Follow up: Sleeping better
I’m sure glad I wrote that last post about the wee babe’s issues with sleeping. I received some nice words of encouragement and some ideas that other mother’s had tried.
I received an email from my cousin suggesting that I just let her cry it out. At first, to be honest, I just didn’t think I had it in me. Not enough sleep and feeling a little tender didn’t make for a good mix when I was going to have to go through the agony of letting her cry for who knew how long.
The day after I wrote that post, she was awake for 2 hours from 12-2am and I’m sure her teeth were bugging her. The way she was crying was more like a moaning. I put oragel on her, tried Tylenol all while snuggling her and singing to her in our kitchen. Finally, I breastfed her as I was at my wits end and she fell fast asleep until the morning.
The hubby and I talked about it and we decided that we couldn’t take it anymore (no less after fighting between us ensued due to lack of sleep). That night we were going to try the ‘crying it out’ method. I was nervous and very worried for the people who were in the apartment beside us.
She went to bed as normal (breastfed to sleep) and then she woke up at 12:30. We let her cry, and cry and cry. And I cried and cried and sobbed. I rubbed her back. She settled a little bit but never stopped crying. After 2 hours I couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t do it. And I was so worried about the people next door and her of course. I would have to see these people at some point! What were they going to say to me?!? And in French no less….
So I broke down and breastfed her. Fast asleep almost immediately. I got 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep that night. The most I’d had in weeks.
That morning there was more discussions about what we were going to do. I voiced my concern about the noise in the apartment. Should we put her in the tweenager’s room temporarily. My mother had suggested we put her in a different room than us. Maybe that was the problem.
We talked about her staying in our room and us moving into the living room. We talked about her going in the living room… The deciding factor for us was when I ran into the neighbour in the hallway (I knew it) and he said he had heard it all. My nightmare coming true. He said he had been worried for her as she cried so much and wondered if we should take her to the doctor.
At that point we decided to put her in the living room. She couldn’t stay in our room and ‘cry it out’ anymore.
But first we had her nap to get through. She went to bed in our room for her nap. The crying lasted a half hour. We had to go in every 5-10 minutes to put her back down in her crib as she kept standing up. Then voila! She stopped crying after 30ish minutes. My heart lept for joy. She completed a hour long nap and when she woke up there was lots of kisses and happy words for her. Good job my little baby!
Then bedtime came around, we moved the crib into the living room, nursed her a little bit so she was sleepy but not asleep, put her in her crib and said good night and then we all went to our bedrooms. She cried for 5 minutes!!!! 5 minutes! I was overjoyed. And it gets better. She slept until 5:45am.
Oh. My. God. Heaven.
Up until her morning nap this morning, there was a little bit in me that kept saying that this was just a fluke. That she was just going through another phase – albeit a great phase but still a miraculous phase… I think now after her nap this morning, it was the perfect time for her to try this strategy.
So we moved the crib back into our room for her nap. I breastfed her to a sleepy state and then put her to bed. She cried for…. drumroll please…. 3 minutes!!!
Now I’m simply over the moon. The only thing that I need to worry about now is where she’s going to sleep ever time she needs a nap or bedtime. I think for a while it will be musical rooms. And when my mom comes hopefully we’ll have a good nighttime pattern established so she can room with us again or maybe we can put her in the kitchen. LOL!
But I especially want to give a big shout out to my cousin, Josephine, for suggesting to cry it out and also to say that I’m sorry for doubting you (after all I did the same thing for the tweenager when she was 6 months old!).
It’s amazing how much your life revolves around sleep when you’re not getting enough of it. Thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement. It meant a lot to me.
<3
