sleep sense program nights 10-15

 So here is my overall opinion of the program and the pros and cons. First lets start with how the last 5 days have gone. Fantastic. He has been going down for the night between 8 and 9 and sleeping until 5 or so and eating, then going back to sleep til about 9. That my friends is the perfect schedule for a newborn! I don't mind feeding him in the night, because I know he still needs it, but once is about enough. It also has been extremely helpful that HE FOUND HIS THUMB!!!!! Hallelujah!! My plan of putting him to sleep on tummy totally worked. Before he was going to bed swaddled and had no chance of finding his thumb. As soon as I felt he was ready, I let him sleep on his tummy and he loved it and found his thumb in 1 day. He woke up the first night crying and I just let him cry for a few minutes and he put himself back to sleep with his thumb. That's why I love it!! And since then he sleeps a full 9 hours before needing to eat. Happy day!!!

I think the program, mixed with the discovery of the thumb is what did the trick. The skills he learned with the program helped him become independent of mom and he learned to fall asleep on his own....the thumb is what's helping him STAY asleep. So I 100% credit this program to the success of his new sleep habits. I really really liked what it taught me.

My pros of the program:
*It gives a lot of backed up information and proven techniques to use
*Similar to Baby Wise but with more instruction and step by step instruction
*Came with a workbook to track your progress, which was really helpful to see when he progressed and regressed
*Online videos for every day in the first two weeks to give you coaching and more ideas
*She emails you almost every day to check on your progress and give more pointers for whatever day of the program you are on
*great daytime schedule and helpful tips for nap times as well

My cons of the program
*Very difficult and requires enormous amounts of patience
*No specific instruction for preemies

Overall opinion
It was worth it. It was murder for the first week, but she warns you that it will be. Some days I wanted to give up because I wanted it to work faster. But you can't teach healthy sleep habits over night. The videos you can watch every day were really helpful in keeping me motivated and excited for it to work. She does NOT recommend letting your child cry it out alone, which is really comforting. You are always with your baby, making sure they aren't feeling abandond. I was nervous that I would have to let him cry, with newborns you actually don't let them cry at all, you pick them up when they cry and put them back down when they are calm. For older babies, you let them cry in their crib, but you are sitting right next to them. I liked this technique and that she doesn't say "To bad, you have to let your babies cry without you if you want this to work!" nope, she's very compassionate about the parents feelings and making it emotionally easier for parents. I would definatley recommend this program to friends ONLY if you are willing to commit to it 100%, if not, you're stuck with sleepless nights.

My tips
*Have your partner on board with you. Go over with workbook with him and make sure he understands the schedule and is willing to support you and get up with the baby and help. He has to do the techniques with the baby as well or it won't work, you both have to teach the baby that you both are in charge and they have to respond to both of you the same way. And it really helps to have someone there to tell you not to give up or all your hard work will be for nothing!!
*Start this program from birth. If you can help it (I couldn't) don't let your new baby have any sleep props. Pacifiers, swings, rocking, nursing to sleep, are all props and they can't depend on them to fall asleep!
*Do the feed, wake, sleep system from birth
*BE CONSISTANT!! If you aren't it will not work.
*Expect bad nights. You will still have sleepless nights when you start the program. That's the hardest part.
*Write everything down. It's so good to have everything written down so you can see is there are patterns, or certain times they are waking up. It also really good to see the progress, or lack thereof.
*Make sure you stay home for the first two weeks of the program so the baby can get used to taking naps in the crib. That really helped, we were letting him sleep where ever he fell asleep before and that was not helping.
*Know that you are working TOWARDS something. That was a huge motivator. Knowing that I was being proactive and doing my best to fix the problem was very impowering.
*These sweet babies are worth it!!!!