Now that Ella is 4 months, we can officially begin sleep training...yay! I've read Weissbluth twice and even took notes in the hopes of molding a good little sleeper.
First, on the day she turned 4 months (2.8.09) we moved her from the pram in our room, to her crib in the nursery (she had already been taking naps in her crib).
Second, we are now doing scheduled naps. Three times a day...morning, noon and late afternoon. They are typically running sometime between 8 and 9 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon and 4 p.m.-ish. One of the morning or noon naps is usually about an hour, and one is usually about 2 hours. The late afternoon is pretty much always an hour or less.
Third, we are trying to make sure she is not awake for more than 1-1/2 to 2 hours at a time. So if she wakes up from the morning nap at 9:45 a.m., she's down again by 11:45 a.m.
Fourth, she is always in bed by 7:30 p.m. (and usually by 7), and her routine never changes...bath, swaddle, bottle, bed.
The downside of this sleep training is that I'm kind of stuck at home again (and we have a playdate this weekend so I'm hoping her nap schedule works out at the right times!!), and I can never make concrete plans because her schedule depends on what time she wakes up that day.
Hopefully, this will pay off, and she'll start sleeping through the night soon so we can relax on the nap schedule. Wish us luck!
