Bedtime

So when Oakley was a newborn/infant bedtime was great! She slept through the night quickly and always went to bed pretty quickly and usually stayed in bed. I nursed her to sleep for so long and I know that this is what caused a lot of our sleep troubles later on.

When she got older and slowly stopped nursing she started waking up at night almost every night! I still ended up just rocking her to sleep every night. But she kept waking up. I was tired and it was time for a change.

After she turned one I decided to do the dreaded cry it out. He cried for an hour the first night and slowly got better. And eventually she was going to bed after just rocking for a few minutes and laying her down.

Well I started rocking her to sleep again cause I just loved cuddling with her. She stayed asleep through the night so I didn't worry about it.

We just recently changed her crib to the toddler bed since she was climbing out of her crib and fell one morning. Ever since that toddler bed bedtime/naptime has been a nightmare! I sat on the floor next to her for over an hour every time. She thought everything was funny and we had a few fights to get to sleep. I got so frustrated with her and myself that I couldn't get my baby to sleep. I felt so bad for yelling and getting mad at her.
I needed to do something different or I might have gone crazy! I think I already had gotten to that point.

Tonight I decided to try something different. We did our nightly routine: bath, diaper, lotion, jammies, teeth, give daddy kisses, prayer, and book. I laid her down in bed and said good night and tucked her in. I left the room and shut the door. I stood in the hallway and everytime she came out or I hear her playing with her toys I went in laid her back down said nothing, gave her a kiss and went back in the hall. I did this for almost an hour. She got up at least 30 times. And towards the end she started to get sad. She eventually cried for a few minutes and all was quiet.

I couldn't believe it! I was too scared to check if she was really asleep but she was. I am hoping this will continue and she will get out of be less and fall asleep quicker! I sure hope so! I love my baby and just want her to get the sleep she needs!