Whew! January was something else. Parts were great, parts were not so wonderful. It was definitely the longest month I've had in a while.
Lily: One of my New Year's resolutions was to help you become a better sleeper. You were a lovely sleeper when you were a newborn. My friends were so jealous of how you slept so well at night for being so young. Everyone marveled at your advanced nighttime habits...you get the picture. So, imagine my surprise to finally figure out that somehow, somewhere in the past few months you decided to sneakily throw all of that right out the window. By the time I realized things had changed, you would only fall asleep on MY bed, while you were nursing. I might be able to pick you up and put you in your crib for a bit, but as soon as you woke up, it was back into the big bed again. This meant that we were both up at least four or five times a night, which made for a crabby baby and mama. You also had a tendency to hog the bed. Sometimes you would scoot so much that Daddy would have just a teeny strip of mattress to call his own. This made for a crabby Daddy, too.
After our holiday travels, during which none of us got much sleep, I decided to make sleep-training our number one priority. Using a book that helped your brother when he was little, I chose January 1 as our first night. Might as well start the year off right! The basic plan for the sleep-training system was this: Start by sitting right next to your crib. Pat you and soothe you with shushing noises intermittently, but only pick you up if you are hysterical. Only leave the room once you are completely asleep. Every time you wake up, repeat that routine. Every third day, move the chair further away from your crib until I'm finally outside your room. After three weeks, you are fixed and able to put yourself to sleep. Rainbows and unicorns abound. Happy home once again.
Seems like the perfect plan, doesn't it? A gentler version of the "cry it out" routine, with my presence to support you in your quest to self-soothe and fall asleep independently. You were against it from the start. Sparing you the MANY grim details, let me just say that your persistence and overall endurance will serve you well in the future. The first few weeks we saw improvements, which were encouraging. You threw us a few loops, though. One afternoon I was sitting outside of your room, just within your view, trying to get you to go down for a nap. You cried for a while and then I heard this loud, terrible scraping sound. Imagine your delight when you figured out that gnawing on the crib with your lower teeth would get Mama to visit you! You actually ate the finish and part of the wood right off the side of the crib. I had Daddy lower the crib to the very bottom that night! Things went well after that for a while longer. Then, somehow, you managed to trick us into patting you asleep! This was not good. It had been over three weeks, and you were NOT putting yourself to sleep. No unicorns. No rainbows.
I decided to start over with our original schedule. This time it went better, and Daddy and I did not give in to you (even though you are so darn cute). It's been over a month, and you are able to put yourself to sleep more and more. It's still a process, but I see that you are a much happier baby now that you are getting two good naps everyday, along with a great night's sleep! I'm able to sleep now, too, which is definitely a plus! Lilygirl, you are a trip.
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