these Lines across my Face: Sleep Training

It's so great to have older siblings that have done this parenthood thing, especially great to live near one. My sister had me read Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. The Doc could have used a good editor as he writes in circles, but it's got some good research and valuable information. I recommend it. After I read it, I kind of laughed at myself. From the time Jane was born, the big concern was how, when, and how much she was eating. It never occurred to me that sleep requires the same attention.

So a couple of weeks ago we began transitioning Jane from our bed to her crib, once we finally got it set up, to help regulate her sleep (and ours!) We set up a night-night routine kind of by accident. Jane loves to be swaddled, bounced, and patted while listening to music. This works great even if we've overtired her on accident or if she's just starting to get tired. So I thought I'd post some pictures of my darling drifting off.

This is my wide-eyed Jane fighting sleep, keeping her eyes open so she doesn't miss anything.

Slowly succumbing. We have a hard time not letting her get overtired at night.

And finally asleep.
I'm learning to treasure these moments with her on my shoulder as I can finally see an end in sight!

We started out with moving her to the crib when she was deeply asleep, otherwise she'd wake up once she realized she wasn't being held. Then we were able to move her when she more lightly asleep and the last couple of days we've been able to put her in before she's even totally out. She's learning! Of course, we've had to let figure out that her crib is an OK place via some old-fashioned letting her cry... but it's so worth it.