Sleep Training Baby Elric

As some of you may know, we have been sleep training (re-training) Elric for the last 6 days. 

It has been heart wrenching. Remember my previous post saying that Elric managed to sleep through 8 hours? We were overjoyed. But when Elric started teething, we relaxed on his sleep pattern and picked him up from the bed trying to figure out why he cried. 

Before Elric was born, we were told that hearing other babies cry is different from hearing your own baby cry. 

I couldn't appreciate that sentence but now I totally do! The former is irritating but the later is heart breaking. :( 

Since Saturday, Kaye was insistent on re-training Elric because his inability to sleep is taking a toil on both of us. So yes. She started it and she pull it through. 

Day 1: We put him to bed at 10:30pm. He cried for 2hours before he finally slept. Kaye and I did not enter the room until 45min interval. :( Poor Elric almost went nutz I think. He was so so so angry when he saw us. He couldn't even control his cry anymore. 

Day 2: We put Elric on bed at 10:30pm. He sleep almost instantly and woke up at 11:00pm. Cried for 2 hours.

Day 3: Kaye decided to use the soft approach. We put him down at 10:30pm and she went in to pat him for 1-2min after 15min of crying. She went in for 2nd visit after 20min of crying. 3rd visit after another 25mins of crying and so on. He finally sleep at near 1AM. 

Day 4: Kaye did the same.... He slept at 12:45AM

Day 5: Same thing... I almost couldnt take it and wanted to go pick him up to cuddle and hug him. Kaye insisted not to. He slept at 12:50AM

Day 6: Elric slept through from 10:30PM to 7:30AM this morning. 

Either he is toooooo tired, or the training is successful! We will have to continue to observe the next 3 nights. If all 3 days are good, we can announce the SUCCESS of our hard work!!

Why do we sleep train him?

1. Because if your baby don't sleep, neither will you.

It's been tedious when Elric can't sleep. We sometimes had to stay awake till 3-4AM just to ensure he is well. 

2. It is a form of discipline. 

Discipline from birth? Yes! From birth. Why not? 

By discipline, i dont mean physical discipline. Babies don't know what is good for them but we as parents do. We know that he need to have a structural timetable to his meals and nap and night sleep, so we have to teach them to follow it. 

If you cant discipline your kids when they are babies, what makes you think you are discipline them when they are older? 

3. For health reasons. 

Have you seen kids with eye bags and dark circles? It's a pain to see that. And it shows that the child have not been sleeping well. Children who do not sleep well, dont learn well either because they are too tired and grouchy.

4. Will my child think that I dont love him/her?
I can tell you with certainly that Elric is happier and able to spend quality time with us when he sleeps well. Looking at all his photos, I guess you can agree with me.

So yes. I am letting him cry for a good reason, and I am sticking by it. 

A short-term pain and better than a long-term one. 

Elric do you agree? 

heee... agree...

Elric on his new chair!

Now I know why God made us this way, that we can't remember anything from birth till about 3 years old. Cause if we do... we might hate our parents. :P 

See? Elric is still a happy baby in the day!