Hallelujah!!

Lincoln is finally sleeping in his own bed again!! About 3 months ago Lincoln's sleep schedule really got messed up for some reason. He had been sleeping between 10-12 hours a night, but then all of a sudden he pretty much decided he didn't want to anymore. He wouldn't go to sleep until late, sometimes as late as 11 PM to 12 AM, and then would usually wake up about an hour after we put him down. We would get him, give him a bottle, he would drink about one ounce and then pass out on our bed. He would usually let us put him back in his bed, but then would wake up like 3 hours later...usually around 3:00 or 4:00 AM!! So we would do the same thing, get him, give him a bottle and he would fall asleep, but this time when we tried to put him back in his crib he would wake up as soon as we tried to move him. So when this would happen we would just leave him in the bed with us (because we were so tired) until we woke up in the morning...which for Lincoln would be between 6:00 and 7:00 AM.

Well, a couple weeks ago we decided we were tired of Lincoln sleeping with us. He rolls around like crazy and takes up the same amount of the bed as Ryan and I combined! So we decided to try the whole letting him scream it out approach. We had been avoiding this as a courtesy to our neighbors we share a wall with. What it came down to is we didn't want to disturb them late at night. Well, we decided to throw that out the window. The first night when we put him down he did the whole trying to wake up an hour or two after being put down and we just let him scream it out until he fell asleep. To our surprise he only went about 45 minutes. The next night was not so nice. He went for about 2 1/2 hours!!! Now, this was not constant screaming. It definitely started out as full blown, full lung screaming, but he would fall asleep and then wake up and realize he was still alone and then start screaming again. So, it was on and off screaming for about 2 1/2 hours!! But we stood our ground. We did not go get him from his bed. The next night we were out late, so he didn't get to bed until later, but then ended up sleeping through the night. The next day he only went about 30 minutes. And then the next day he slept through the night. The next couple days after that he may have woken up, but didn't last very long after having woken up. It ended up taking less than a week for him to get trained into putting himself back to sleep.

He still falls asleep on our bed and then we move him. We still do not put him in his bed to fall asleep on his own. Baby steps right? However, a couple days ago he woke up when I tried to put him in his bed. I gave him one chance to try again, but then when he did the same thing I decided to put him in his bed and let him cry himself to sleep. I think he was out in under 10 minutes! We are so happy to have our bed back. So now Lincoln goes to bed around 9:00 or 9:30, sometimes even as early as 8:00 or 8:30, and then sleeps until somewhere between 7:00 and 8:00 AM. It is nice to have our nights back, especially since Ryan and I work a lot of opposites and that is sometimes the only time we get with each other.

Here's to hoping he doesn't revert back to not sleeping well again.