The Sleep Lady Shuffle was working wonderfully and exactly as it was mapped out to work in the book, but then life happened. We went away for a weekend, then she got another cold and before I knew it we were completely off track and I was rocking her to sleep for each nap and bed time again. I figured that we were just going to have to start from square one, but a VERY surprising thing happened and then it happened again.
Lately, I've been having a difficult time rocking her to sleep or even to a drowsy state. It's taking a long time - 20 minutes or more. Her whole body just keeps moving. The past few nights she has not needed much from me at all. I hear her wake and moan, maybe cry a little, a few times, but then she just goes back to sleep. (Yes, I do hear angels singing each time that happens!) So, Monday I decided to try something new. Just before getting to my frustrated state, you know where I've rocked and sang for 20 minutes and the feet are still kicking, I laid her down. I sat in the glider and sang our special song just once, then I left the room without being noticed. It took about 15-20 minutes, but she put herself to sleep! Tuesday, I was forced to do this again since she simply wouldn't settle down and it worked in 15-20 minutes. Today, I used this technique twice. I was a little on the frustrated side for nap #1 and instead of sitting in there I walked out, but 15 minutes later she was asleep. Unfortunately, I tried this at bedtime too and after 10 minutes she was getting so worked up that I went back in and rocked her. It took about 10 minutes to get her to sleep, then she woke when I laid her down. I could feel the frustration starting to creep in, so I left her in her crib and opted to sit next to it and sing. She was out in just a few minutes.
All in all, she has been making EXCELLENT progress in her sleep habits. It is refreshing and wonderful to sleep through the night. Oh, dreams and complete sleep cycles, how I missed you. However, as wonderful as this is, I am a little sad because tonight I realized that if I am laying her down to fall asleep and I'm not picking her up during the night to help her get back to dreamland, then when will I hold her in peaceful slumber and stare at the most beautiful sight in the world? I suppose I can always lengthen the amount of time that I spend standing over her crib watching for the rhythmic breathing and thanking God for this precious gift as I always do before crawling into my own bed each night. This should suffice. After all, isn't this what I've been striving towards for the past 9 months.