The No-Cry Sleep Solution

I just finished reading The No Cry Sleep Solution and have made our personal sleep plan. I hope to God this works! I am exhausted after 6 months of terrible sleep from this little guy! I am not willing to let him cry it out - it's cruel, so we are going to try this plan and hope that over the next month, he will be sleeping better. Here's the plan:

Lennon’s Sleep Plan, 1st Try:

• We will put Lennon to bed at 8-8:30, following his sleep cues, after the following flexible bedtime routine guidelines:
At approximately:
o 6:45 – nurse, then solids
o 7:15 – bath
o 7:45 – lotion massage
o 7:50 – get room ready, lullabies
o 8:00 – meds if necessary, pj song and pj’s
o 8:05 – 4 bedtime stories, more if he is still active
o 8:15 – nurse
• We will allow Lennon to play in his bed for some time very day so that he has positive associations with it.
• We will introduce a transitional object/lovey – keep it with us when we snuggle, nurse, and leave with him when he goes to bed.
• We will keep nighttime quiet, dim, and peaceful
• We will avoid night time diaper changes unless he has had a bowel movement.
• We will use the following key words as a sleep cue: “Shhh, Lennon, it’s sleepy time.”
• We will use the summer nights nature sound as a sleep cue.
• I will use the gentle removal plan to encourage Lennon to go to sleep without nursing or using a pacifier as often as I can at night (but will give it to him for naps).
• We will not feed Lennon unless he is hungry.
• We will help Lennon fall back to sleep when he wakes with rocking, patting, walking, shh-ing, pacifier, nursing, etc.
o Phase 1 – we will comfort him until he is almost all the way asleep, but not quite asleep. Then, we will let him fall asleep on his own, in our presence. If he wakes back up, we will pick him up and repeat the process until he falls asleep on his own. If this becomes frustrating after several tries, we will comfort him to sleep and try again the next night. Once he gets the hang of this, we move on to phase 2.
o Phase 2 – we will comfort him until he is settled and sleepy, but not until he is almost asleep. If he gets upset, pick him up. As with the time before, if this becomes frustrating after several tries, we will comfort him to sleep and try again the next night. He will eventually get used to it. Once he gets the hang of this, we move on to phase 3.
o Phase 3 – we will comfort him without picking him up by rubbing or patting him, stroking his face, etc, We will use our key words as he is falling asleep so that he will associate them with sleeping. If he cries, pick him up and revert to phase two, or phase one if phase 2 doesn’t work.
o Phase 4 – pats and key words only
o Phase 5 – key words from the doorway
o Phase 6 - key words from outside the doorway
o If crying occurs in phases 4-6, revert to a previous phase, but briefly
• We will complete a sleep log every 10 days to assess progress.