Separation Anxiety and Sleep Training

While we watched other babies go through separation anxiety, I was thinking how lucky we were, that Jasmine doesn't have it. But it looks like Jasmine has it after all, just slightly later than others. She shows signs of separation anxiety when other people pick her up or if we leave her on her own (we are in the room but watching from afar). This is probably why she is having sleep difficulties now.

Jasmine slept through the night ever since 4 months (I think, can't remember now). And only recently has her sleep gotten pretty bad. She has trouble falling asleep at night and for naps. And she wakes up at night as well. Last night, she woke up 3 times.... I feel lilke I pulled an all-nighter. I'm guessing she doesn't want to be alone.

When we put her to sleep, she just cries and cries in her crib. I really hate hearing her cry. Makes me want to pick her up right away. But she is so cranky and sleepy that even when I am holding her, she is fussy and wailing. So, we end up putting her in the crib anyways. We are going to do some sleep training and see if things will improve. Richard suggests using the CIO (cry it out) method.

This is when you leave the room for 5 minutes, then check on the baby. Then leave the room for 10 minutes and then check on her, then leave for 15 minutes....and slowly increase time intervals until the baby falls asleep. Usually the first night, it can take anywhere from 60 minutes to longer. Then the second night is usually less than that and by the third night, the baby should fall asleep within 10 minutes. The baby learns to self soothe and fall asleep on her own.

Sounds good huh? Well I don't have the willpower to listen to Jasmine cry so Richard will have to stop me from going into the room. He's got alot of work on his hands.