Sleep training night 1 = FAIL!

I'm listening to a my baby cry as we speak and it's taking all I have not to go scoop her up and comfort her. Last night was the first night we tried sleep training. We are very fortunate to have a baby who sleeps 9-10 hours straight every night uninterrupted. Here's the problem: it takes forever for her to fall asleep and she needs a bottle to get her to fall asleep. A very bad habit I know. Many nights we've given up and just put the bottle in her mouth in the crib and held it there until she fell asleep and then took it out. Now it's getting worse and her naps are being affected. She's sleeping 10 mins here or there with no real nap schedule and mommy's going crazy during the day without knowing when or where I will be at any given time. Something needed to change.

I started doing some research online about sleep training. Most experts said between 3-6 months is a good time to start. She's just about 3 months so I thought it might be too early but she's already sleeping through the night just fine. She doesn't know how to put herself to sleep though. I didn't want to keep on with the bad habits so I thought we'd give it a try.

So we're supposed to do her nighttime routine, then put her in her crib and leave the room. She starts to cry right away so we let her cry for 3 minutes and then go back in to comfort her without picking her up for about a minute (ie rubbing her belly and talking her her in a quiet tone). Then we let her go for 5 minutes and come back in after the 5 mins. Then the next time is 10 mins and each time after that is 10 mins.

Last night this went on for about an hour and I worried she was still hungry so I picked her up and fed her some more. Not sure if that was the right thing to do but I had to do something. Then another hour + went by with the same thing. Finally we caved and picked her up fed her until she fell asleep, then put her in her crib. Not only did we fail at that part, but an hour or so later, after we had already gone to bed she woke up and started screaming. Once she's out for the night she never wakes up so I was really surprised.

I was second guessing my decision last night, but this morning I decided to keep on. I can't live with the unpredictability anymore and I certainly can't be at the mercy of this infant anymore. (In certain ways I'll always be at her mercy but at least in this way I can't.)

So I tried it again for her nap today. It's been about an hour and I think she's finally asleep. Fingers crossed. Updates to follow.