Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Cry It Out?
As you know, Ledger has still not been able to sleep through the night. Not even close really. He typically wakes up about every 2 hours wanting to nurse. Although we had dabbled in the "sleep training" methods, nothing really worked for us. I decided that after the holidays, we would give the "cry it out" method a real concentrated effort. So Ledger was put to sleep at 8pm last night. He woke up crying about 8:20pm and Chris then held him to try to get him to sleep. By 9pm, Ledger still wasn't asleep, so I nursed him and he fell asleep. He slept from 9:15pm to 10:30pm. At that point, he woke up screaming. We tried to comfort him, but couldn't seem to calm him down. So I caved and nursed him again at 10:50. Again, he fell asleep and I laid him down in his crib at 11:15pm. As soon as he hit the crib, he woke up screaming. I tried patting his back and putting his pacifier in, but he wouldn't have any part of it. I told him that it was time for "night, night" and then closed the door to his bedroom. Chris and I stayed up to listen to him on the baby monitor. HE CRIED UNTIL 12:30am. At that point, I completely caved in. I picked him up out of bed and he immediately fell asleep in my arms. I rocked him for 15 minutes or so and then laid him down again. As soon as he hit the crib mattress, he started screaming. So I picked him up and held him for a while. I used my laptop to search for information about how to get a baby to sleep -- and of course, all of the views are conflicting. Anyway, I laid him down to sleep at 2am. He slept for an hour and woke up at 3am screaming again. I nursed him and FINALLY got him to lay in his crib and take a paci. He slept from 3:30am to 7am. So we are running very low on sleep and very high on frustration today. I know that there is no "right" answer when it comes to getting your kids to sleep... but I need help! Ledger is 8 months old today, which means that I haven't had a full night of sleep in EIGHT MONTHS.
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Oh Kendell. I feel for you because I have not had a full nights sleep in almost 3 years. I am not exaggerating either. I am the last person to ask because I took the other road and I still have a 16 month old in bed with us. It is time to move him to his big boy bed and if he is anything like Jonas it will be an easy transition. Neither of my kids utilized the crib, but Ronan for sure has not. Stick to your guns. I hear it gets easier each night as you do it. You are better than me. Ronan cries so hard that he pukes almost every time and will not stop. It at least tires him out so he falls asleep pretty fast and I could put him in his crib for a while. Good luck! 8 months is the turning point they say. If your going to get him used to his bed doing it now is the best time. Any later and it gets even harder.
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm so sorry Kendell! I wish I had some kind of advice. When my nephew was a baby (he's 4 now) I used to be the only one besides his parents who could get him to sleep at naptime. I was a preschool teacher for 2 years and actually started in the 12 months - 23 months room, so I had a lot of experience putting babies to sleep, but when he screams all night, I don't have any good advice. Have you talked to his pediatrician at all? It seems like there's something else to it if he wakes up screaming nearly every time he hits the mattress. Poor Ledger! And poor mommy and daddy!
ReplyDeleteI obviously have no advice, but...I will buy you a giant coke slushy when I get there and we can eat chips and salsa during brainstorm time. That's about all I can do...and thank God that you and Brandy have been through it all by the time we start! God knew what he was doing making me the youngest of 3 girls...he knew I was not good at learning on my own! LOVE YOU!
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