{Ok, I promise I wont only post about my child's sleep issues all the time. I actually have quite a few post ideas just waiting around for me to type them up. But before we get to those...}
Well, third time's the charm! We went ahead and started the crying thing again. For the third time. It took a couple more horrible, awful, sleepless nights for us to really have the gumption to do it.
But it was still hard.
The first night, Tommy cried for an hour and a half.
[To clarify: I was going in every 15-20 minutes to check on/calm him. I can't do the one were you just completely ignore them the whole time, though I ain't judgin' if you have! Every mom has to do what works for herself and her family.]
I only cried a little bit.
The second night I prepared myself for another long wait for him to fall asleep. I had a book to read and my little chart to write down what time I went in to check on him.
But I only had to go in twice before he zonked. That's right, he only cried for 30 minutes. Talk about a major improvement from the night before! What a relief.
Night number 3 took 20 minutes.
Night 4?
No minutes.
No crying. At all.
He just played with his taggie blanket and fell asleep, all by himself.
Can I get a Halle-freaking-lujah?
Now he goes down and either doesn't cry at all, or only cries for 5-20 minutes. 20 may still sound like a lot, but it's really not.
But our problem wasn't just putting him down- it was that he kept waking up.
We had to let him cry a few times when he woke up at 10 or 11pm, but surprisingly, even after just a couple days, he only cried for about 10 minutes before falling back to sleep.
And while he does still do this occasionally, it's pretty rare now.
As hard as it is to listen to your little baby cry for a long time, the freedom of being able to put him down at night and know that he'll go to sleep on his own is so nice. Now we're working on his naps, which are sometimes easy, and sometimes hard, and still usually too short. But I'll let you know how it goes.
5 comments:
GREAT JOB MAMA!!! If I could give you a huge hug and a pat on the back, I would. I'm with you. Listening to your behbeh cry is THE WORST THING EVER. Although, I will tell you that having one in in his toddler years now, somehow, it feels like it has become a little more... tolerable? I think maybe as new parents we have to go through a de-sensitizing period or something... I don't know. It's a mess, and there is something new and shocking every day. But know you are not alone and I FEEL FOR YOU! Everyone is different and nobody knows the one true RIGHT way to handle the situation, but we WILL get through it! Nowadays, I get more sleep, buuut... temper tantrums?! And the Terrible Two's?? After everything I've been through!! I have a feeling the fun is just beginning. We seriously love them more than we can possibly handle, but somedays I know God made them ridiculous cute for a reason!! It's so hard, but nothing is more worthwhile and the lessons I've learned in parenting are by far the most valuable ones. Love you!
Yay! I know it's weird, but I really feel relieved haha.
proud of you for sticking it out. So worth it--for you AND him. They say they link intelligence with sleep when you are a child. I think you will find (at least this is usually the case) that the more he gets used to his new bed routine, the less he will wake up at night. Hope you are also enjoying the extra sleep.
Yay! I know I always feel so much better when my kids are sleeping well.
Hooray!!! *waving flags* good job!! It's amazing how fast they learn, huh?? I'm so happy for you!! Joe would wake up and cry too. For months, then years... He didn't stop till last year!! But it got shorter, and though I would always wake up and listen, I stopped having to get up and do something about it. Now get some sleep!!
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