Old Blog Entry 12-09-05

Operation Fall Asleep On Her Own has begun

The past two nights we have not been rocking Natalie to sleep. We rocked her for one song, and then we said our goodnights and laid her in the crib. We put some soft music on and I stayed in there with her, so she knew we were not abandoning her. The first night she cried and let out a few really angry screams at me. After about 2 minutes, she laid herself down and fell asleep. The second night was even better. One yell and about a minute of crying and then she was out. I am happy that she is starting to get it, but a large part of me was crying inside because it felt like my baby didn't need me anymore. It's just one of those mom things I have to get over. It will be nice when we can just put her down to bed and go about our thing.

The bad part is that for the past week or so she has only been sleeping about 8 hours each night. She has been consistenly going for 10 hours each night. I don't know what the deal is. I was hoping this new way of getting her down would help her sleep more, but so far it really hasn't. She also doesn't nap very long during the day. She used to take about 4 hours total, in two naps, and now I am lucky to get an hour each from her. Why does she suddenly need less sleep? I am not sure. I just hope she goes back to her norm soon. This 6 hour a night sleeping for me is not cutting it. And I hate the idea of having to go to sleep immediately after I put her down.

Well, I am sure things will work themselves out.