Operation I Want My Bed Back

Yep... Operating I Want My Bed Back is under way! Last night was our first night getting Boogie to sleep in her own bed and in her own room. I've been fighting with myself as to whether or not this was the right time to do this or not. Boogie is 9 months old now and while I LOVE cuddling with her, she takes up SO much room in our bed, and she had started nursing ALL night long. The night before last I felt overwhelming peace that this decision was right, that not only Boogie was ready but I was ready to let my baby girl grow up. It's hard... because you don't want your children to get big, but it has to happen. I prayed and prayed about whether what I was choosing to do was healthy and good for Boogie, and I think my Father approved! So this is how it went...

7:00pm: J gave Boogie her bath, put on her nighttime dipe and pj's, read her her books, and then I nursed her and rocked her.
7:20pm: I laid her down, and she DIDN'T WAKE UP. I was shocked! I didn't have to fight with her at all!
8:20pm: An hour later she woke up, she was a little upset but nothing too serious in the beginning. After about 30 minutes of her trying to stand up, fussing, and us laying her back down, she got so upset that (as in real crying, and not fake crying) that I picked her up, rocked her and nursed her until she went back to sleep. She woke up when I laid her down, but once J started rubbing her head and I started singing "You Are My Sunshine" to her, she was out!
9:15: This is what time she went back to sleep.
11:30pm: She woke up fussing, so nothing to serious. I just went in and patted her for about 5 minutes and she got very upset. So I picked her up and just held her and she immediately went back to sleep. I laid her back down and she was out.
11:40pm: Asleep
1:20am: Woke up just like before, went through the same routine.
1:34am: Asleep
This is where it gets rough.
3:10am: She woke up very upset, so I picked her up and did the same rocking/bouncing routine as before. She immediately fell asleep.
3:12am: Asleep in crib
3:15am: As soon as I got comfy in my bed, she was super upset again. So I repeated the steps I did before.
3:17am: Asleep in crib.
4:15am: Fussed and fussed... then started laughing and cooing so I sat in my rocking chair for about 20 minutes while she did this and laid her back down every time she sat up or stood up. After that I went and laid down and just listened to her babble hoping she would go back down.
4:45am: She started getting upset, so I went and patted her belly and sang to her, but nothing helped. At about 5am I took her out, rocked her and nursed her for about 5 minutes and laid her back down.
5:10am: Asleep in crib
6:15am: By this point, I'm exhausted... Boogie woke up crying real tears and no matter what I did she wouldn't go down. I rocked her, patted her, bounced her... nothing. So fighting tears myself, I took her back to bed and nursed her and we both slept until 11:15am

So. There you go. Wasn't a horrible night, it was exhausting, but better than I thought it would be. I hope to not have to bring her to bed every morning like that... but for the time being and for my own sanity that's what I'm doing until she sleeps a little better at night. Since we woke up so late, I'm going to just get her down for 1 nap, hopefully in her crib.. .and then we'll repeat our night time routine with J and he will be able to help over night this weekend since he's off!

If you want more info on this type of sleeping training, it's a type of Non-CIO training I found in The No Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep by Elizabeth Pantley combined with some tips on a sleeping board on babycenter. Here's a link to the post I used: How to Sleep Train Without CIO