Sleep At Last

With the help of this (white noise machine):

this (room darkening shade):
this (sleep blanket):

and this book:

The Andrews' household is finally waking up in the morning feeling refreshed. John and I knew we had to make a change when we each had to take up to 5 turns tending to Bentley in the middle of the night. He would wake up twice to eat and several times for his pacifier, but the real issue began at 4 a.m. He would wake up at this time each morning and the only thing that would console him was being brought into bed with us. I already want a king size bed because I feel too cramped with just John and I, so you can imagine how unenthused I was about this situation. After waking up one too many times with a stiff neck I decided it was time to begin sleep training.

I've wanted to start this many times before now, but Bentley was never regular enough with his feedings during the day that I felt comfortable letting him cry it out at night. Up until a couple of weeks ago, the bulk of his daily formula intake came at night when he put up the least amount of resistance. I am now happy to report that Bentley stays in his crib all night and only wakes up once to eat. This is a gift from heaven compared to the sleep habits he had just two weeks ago. Bentley was also a very poor napper during the day. He woke up 30 minutes (on the dot) into every nap and was never well rested. He now takes 3 naps a day that typically last 1 hour each. I now walk into his room to find him happily playing in his crib while he waits for me to get him up. Pure bliss.