Bad habits are hard to break. Michael has never been a great sleeper...it's just not his thing. For the first 3 months of his life, he wouldn't sleep in a crib for more than 1 hour...leaving Jeff and I up all night rocking him to sleep. Ugh. Then he wouldn't sleep in a crib during the day...AT ALL...until about 6 months of age. Then (and now) the naps are inconsistent...usually about an hour long, but sometimes just 30 minutes. And the night time...oh, Lordy...the night. Michael has slept all night long (think 12 hour stretch) about 3 times total. He was in an acceptable pattern for a while where he would go to bed at 6pm, wake between 3-4am to eat, and then sleep until 6:30 or 7. I was okay with this, because, DEAR HEAVENS, he was going to bed at 6pm. How loverly.
But you know how it is with babies. They get sick. You get up with them because you feel so sorry for them and you want to take care of them. They get used to falling asleep with Mommy cuddled up close. They get healthy. You no longer want to get up 4 times a night...but try telling that to the infant. Um, HELLO? Free cuddles with Mom? Plus, I am a big wuss with the cry-it-out for this 3rd child. Sleep is way too precious to waste listening to a baby cry for hours in the middle of the night. The other children sleep great, so they'll be raring to go the next day. Etc etc...
Michael was quite sick recently. He is quite better. We aren't even doing the nebulizer anymore. Last night he was up crying at 2 am. Before I even knew what I was doing, I was in his room with a bottle and a cuddle. My thought was, "If he cries himself to sleep now, he'll just be up again at 4...so I might as well get up just once." But, alas, Michael woke up at 4 anyway. Jeff tried to rock him (no offense...but worthless), and I decided that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are going to Ohio in 2 weeks and I cannot be getting up multiple times a night with a ONE YEAR OLD.
So this morning at 4 am I got mean. And Michael cried until 6am when I finally caved and brought him in another bottle. He is now sleeping peacefully, with only an occasional post-crying-jag hiccup interrupting his sleep. Me, on the other hand? The other children were up at 6:30. No sleep for the weary. I figure, I'm already sleep deprived because of last week's illness...we'll just keep it going. And maybe...just MAYBE...Michael will actually learn how to sleep.
4 comments:
UGH! I feel your pain. Neither of my boys have ever been good sleepers. Joey's turned out to be a food allergy that upset his tummy all night long - for a FREAKIN' YEAR!!! UGH UGH UGH!
Good luck - sleep deprivation BLOWS!
Good luck Giselle - I can't believe you still aren't sleeping well. Between my laziness and Michael's thumb sucking he usually manages to calm himself down during the night before I can make myself get out of bed to see if something is truly wrong! I hope your Michael gets the hang of self-soothing soon - for all your sakes!
Ugh, good luck, just wanted to say that I support your efforts. My first inclination is to tell you how we did cry it out and how it worked for us, but then I realize that please, you have 3 kids, you know the drill, and I'm sure you'll get it figured out. It's just a painful process to get there. good luck.
Our boys must have been in sync last night- After getting up like three times with Eli (which, what the heck, kid, you have been sleeping through the night fairly reliably for about six months now!) I finally gave up and let him cry from three to four last night, then finally caved and put him in bed with us. And then woke up with a nightmare at six and couldn't go back to sleep. Fun.
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