Sleep Training..Again???

We started sleep training Jonah when he was about 7 months old. It was tough but after about 2 weeks of pure torture he would finally just go to sleep when we laid him down. This lasted for about a month..until he started teething really bad and we could no longer just let him cry. I knew there was reason for his cry, more than him just wanting us to be there with him. So we took a major step backwards and started rocking, nursing or dancing him to sleep again and would go right to him whenever he would cry out in the night..whether it was midnight, 3am, 4am, 5am..we were there as soon as that baby would cry out. Well..Jonah is pushing 12 months now. His father and I decided we were gonna be hard asses once again and try the sleep training..maybe at last he will sleep through the night if he knows he can soothe himself back to sleep.

I have waited to write about this because I wanted to make sure it wasn't just a fluke. We decided about 10 days ago we were gonna get tough so bedtime came and we did our normal bedtime routine of bath, bottle and bedtime songs and then instead of rocking him, I simply just put him in his crib. It's brutal, I know. But to my utter amazement, that dear child looked up at me with those beautiful green eyes, grabbed blue blankie bear, rolled over and went to sleep. I thought I was imagining things..seriously. I walked out of his room, told this ridiculous story to Justin and then went back in Jonah's room to make sure I wasn't making it up. That kid was asleep. And you know what? That kid stayed asleep until 6:30 the next morning. I could've moved mountains the next morning with all the energy I had. A full nights sleep? For all of us? Insane. The real test came the next day when it was time for morning nap. Since I knew the previous night had to be a fluke, I stayed strong anyway and fed Jonah his milk and then laid him down in his crib. I kissed him and told him to go to sleep. I left the room with Jonah sitting up in his bed looking at me. I waited by his closed door, waiting for the scream I knew was coming. It never came. I walked in his room 2 minutes later and I swear to you, that kid was asleep. I have never seen anything like this in all my life.

Present day..Jonah sleeps through the night...every night. We're talking 8:30pm-6:30am-ish every night. Same goes for naps. I just lay him down and he goes to sleep. I swear it's like magic.

I never knew Jonah could do this. I have heard of other people's babies doing this and always knew their parents were just lying but I am here to tell you..it is possible. Dreams do come true. Miracles happen and unicorns are real. Ok, well maybe not that last part but that would be pretty cool.