Hark the Herald Angels Sing

What's that sound you hear??? Angels from above singing their jubilant Hallelujah?? Yes, I hear them too!!! Because Sophie is going to sleep on her own!!! I almost feel like somehow it was a dream that when we would put her down before she would cry and cry - did I make that up? was it just a sleep deprived hallucination? But, for the last two nights and now going into her second day, her Daddy will take her upstairs and put her in the co-sleeper and she is sleeping on her own with only minimal crying (under 10 mins except for the first night). It's astonishing. It is blowing my mind. She is asleep upstairs RIGHT NOW as I type this. And, I am not up there with her. I'm not driving her around for an hour. I'm not holding her rocking her or nursing her. She's just sleeping. Obviously, it's really blowing my mind. We're certainly on to something here.

What happened was, my friend Reni (who just had a baby herself a few weeks ago, the beautiful Willa who is just a sweet little gorgeous baby girl) mentioned that someone she knew was going to a sleep specialist to help with her baby's sleep issues. I thought oh maybe we should try that since we've been having so many issues. In the meantime, Jim ordered another book on sleep this one called "sleeping through the night" by Jodi A. Mindell. Turns out Dr. Mindell is the Sleep Specialist my friend Reni's friend was going to!! She is a local psychologist with a sleep disorders clinic at CHOP. Well, I called to get an appointment for Sophie and the appointment scheduling is so esoteric that I had to call back in a week on Wed. morning starting at 8:15 and according to the person I spoke with it would likely be very hard to get in. So, I wasn't sure if we'd get an appointment but in the meantime, we read parts of the book (no, not the whole book but we read the key parts). We were going to start is this Friday night but two nights ago when she wasn't going to sleep easily Jim decided to start it so he took her upstairs, told her it was ok and it was time for bed and put her in the cosleeper and left. Well, this was very stressful. She cried and cried. Wailed and screamed. I got very very upset. This made Jim upset. It was um, stressful to say the least. But we didn't take her out of there. Jim went in to check on her a few times but we didn't pick her up and we didn't take her out of there. She cried for a good 20-30 mins or so which was so very hard but then, it got quiet. She was asleep! Then, yesterday Jim tried it for her daytime naps (he stayed home so I could go run holiday errands all day). She went to sleep for her naps on her own in usually 5 but not more than 10 mins. AMAZING, right? Then, she did it again last night for bed and again for her morning nap this am. Seriously, I am so impressed and so proud of her (and of Jim for being so strong!). We seem to be on the right path now for helping Sophie finally learn how to self-soothe but of course, we will be ready for some set-backs if they happen. I am so proud of my beautiful baby girl for falling asleep on her own like a big girl and I am so proud of and so grateful for my strong and patient and kind husband for his ability to be such a fantastic parent that he could do such a hard thing that we knew was right for her and for the whole family. Thank you, honey!!