Night Sleep Training: Day One
Day #1:
7:30: Bedtime ritual as usual, and then into the crib, little one! No real complaints since it's just like another nap time, really.
9:30: I finally fall asleep.
11 pm: Woken up by mad, hungry baby, right on schedule. Make the trek down the hall and feed him. Put him back in the crib and tiptoe back to bed. The boy cries for about 2 minutes and falls asleep. Victory!
1 a.m.: Woken up by mad hungry baby, right on schedule. Stumble down the hall, blind, feverish and nauseous from lack of sleep. Feed the boy. Put him back in crib and tiptoe back to bed.
The boy cries. And cries. And cries some more. Check on him every 10 minutes as planned but as usual, my presence just seems to infuriate him.
Finally, I can't take it anymore. In pure desperation, I grab a pacifier (ha ha) and try to put it in. He, of course, wants nothing to do with it. At this point, I'm so mad and tired and frustrated, I grab his head and pin it to the mattress with one hand and shove the pacifier in with the other. (This is not my proudest parenting moment, by the way).
He thrashes around for a few seconds, then lies still ...
and starts sucking! All I see are two little shining eyes blinking in the moonlight and I hear the suck-suck-suck of the pacifier.
Will wonders never cease?
I sing to him softly for a while, until he's relaxed, then I substitute his fluffy little bunny for my arm, which he's been clutching tightly. He accepts these Mama substitutions calmly and I tiptoe out of the room.
I crawl back into bed, pulling on another blanket since the lack of sleep has made me start to shiver.
When I open my eyes again, it's 7 am.
That's a 5 hr stretch, which may be the longest of his life. It's still not enough to dig me out of the sleep recession I've fallen into, but it will do. The morning sun shining in my window looks warmer than it has in weeks.
7:30: Bedtime ritual as usual, and then into the crib, little one! No real complaints since it's just like another nap time, really.
9:30: I finally fall asleep.
11 pm: Woken up by mad, hungry baby, right on schedule. Make the trek down the hall and feed him. Put him back in the crib and tiptoe back to bed. The boy cries for about 2 minutes and falls asleep. Victory!
1 a.m.: Woken up by mad hungry baby, right on schedule. Stumble down the hall, blind, feverish and nauseous from lack of sleep. Feed the boy. Put him back in crib and tiptoe back to bed.
The boy cries. And cries. And cries some more. Check on him every 10 minutes as planned but as usual, my presence just seems to infuriate him.
Finally, I can't take it anymore. In pure desperation, I grab a pacifier (ha ha) and try to put it in. He, of course, wants nothing to do with it. At this point, I'm so mad and tired and frustrated, I grab his head and pin it to the mattress with one hand and shove the pacifier in with the other. (This is not my proudest parenting moment, by the way).
He thrashes around for a few seconds, then lies still ...
and starts sucking! All I see are two little shining eyes blinking in the moonlight and I hear the suck-suck-suck of the pacifier.
Will wonders never cease?
I sing to him softly for a while, until he's relaxed, then I substitute his fluffy little bunny for my arm, which he's been clutching tightly. He accepts these Mama substitutions calmly and I tiptoe out of the room.
I crawl back into bed, pulling on another blanket since the lack of sleep has made me start to shiver.
When I open my eyes again, it's 7 am.
That's a 5 hr stretch, which may be the longest of his life. It's still not enough to dig me out of the sleep recession I've fallen into, but it will do. The morning sun shining in my window looks warmer than it has in weeks.
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