Gidget meets the crib

Let me start off by saying that I am not a co-sleeping mommy.  For those of you who don't know what that means, I will explain.  Co-sleeping basically refers to sharing your bed with your child/children before they move to their own bed (if at all).  I personally don't believe in co-sleeping.  I don't judge those that do, I'm just not one of them.....  Until Charlotte and even then, not by choice.

Kingston NEVER co-slept with us.  He slept in our room maybe two nights in a bassinet type configuration but none of us got any sleep.  By the third night we moved him to his crib in his room and we all slept much better.  From there (around 2-3 months old), we did a technique called, 'cry it out' and let him learn to put himself to sleep.  Granted he never went longer than maybe 10 minutes at a time crying before we would go in, and soothe him without picking him up, and try again.  Within two-three days he was sleeping on his own and never needed to be rocked again.  By 3-4 months my independent boy was able to take naps, or sleep at night all on his own.

Charlotte is a different story.  This girl does not like to sleep alone.  She loves the heat that radiates off daddy and has somehow found her way into our bed every night.  She agrees to sleep 10-7 if we let her sleep there and until last night we allowed it.  We originally set up a pack and play beside our bed, mostly because I was afraid that her crying as a newborn would disrupt Kingston's sleep and thought I could get to her faster and easier in our room.  Finally we decided that enough is enough, and baby girl is almost 3 months old.  We want her to have the same independence as her brother, without relying on someone to rock or help her to sleep.  She slept from 8-10 downstairs, had a bottle, and then up to her crib she went.  Now, for the first few nights, we will be rocking her to sleep and putting her in her crib, and then after that she will be going into her crib awake.  We definitely weren't sure what we were in for last night, but we were ready to work through it.  We swaddled her in a cozy swaddle blanket, and borrowed Kingston's video monitor so we could keep an eye on her all night.  Little Gidget surprised both her daddy and I, when she slept soundly until around 5, let out a few whimpers, and then drifted back to sleep until 6:30.  We were both pretty shocked: this is what we were so terrified to deal with??  Of course I barely slept at all, afraid I wouldn't hear her cry or that something would happen. 

Needless to say, she is a crib sleeper now, and I'm that much closer to getting a full nights sleep again.  Woo hoo!