I'm sure you're dying for an update on how crying it out is going!
Well, it turns out that Zia has the best of both of his parents: Mom's ability to learn new things quickly, and Dad's doing things in extremes.
He continued to get to sleep quite quickly every night but became increasingly difficult to get back to sleep the rest of the night. (We were trying to build up crying sessions in the night and not have him do it all night right away.) So, we had another session with our trusty sleep consultant, who said that he sounded like he was ready to push it and go through the night crying. We also needed to get him sleeping in his crib, in his room, and she said to just go for it all at once!
So, last Wednesday night, we did just that. We were both nervous, not knowing what was going to happen. (Especially Mo, since he had to leave at 4:00AM for work the next morning.) We didn't anticipate the sadness of climbing into bed and not having him in the room with us; I actually teared up a little.
He still woke up every 1-2 hours, but he always stopped crying within 10 minutes, so we just left him. I was worried about if he was hungry back there since he was used to getting fed every 2-4 hours throughout the night, but I figured he'd cry like mad and let me know when he was hungry.
By 3:00, that hadn't happened, and we both felt like we were pushing it making him also not eat that long, so I went back and fed him when he woke up crying. (And let me tell you, I had SUPPLY by that time!!) He woke up crying one more time and was then just happily awake at 7. And didn't seem to hate me when I came to get him up -- *whew*!
The next night, we were curious to see how much the crying sessions would extend out, and drumroll, please ....
HE DIDN'T CRY FROM 7:30PM TO 4:30AM!!!!
What?!?!
He also still didn't seem to need to be fed at 4:30. By 5:30, when he was lightly crying for the third time in an hour, I figured he was ready for some food. But then he ate so much that he didn't go back to sleep.
Oh well. We're learning.
So, he learned super fast and did the extreme of crying often one night and not at all the next night! It was also hilarious, because he managed to get himself from one end of the crib to the other in about 10 minutes after we put him down last night. (We've now observed that he does this not by rolling but by putting his feet up on the side of the crib and pushing himself around the edges -- it's hilarious to watch!)
Then, when I went in to make sure he was still alive (because, remember, he'd never slept more than four hours at a time, and that happened rarely), he had found the corner of the crib where I had a blanket hanging so that he could cram his head into that corner, which was cozier than the other corners that only have the super-thin bumper covering them.
Babies are funny, aren't they?
His sleeping-through-the-night trend has continued, and he's now taken to sleeping with one arm behind the bumper, like he's cuddling it. He's his daddy's boy. :) I want to take a picture, but I'm afraid I'll wake him up, and after all this work to get him to sleep, we're not taking that risk!!
Now Mo & I just have to figure out what to do with all this time on our hands since we're no longer spending a huge chunk of our day wrangling with him to get him to sleep! Such luxury! And I have to retrain my body to sleep continuously. I can already feel the difference in my demeanor, and I still haven't slept longer than a few hours at a time!
Hooray!!
Well, it turns out that Zia has the best of both of his parents: Mom's ability to learn new things quickly, and Dad's doing things in extremes.
He continued to get to sleep quite quickly every night but became increasingly difficult to get back to sleep the rest of the night. (We were trying to build up crying sessions in the night and not have him do it all night right away.) So, we had another session with our trusty sleep consultant, who said that he sounded like he was ready to push it and go through the night crying. We also needed to get him sleeping in his crib, in his room, and she said to just go for it all at once!
 |
| Getting used to my crib! |
He still woke up every 1-2 hours, but he always stopped crying within 10 minutes, so we just left him. I was worried about if he was hungry back there since he was used to getting fed every 2-4 hours throughout the night, but I figured he'd cry like mad and let me know when he was hungry.
By 3:00, that hadn't happened, and we both felt like we were pushing it making him also not eat that long, so I went back and fed him when he woke up crying. (And let me tell you, I had SUPPLY by that time!!) He woke up crying one more time and was then just happily awake at 7. And didn't seem to hate me when I came to get him up -- *whew*!
The next night, we were curious to see how much the crying sessions would extend out, and drumroll, please ....
HE DIDN'T CRY FROM 7:30PM TO 4:30AM!!!!
What?!?!
He also still didn't seem to need to be fed at 4:30. By 5:30, when he was lightly crying for the third time in an hour, I figured he was ready for some food. But then he ate so much that he didn't go back to sleep.
Oh well. We're learning.
So, he learned super fast and did the extreme of crying often one night and not at all the next night! It was also hilarious, because he managed to get himself from one end of the crib to the other in about 10 minutes after we put him down last night. (We've now observed that he does this not by rolling but by putting his feet up on the side of the crib and pushing himself around the edges -- it's hilarious to watch!)
Then, when I went in to make sure he was still alive (because, remember, he'd never slept more than four hours at a time, and that happened rarely), he had found the corner of the crib where I had a blanket hanging so that he could cram his head into that corner, which was cozier than the other corners that only have the super-thin bumper covering them.
Babies are funny, aren't they?
His sleeping-through-the-night trend has continued, and he's now taken to sleeping with one arm behind the bumper, like he's cuddling it. He's his daddy's boy. :) I want to take a picture, but I'm afraid I'll wake him up, and after all this work to get him to sleep, we're not taking that risk!!
Now Mo & I just have to figure out what to do with all this time on our hands since we're no longer spending a huge chunk of our day wrangling with him to get him to sleep! Such luxury! And I have to retrain my body to sleep continuously. I can already feel the difference in my demeanor, and I still haven't slept longer than a few hours at a time!
Hooray!!
wow! that's great!
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