The Sleeping Situation

When R first came home, we struggled with getting her to sleep through the night. She slept in the bassinet in our room, and she would wake up wanting to be held, fed, changed, etc. Typical baby night time stuff. We hoped eventually she would sleep through the night, and she started to right before I went back to work.

When I returned to work, she started waking up again. I think she was going through some attachment issues because suddenly she wasn't with Mommy all day and wanted to be with her all night. So, I did something I swore I would never do because I was desperate for sleep: I started to allow her to sleep in bed with us when she woke up in the night.

I saw it like this: I would either have to stay up with her for several hours in the middle of the night and be exhausted for work or put her in bed with us and have her fall almost immediately back to sleep as long as she was right next to me. I chose the latter because I didn't want to be a zombie. Throughout this, she was still falling asleep and being put in the bassinet. You can well imagine that she was getting too big for it.

So, when I was finally finished with work, we decided we would try the crib and started doing so in full force about 2 weeks ago. At first, she would be up constantly and screaming. She wasn't all about the crib. It was pretty awful, and I was so tired during the day.

Then, she would still wake up 5 to 6 times a night, but she would stop crying when I picked her up and put her back to sleep by rocking her or laying on a blanket on the floor in her room with her (Mommy-Baby cuddles) until I could put her back in the crib. We tried the "cry it out" method for about 5 minutes. I just couldn't bare it. Besides, there are the different rules with adopted children to consider, and I didn't want her to feel like she couldn't depend on us to be there for us when she was upset and scared!

Finally, now she starting to adjust to being in the crib. The past 2 nights, she's only awakened 2 times. Thank goodness! I am hoping that she'll be ok. Also, when she wakes up for good in the morning, she does not scream. Rather, she babbles and plays. She is starting to feel comfortable in her crib.

I am just so hoping she will start sleeping through the night on her own soon!

Also, I am trying to do better about keeping her on a nap routine. She actually did better with these when I was at work because I wasn't taking her on play dates, shopping, to appointments, etc. during that time. And, duh, one of the things we knew about her from our "prep" email from before we traveled was that she likes routine. Makes a lot of sense!!

The sleeping Princess: I took this of her a few weeks ago. Don't worry, I moved the pillows and all that before I left the room.