When Brady was about 4 months old, we started sleep training to teach him how to fall asleep on his own and to get him down to one feeding per night. After about a week a half of training led to him falling asleep peacefully and only waking around 4:30 in the morning, then sleeping until 7 or 8.
On Veteran’s Day weekend, Stewart and Kyle were out of town so I started weaning the baby off of his one night feeding, by reducing the number of minutes of nursing by 2 every night. By Thanksgiving I had him sleeping through the night completely.
And then we all got sick.
And then Christmas came, and the house was full of family. Brady woke often and wailed until he got to sleep with Mommy and Daddy.
Most recently, it’s been pretty chilly in his room at night even with the heat running. If (when) he wakes at night, I’ve been interpreting his pathetic sobs as “Mommy, I’m cold, oh so cold. How can you leave me in here, exposed to the elements?” And since he is growing so fast and starting to crawl and climb up on things and eat more solid foods and he’s starting daycare tomorrow, I cling to my little baby boy in the night time as much as he clings to me. I cannot believe that he is almost 9 months old (and that I am still 20 pounds over pre-pregnancy weight) when it was just yesterday that I found out I was pregnant.
Early in the morning when I am succumbing yet again to the baby’s plaintive cry, I think to myself that I don’t mind sleeping with him, I don’t mind nursing him before normal waking time, I don’t mind that somehow his tiny body can shove mine to the edge of the bed. But this morning after I had two cups of coffee and a shower, I regained my resolve. I need my sleep and my husband can attest to this after suffering repeated unnecessary browbeatings when I am fatigued.
Now that I am going back to work one day a week I will need that sleep more than ever. But as anybody who has ever sleep trained a baby knows, those nights on the battleground take a toll on everyone in the house, so I am planning to start it up again this weekend. Please send me your good sleepy thoughts and some tequila.
Good luck. Ronen still doesn’t sleep reliably through the night. Sigh.
OK, 1) good luck! 2) I can’t WAIT for the days when I am going through this and you can offer me all sorts of advice. Sounds like you have a good handle on what to do. Remember that for me in your sleep deprived state!!!! 🙂
Lots of sleep training around here. Yup. Our girl has trained her parents well. Many nights she still sleeps in our bed from start to finish. It is a rare night if she DOES start off in her own bed that she does not join us part-way through. Because they are only little for a short time. Yeah. I know. She is going on 4. LOL!
I feel better just having caught up on my fave blogger!
Sad to say that with my back thrown out and still in agonizing pain (how long is this going to last?!!), I cannot put Dashiell into his crib while sleeping. So now it is mommy’s bed all the time. I am worried about the repercussions once we’re better.
While I usually love having my little sleeping buddy, right now our mutual coughs and stuffy noses keep us both awake and very, very tired and cranky. No sleep training for us; just survival mode.
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Sending you some sleepy vibes…hope it works!
Good luck 🙂
Oh you have no idea the amount of good wishes I am sending you. What you are doing is the hardest thing ever. Stay strong.