Ugh, I don't know why, but with Elliott everything seems to be one step forward, two steps back. He does so well for a while and then goes back to being fussy and a crappy sleeper at the drop of a hat again.
Last night was awful! He was up every two hours! The worst was at 2am when he decided it would be fun to be awake for an hour and a half. I finally drifted off to sleep after 3:30, only to have Adam's alarm go off at 4. Then Elliott was up at 6:30 again. At that point I just gave up and let him stay in bed with me. Up for the day at 9am.
The worst is that this child has so much trouble falling asleep. I'm having to resort to letting him figure things out on his own in his crib sometimes now. I go in every 15 minutes and comfort him and offer him food again, but for the most part, I'm trying to let him put himself to sleep. And yes, that means that there is some crying.
The awful debate of CIO is a hot topic for some. I did it when Miranda was around 6 months old too. She needed help figuring out how to sleep not swaddled and that's what we did. I never let him cry for more than 15 minutes at a time. I always go in after that time is up and calm him down, snuggle him, make sure he's not wet or hungry. If he needs nothing else than to sleep, than I put him back down and give him another 15 minutes to try and figure it out.
Doing it that way helps ease my conscience somewhat. I'm not just letting them cry for hours on end, they still get snuggled and taken care of, but at the same time I feel like I'm helping them to figure out that mommy is not a crutch. I feel that a child needs to learn how to put themselves to sleep. Doing it around 6 months and sticking with it (barring illness or another very legitimate reason) means that it won't be as big of an issue later on.
That's how I feel anyway. I'm curious to know how my readers feel about letting kids cry?
This is yet another thing that makes it hard to 'classify' me as a mom. There are categories that moms are supposed to fit into, and I don't really fit into any of them nicely. I breastfeed. I baby-wear. I am attempting to do baby-led weaning. I'm all for extended rear-facing. All very crunchy, attachment parenting techniques.
I don't co-sleep(only in the mornings sometimes when Adam's not in bed). I vaccinate on schedule. I use disposable diapers. I do modified CIO. All very anti-crunchy things.
But the bottom line is, I'm a mom. I'm doing what feels right for me. Isn't that the only thing we can ask for?
Honestly none of the things you list as non-crunchy are really non-crunchy. I know a lot of AP/crunchy mom's that do the same. I really think we are all just Mom's, but you could easily label yourself AP without any real issue.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, we don't do CIO, okay I'll let Desmond cry it out now at 4 for various things, but we don't for bedtime. I vaccinate, though we do delay and selectively vaccinate (no flu, rotovirus, and they'll only get the chicken pox vaccine if they have had it naturally before they are 12 or so). I am using a lot more disposable diapers right now then cloth, but really cloth or disposable is really not a AP thing, it is more a what you want to do thing.
That being said, good luck on getting sleep to work out. Sully is waking every 2 hours or so at the moment, but he is teething his 6th tooth right now, and I am sure 7 and 8 are right behind it. Since I do co-sleep, more for me then baby, it hasn't really bothered me though. Desmond on the other hand waking at 2am and wanting to have a conversation when he comes to snuggle in bed with me, is a different story!
Thanks Sarah! <3
ReplyDeleteElliott doesn't have any teeth yet and I have no idea when one is going to make it's appearance. It wouldn't surprise me if he's in some pain from teething. I've been giving him Tylenol and Hyland's every 4 hours in the hopes that it will help. I wanted to get him an amber necklace but Adam vetoed that.
I probably would co-sleep if I didn't have to share a bed with Adam. He's such a heavy sleeper I'm really scared that he would hurt Elliott when he's in bed. Plus now that he rolls I'm scared he's going to fall out of my bed. I bet we'd both get way more sleep at night if I did co-sleep.
I personally am not a fan of CIO. We had Samantha's 6 month check up last week and our pediatrician was adament that I stop co-sleeping and start putting her in her crib, as well as letting her CIO. I am totally not ready for her to be in her own room yet, so we're doing about 1/2 the night in the pack n play next to our bed and 1/2 the night in bed with us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your last paragraph though. Samantha fell out of bed last week and it was horrifying. Thankfully she is okay, and that's actually what gave me the push to get her into the pack n play. I let her stay with me all night last night though, and both of us got such a great nights rest. I wish we could co-sleep forever!!
Yes, I'm already rethinking the CIO thing. I'll have to write a whole new post about it though. Thanks for visiting Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteHi Anjie, I finally found some time to check out your blog. I love it! I am very lucky that my 7.5 month old daughter has always done very well with sleeping at night, but only if I nursed/gave her a bottle and fell asleep in my arms. We started to put her to bed this week without that last feeding, and it has been challenging! She slaps and kicks the bed, whimpers, and cries until she is practically hyperventilating. We check on her every 5 minutes, because I am so worried she'll hurt herself in her tantrums. However, she does fall asleep, sleeps through the night, and is her usual happy mood in the morning, so at least I know she isn't "hurt" by this. Please keep sharing your experiences with this. It's really helpful for new moms like me! Be well, Kat
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing what is working for you and your daughter Kat! I always love to hear how other moms are doing things with their kids. I hope you will continue to come back and read more about our sleep saga.
ReplyDelete