Sunday, March 21, 2010

12 hours straight!

Breakthrough people! My babies have learned to sleep through the night without a feeding. It all started on Friday night. We put them to bed around 7:30, and KC and I had a fun time out on the town in DC. We got back and heard from Britney that there wasn't even a peep from the littles. For the past week or two we have only been feeding them once between 7:30 pm and 7:30 am, and it was usually around 3 am or 4 am. I knew it was time to do away with this feeding, but I was giving in for a while, mainly because we had just dropped their 10 pm feeding and didn't want to cut too many feedings at once. So we heard the usual whimpers early Saturday morning, but this time it wasn't the expected 3 or 4, but 5:30 am! That is an accomplishment right there, since it was and hour or so later than usual. Alex was the only one awake. I tried to see if he would go back to sleep, but he wasn't having it. So we got him up and fed him, and put him back to sleep, which he did happily. And instead of waking the others to eat, our usual routine to avoid waking up multiple times in the night, I decided to let them sleep since it was only a couple of hours until the morning wake up time. And do you know what? Ruby and Bennett, the sweeties, slept all the way until 7:30 am. I was one happy mommy. Alex did okay too, sleeping as long as he did, but 12 hours is our goal, and we finally made it. Alex is next.


I wasn't planning on the next night to be as good. I know most things with babies are two steps forward, one step back. So being realistic, I was prepared to get up for a feeding in the night. When I heard the cries around 4 am, I went to get the culprits. It was Ruby and Alex this time, and Britney and I fed them. I told KC that we were leaving Bennett asleep and it was his job to get him if he woke up. Now that I know they are capable of sleeping through the night, I don't think we need to wake them up to eat anymore. So, Bennett went right ahead and slept until 7:40 am. He wins the prize. I love that my babies wake up happy and kicking. I love that I am getting more sleep (especially with this annoying cold I'm fighting), and I love that the misery of sleep training is actually paying off. Naps are another story. That 45 minute intruder is not my friend. We're working on it. But they sleep more now than they ever have before, and it's making us a happier family. Hopefully tonight I'll have three sleeping babies all night long. Won't that be a milestone to remember.

7 comments:

Wendy K said...

congrats

Hannah said...

What an accomplishment!!! Yay for sleep!!!

Kassi said...

Your hard work is for sure paying off! Congratulations Em, I am so happy for you! What sweet babies!

p.s. That video of Ruby laughing is beyond adorable. I could watch that all day!

Matt said...

Whoa ho!! Atta babi3s!!

Karlene said...

Wow! I'm so amazed by you! Getting those cute babes on the same sleeping schedule! Yay!

Cami said...

YAY YAY YAY!! Oh, that is glorious news. You've done better than the best of us with one baby! Congrats.

And good luck on that idiotic 45 minute nap. Seriously, I have no solutions for that. I HATE it.

Sarah said...

Yeah! I am so proud. I can't believe that you have successfully sleep trained triplets by 6 (7?) months (either way, its totally impressive!!)