There Was A Little Girl Who...

Okay, she's never actually been horrid, but the sleep habits were pretty bad there for awhile.  After starting out as an excellent sleeper (for a newborn), she had regressed to fighting bedtime for nearly two hours and then waking up multiple times in the night, just at the age/weight when she should have been getting the hang of things.  After many frustrating nights and cranky days, we decided it was time for some sleep training.  We had achieved some moderate success a few weeks ago when Karl was out of town and I had to let her cry for a little while because I simply lacked the hands to get both her and Henry peacefully in bed at the same time, but then she got sick and everything devolved into snot and sadness, and we had to start over.

• Day 1: She screamed angry rage for an hour an forty-five minutes before finally giving up.  Woke up once to eat around 4:30 and I let her sleep in bed with me for the rest of the night.  Mommy guilt. 
• Day 2: Complained a little, but fell asleep within about half an hour.  She woke up at 10:30 and I got her to go back down without nursing her.  Up again at 5:00 and I fed her.
• Day 3: Out like a light at 7:30 with no fuss.  But then she woke up at 11:30, 2:00, and 5:45 Very, Very Angry.  I will be assuaged by nothing except the boob, you horrible woman!  At 5:45 we actually gave up and got out of bed, thinking there was no way she'd go back to sleep, but she was really cranky.  I laid down with her in the guest bed and she fell back asleep until 9:30.  Of course, Henry was up at 7:15, so it didn't do me a lot of good.
• Day 4: Out at 7:30 with no fuss.  Woke up at 8:30 because she had turned herself sideways and gotten her legs stuck in the crib slats.  I extracted her, gave her a hug, and put her back down.  She fussed and squeaked quietly for ten minutes but fell back asleep -- all on her own!  Yea!  And then she woke up at 11:30.   Not yea!  I went in to pat her.  Still low-grade crying.  Waited a minute.  Still crying.  Waited two minutes.  Still crying.  Waited five minutes.  Still crying.  Ten minutes.  Still crying.  Dr. Ferber, you suck.  At some point Karl and I both fell asleep despite the crying.  I woke back up at 12:30...and Ingrid was still complaining.  At that point I caved and nursed her and put her in bed with us.  She woke up again to eat at 5:00, then slept until Henry woke her up at 7:45 by shouting, "It's HENRY!" right into her face.
• Day 5: Out like a light at 7:15 with no fuss.  Yea!  Stayed asleep until 3:00.  Double yea!  I fed her and let her stay in bed with us for the rest of the night.  Woke up to eat again at 6:30, then she went back to sleep, though I was up. 
• Day 6: Down at 7:15.  Up at 3:00 and 5:30.
• Day 7: Down at 7:30.  Up at 1:00 and 6:00.
• Day 8: Down at 7:30.  Only up at 5:00!  Hooray!
• Day 9: Down at 7:15.  Only up at 5:00 again!  5:00 is sub-optimal because it's really hard for me to get back to sleep and not be wildly disoriented when Henry starts shouting E-I-E-I-O at 6:45, but I consider it an advanced way-station to sleeping through the night.  

So I'm declaring bedtime victory (just in time to travel for Christmas and throw everything off), and at least we're moving in the right direction when it comes to sleeping through the night.

She remains very, very good during the day.