Well. I finally did it. I reached the end of my sleepless rope and took measures to fix Charlie's sleep problem.
Yes, for an almost-five-month-old child waking up every two hours (OR MORE FREQUENTLY HELP) and not even seeming hungry at all of those wake-ups is a problem. I knew what I needed to do: I needed to stay the hell away from him at night and let him fall back asleep by himself.
That meant listening to him cry. And THAT I was really not looking forward to.
But, as with all parenting decisions, it came down to what I thought was best for both me AND him. And what is best is more sleep for both of us.
So I listened to him cry last night, on and off from about 1 a.m. to about 1:30 a.m. He never screamed hysterically; he never even cried for longer than a few minutes at a time before subsiding.
He only ate once in the night. And he slept for several continuous hours.
HE SLEPT.
I did it again for his first two naps today. I put him in the crib and listened to him cry. For about thirty seconds. And then he slept, again.
Well, that was . . . suspiciously easy.
Perhaps it will all blow up tonight. Perhaps he'll scream like a banshee all night and wake everyone up and no one will sleep and I will curse myself and the entire awful universe that's conspiring against me.
But more likely, he'll sleep. And so will I. Alleluia.
4 comments:
Yes. To all of it. Been there. Done that. Came out the other side of the shit storm of sleep training none the worse for wear.
Trick? Follow your gut and your knowledge of your kid. You know what's best. Every book in the whole world will tell you something different anyways. At the end of the day we need sleep to function - continuous, blessed, lovely sleep. Maybe Charlie's tuckered out too from all that waking up!
May be it's Charlie's early Christmas/birthday present. He just wanted you to really appreciate it. That is evidenced by the fact that you equate three continuous hours of sleep with a reason to celebrate. Only having to get out of a warm bed for one feeding would be my highlight. Keep up the good work, both mom and Charlie!
If that is the extent of it you are one lucky duck! I still remember how awful it was trying to get Anna to take naps that were longer than 20 minutes (and not in her car seat). Sleeping through the night wasn't ever much of an issue once she was big enough, but naps...whoo boy.
Yah- I've heard about the horrors of sleep training from friends and, while awful at first, it's sooooooo worth it. Sounds like you two will make it.
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