) I do think that modified versions of sleep training can work great for some babies.

I purchased ­Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber and have been following a modified version of his sleep training methods. The idea is to have Carter fall asleep in his crib on his own. He should fall asleep in the same conditions as it would be if he was to wake up in the middle of the night. This will teach him how to soothe himself to sleep so he won't depend on Grant or I to make him fall asleep. This will help for when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he won't need to cry out to us for help falling back asleep, he will be able to fall back asleep on his own.

The way the training works is we start by following a bedtime schedule every night to get him into a routine. Usually it's bath, pajamas, read a book, bottle, bed. When we put him to sleep we tell him goodnight and that we love him then turn off the lights (he has a nightlight) and leave the room. If he starts crying then we wait 3 minutes and go in to reassure him that we are there. If he just fusses then we let him be. If we do go in we stay for 1 or 2 minutes then leave the room. When we go in we don't pick him up, we just pat him, stroke his hair and let him know that mommy and daddy are there for him. We then leave the room. If he starts crying again then we will wait 5 minutes before we return to his room. Each time the waiting will get progressively longer, but no more than 10 minutes.

I will admit that it is difficult to hear him cry, but I know that this is the best for him and it's definitely the right thing for us to do. I in NO way think that what we are doing is wrong or bad parenting. The first night we had to go in his room 4 times and he fell asleep within an hour of us putting him in his crib (obviously he did not cry that entire time). The second night he fell asleep within 30 minutes of us putting him in his crib and we only had to go in 2 times. Tonight, night 3, he fell asleep within 10 minutes of putting him in his crib and we didn't have to go in his room at all. Do you realize what an accomplishment this is? We were able to put him in his crib and he fell asleep on his own. Grant and I are so happy. And to see these results in just 3 days is amazing. I know that tomorrow might totally change, he may not fall asleep so easily but I would like to relish in the glory while I can. :)

To help the sleep training, Carter started day care yesterday and my day care lady kind of follows the same rules for nap time. So far she said that he has done amazing for all his naps and he puts himself to sleep every time. All in all sleep training is definitely a success with us.

That's pretty much what we've been up to lately. Life is great, I couldn't ask for anything more. I started my new job yesterday and it's great so far. I'll make a separate post about that someday.















Carter is 3 months, 1 week and 6 days old today