There is Hope!! :) The Sleep Solution!!! Yeah!!!

Being very sleep deprived from Shekina's many wake-ups through out the night (where I would go in, comfort her and rock her back to sleep) not to mention jet lag, I was wiped.... so Denny had taken a few shifts up to 4 AM to give me a break as Shekina was up every hour for the first few nights home and then lessened to 3-4x/night with one episode sometimes lasting for 45 minutes.

THE BOOK
Mindy, our neighbour, lent us this book "Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems" written by Richard Ferber, MD - Director,Center for Pediatric Sleep Disorders Children's Hospital, Boston - we were uncertain when to start the technique as we didn;t want to interfere with the bonding process...but after consulting with our 2 social workers who did our Home study both in FL and here in TX, they assured us it was fine to go ahead and try it...

SLEEP ASSOCIATION
I usually walk the halls cuddling her with music in the background until she falls asleep in my arms, otherwise if I put her in her crib, she simply wails! So in a nutshell, this is what the book suggests....re "sleep association" where your child does not know how to go to sleep on her own but only knows how to sleep with what she had grown accustomed to (ie. with me walking the hall cuddling her with music in the background until she falls asleep in my arms.) Thus she didn;t know how to sleep on her own. Once I tried their technique WOW - I was now given back the priviledge of sleeping!!!! YEAH!! :)

THE TECHNIQUE
There is more detail in the book re creating a nightly ritual before bedtime, etc. but here is the jist... you put her in her crib to sleep and leave the room shutting the door. She wailed immediately. Set the timer for 5 minutes and IF she is still crying you go in and console her (not picking her up, just talking her to soothe her) and leave the room again. If still crying after 10 minutes you repeat, the third interval is 15 minutes and repeat every 15 minutes until she is asleep. You do the same thing if she wakes in the middle of the night - wait 5 minutes before you go in etc...The next day you start at 10 minutes and go to 15 and 20 minutes intervals.

IT WORKED WONDERS... :)
I couldn't believe it!!! I started with her AM nap and just before the first 15 minute interval was up, she had stopped crying and went to sleep! YEAH!! In the afternoon it improved..before the 10 minute interval she fell asleep; and at bedtime, I didn;t even need to go in as she fell asleep before the end of the 5 minute interval!! While she woke several times in the night, she fell asleep before the end of the first 5 minutes, so I didn;t even need to get up just listen and make sure she went to asleep. I WAS AMAZED AT HOW WELL THIS WORKED!!!
I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever be able to have a good night;s sleep again.

12 HOUR SLEEPS NOW!!! :)
I was shocked... where she had only been sleeping 9-10 hours/night and very interupted sleep, she now sleeps 12 hours!!! We are on our third night and it seems to be working great!!
It's definitely worth checking out the book and looking up the specifics for your own situation for the many sleep deprived mom's out there... along with your precious sweet babies who are also sleep deprived if they are not getting the required hours of sleep depending on their age....see the book for further details...

Sweet dreams..... :)