Will they ever get better? I know eventually they will, but I guess I just assumed it would have happened by now. I know I said I wasn't going to blog about Alex again this next time, but I got quite a few comments saying how much everyone loved reading about him, so I figured it was okay :)
For those of you who don't know, let me give you a little background info on how Alex has slept since he was born. When he was first born we co-slept. I know a lot of people have a lot of different views on this and it doesn't always work for some, but it worked for us. We made our bed as safe as we possibly could. I did tons of research on safe co-sleeping and we made every necessary adjustment to our bed. Scott & I each used our own blanket and tucked it around us so it could not cover over his face. I could go on and on defending our choice to co-sleep, but I'm not going to. It worked for us at the time and all was well.
When Alex was around the age of 5 months, we started the process of moving him to his own crib. It was a hard process. Mainly because he was still nursing at night. He would sleep in his crib but I was up almost every 30 min-1 hour. Around 7 months I stopped nursing him all together because I went back to work. He was still up a lot at night even when he wasn't nursing. I finally bought a book called "The No-Cry Sleep Solution" because I knew I couldn't handle letting him "cry it out". I read the book and we implemented the plans outlined in the Sleep Solution book. It took a few weeks, but eventually Alex was sleeping in his own bed all night waking only 1-2 times a night. He was even taking good naps at this time.
I know Im missing some things along this "sleep timeline" because his schedule has changed so many different times, I can't even remember all of the changes. Then came the cutting of the molars. For the past 4-5 months or so, he has been waking every 1-2 hours again. It isn't just as simple as laying him back down and giving him back his binky and he will go back to sleep. No he wants to be picked up and rocked. I know so many people have told me, don't give in, don't pick him up he will eventually get the picture. Okay we tried that. MANY times. And each and every time he will get himself so upset that he ends up throwing up all over his crib and himself. So we tried every time he wakesup and wants to be picked up, we pick him up, rock him until he is almost asleep and then laying him in his crib to fall the rest of the way to sleep on his own. DOESN"T WORK!!
The last month or so I have been so worn out from not sleeping, that I've given in and let him sleep with us again starting around 1 in the morning. I just can't keep going getting up every 1-2 hours and having to rock him for 20-30 min to get him back to bed. It was starting to affect my daily life and attitude. So needless to say for the past month or so he has been sleeping in our bed again. I know what you are thinking...I've let us take 100 steps back. I just don't know what to do.
Right now he is sick so I'm not trying anything new until he is all better. He was up until midnight last night coughing and just unhappy and eventually coughed so much he puked all over our bed. Luckily he slept til 10am so he was able to get some much needed rest, but now his nap schedule is all messed up today. Its a never ending cycle! :)
I love my son more than anything in this world, but I guess I just assumed that by 18 months, he would be sleeping through the night. I know it's mainly mine and Scott's fault for giving in and letting him sleep with us again, but we were just desperate to sleep! I guess this post was more of just me ranting and getting it all out. Thanks to those of you who have read this far!
P.S. I apologize if I rambled or totally lost my train of thought a few times on that blog..I am running on a few hours of sleep. Although Alex slept from midnight to 10am, I sure didn't! When he sleeps with us he tosses and turns and kicks and punches us :)
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4 comments:
I don't know how you have dealt with this for so long! I HAVE to have my sleep. Kids are so smart, aren't they? They know exactly how to "work us"!
Oh Sarah I feel so bad for you guys! It will get better! I did not want to make mine cry themselves to sleep either so I made Jerry do it! I remember leaving and going to WalMart until they were asleep. After 3 nights it was over - we did good for about 2 years and then I don't know what happened?? Oh well, their only little once!
Have you talked to your pediatrician about his throwing up when he gets that upset and how they'd recommend you get him sleeping through the night? They have to have some thoughts other than CIO. I found a link that explains what causes them to throw up but it's a CIO link but at least it explains it to you.
http://www.alyson.ca/2008/02/cry-it-out-meth.html
Not sure what to recommend but you need your sleep to be your best for him. It's not going to be easy. Maybe go back to the NCSS. The biggest thing is when you put them down not to pick them back up. I do this with Cameron and still do when he wakes up with a poopy diaper I change it in his crib I DO NOT pick him up. How about setting limits?
Example: I rock Cameron to sleep every night. Cause i like the bonding cuddle time. But I set the limit that I will only rock him for 20 minutes then I put him down in his crib and I rub his back for 5 minutes. If he is still awake I tell him I love him and sweet dreams and I walk out the door. If he cries I give him 5-10 mins go back in there and lay him back down and rub his back for 3 minutes. And I repeat this and just keep reducing the amount of time I spend rubbing his back. Eventually he wears himself out but he gets the point that I'm not picking him up so he better go to sleep. If he throws up use the method the article above said for handling it.
Like you said he's sick right now so it's not a good time to implement something new. You know I'm hear to support you in whatever you decide to do.
Don't feel bad it's so easy for us as parents to fall into some minor bad habits. It's amazing how well they can wrap us around their little fingers.
ahh kinda mad I wrote you a long comment and now it's not showing up. I'll write it all again later.
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