new bedtime

So it seems that Joni isn't getting enough sleep. I've been talking to some moms and reading some parenting sites and babies are supposed to sleep like 12 hours a night! Joni is getting about 8 hours a night. :(

Joni was going to bed around 10pm -12am and then getting up a couple of times during the night and then waking up at 7am or 8am. We thought it was because she was teething that she got up during the night. She only started this a month or so ago.

Her pediatrician said that if she's getting about 13 hours total a day it should be okay but I"m starting to worry she's not getting enough rest. So we tried a new schedule Monday and it was a little tough. I read about the Cry It Out method where you let the baby cry and they sort of get used to falling asleep on their own in their crib. That was a bit harsh. It was hard listening to her cry especially when she doesn't normally cry alot.

I tried to put her down around 8pm and shut the lights out. Once I put her in her crib, she'd pull herself up and then start looking for someone to play with. She'd cry after a minute or so with no response. There was a couple of times where she cried pretty bad... I decided that it was okay that she fell asleep in my arms as long as she knew when her bed time was.

Last night, she fell asleep at 7:30, she got up a couple of times but we kept the lights off and she went back to sleep pretty easily and woke up at 6am!!

I think once she's used to her new bedtime, I'm going to try getting her to fall asleep in her crib on her own. It's going to be tough since she already knows how to pull herself up. Anyone have any tips on that?

Wish us luck!