I NEED sleep! Please baby go to SLEEP!
This is what I was expressing to Steven in desperate tones at 1:30 this morning. Was he hungry? No, he'd just been fed. Did he need to be changed? No. Was he tired? YES! Why then did he not go to sleep?? I finally just swaddled him, gave him his paci, shut the door and turned the monitor off. Then I proceeded to burst into tears.
I had decided to try the Ferber method a friend told me about - let them cry for a few minutes, go in and shush them and try and calm them without picking them up, then repeat...they will eventually fall asleep. I made it about 3.4 minutes before I ran in there and kissed my baby (I did not pick him up!). He seemed so desperate for me and I felt horrible. He calmed down and I walked away again. He fussed for maybe a minute and then was asleep. Soon, very soon, so was I.
"Not bad" I thought to myself (after telling my darling husband what a help he'd been to me just laying there sleeping...). This just might work.
2:30am - Screaming...no, not hungry...no, doesn't need to be changed...20 minutes of trying the Ferber method and...nope...refusing to sleep. Aha! I know the solution. Swaddle baby, bink baby, pick up baby, walk across hallway, climb in my bed, and presto! Sleeping baby! And he slept soundly the rest of the night only waking at 5:30 to be fed and then sleeping in again until 8:30. Sleep just feels so good!
One problem...I don't want baby in bed with me every night...my husband doesn't want him in bed with us at all. Yes, it is my doing...I began bringing him into our bed in the middle of the night when I was too tired to be getting up every two hours...thinking to myself all the while, "easy to switch back - he likes his bed"...oh how stupid, stupid, stupid I was!!!
So now, next week, begins the grueling task of transitioning baby back to his bed and hopefully getting him to sleep through the night at the same time.
Any suggestions, mamas?? What did you do?
I had decided to try the Ferber method a friend told me about - let them cry for a few minutes, go in and shush them and try and calm them without picking them up, then repeat...they will eventually fall asleep. I made it about 3.4 minutes before I ran in there and kissed my baby (I did not pick him up!). He seemed so desperate for me and I felt horrible. He calmed down and I walked away again. He fussed for maybe a minute and then was asleep. Soon, very soon, so was I.
"Not bad" I thought to myself (after telling my darling husband what a help he'd been to me just laying there sleeping...). This just might work.
2:30am - Screaming...no, not hungry...no, doesn't need to be changed...20 minutes of trying the Ferber method and...nope...refusing to sleep. Aha! I know the solution. Swaddle baby, bink baby, pick up baby, walk across hallway, climb in my bed, and presto! Sleeping baby! And he slept soundly the rest of the night only waking at 5:30 to be fed and then sleeping in again until 8:30. Sleep just feels so good!
One problem...I don't want baby in bed with me every night...my husband doesn't want him in bed with us at all. Yes, it is my doing...I began bringing him into our bed in the middle of the night when I was too tired to be getting up every two hours...thinking to myself all the while, "easy to switch back - he likes his bed"...oh how stupid, stupid, stupid I was!!!
So now, next week, begins the grueling task of transitioning baby back to his bed and hopefully getting him to sleep through the night at the same time.
Any suggestions, mamas?? What did you do?
you know my opinion... cry away. what is actually most important is to make sure that they can get themselves to sleep the first time so that's where our main crying was. after they learned how to get to sleep then they progress to learn how to go back to sleep. it took a month or two of serious work but once it happens, it's bliss...
ReplyDeleteSleep. The constant struggle in a parent's life. I don't feel I can give much wisdom here as I'm on my third child and I still don't have this figured out.
ReplyDeleteWith my kids, I get them on a good routine during the day. I don't nurse them to sleep. And at night time, it seems they wake to eat and then go right back to sleep. Of course we have bad nights and it is not as hunky-dory as that sounds. As far as putting them down for naps and bed, we again do a routine. When they show signs of being tired, we swaddle, bink and sing the song etc. For the first couple of weeks, I wait until they are really drowsy (slowly blinking) and then I'll lay them down and gradually I'll ease into doing our routine within 5 minutes and then they go to sleep on their own. This helps with the night time sleep because they grow to not be dependent on mama so much.
Other than that, I just say make sure you savor that baby. Enjoy him and enjoy being his mama. He'll only be a baby once and he will grow out of the sleep issues- most likely between 6-12 months.
Since he is 6 months now, have you tried putting him on his tummy to sleep? This worked for Keanan at this age. Pat his butt until he quiets down. In a few weeks he would just roll on his belly (we always started him on his back) and put himself to sleep. We are in this process with Kyla right now. It is going pretty well, although camping in a tent throws everything off! I am with you, I always say I will let them cry, but I can only handle it for a few minutes!
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