Following my baby's lead

As Perla was getting older (3-months), I started thinking about sleep training her. At that time she would take a pacifier, take 2-3 30-minutes naps, and sleep at night around 10. She fell asleep sucking her pacifier, and if it fell from her mouth, she would start crying. Then I would go and put it back in her mouth. I would do this a many times until she was completely sleeping and didn't want the pacifier. I felt a little tired of her short naps and running to give her the pacifier a bazillions of times every night. So, I decided that after doing our sleeping routine, I would nurse her, put her in her crib, say goodnight and leave. First night, she cried and cried. It was hard for both of us to listen her cry, so we let her cry 5 minutes. The second night I let her cry 10 minutes. The third night, we let her cry for 15 minutes. And that was it! I couldn't do it anymore. I thought to myself  this is not going to last forever, she will eventually grow up and will be able to put her pacifier in her mouth on her own. So I continued being Perla's helper to put her pacifier in her mouth. I wanted to change her naps and her late night sleep though. So, I started looking for cues. When I saw her rubbing her eyes, or yawning, I would start her sleeping routine (which included a bath every other day, pjs and nursing). I put her to bed with her pacifier, and she fell asleep. So, all of a sudden we had an early sleeping time at 8:30. I was so happy. She established her sleeping schedule, we just followed her lead.

After, a couple of months, baby Perla gave up her pacifier and decided that it was better to use mommy as a pacifier. I wasn't sure if to be happy that I wasn't going to run to her for her pacifier or be sad because  now the "pacifier" had to be there with her until she slept. Now she is 10 months and takes 1-2 naps every day which can go from 1-2 hours, sleeps at 6:30-7 at night (she nurses to sleep), wakes up once or none during the night, and sleeps until 6:00-7:00 am. I probably spend 2 hours only to nurse Perla to sleep for her naps or at night every day. Would I prefer her to fall asleep on her own? Yes! Does this situation bother me? Not all the time. I love cuddling with her, and she loves cuddling with me as she nurses. This is not going to last forever. And honestly I don't think that this is going to affect her long term. For right now, I am enjoying rubbing her hair as she nurses or looking at her pretty eyes as she looks at me. 

My point with this post is that our babies know what they want and what they need (not all the time and not for everything). But I feel that for Perla's sleep, I have only had to pay attention to her and know her cues, and follow her lead. I know that different families use different approaches with their babies, but this one has worked for us until now!

Warmly,

Juliana

What are some ways you are using to put your babies to sleep/setting a sleeping schedule?