I am a wife, mother of two beautiful children and continually on the quest to better myself. I will share my experiences, tips and adventures through motherhood in hopes that it helps other moms better the quality of their lives. I will share my stories, favorite products, review books and just share my random thoughts on how to be a great mother, wife and better person in the community.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Sleep - Or Lack Thereof...

Well, we just had my son's 6 month doctor appointment - and everything went great!  Until my doctor asked me the question, "Is he sleeping through night?", that is.  I reluctantly answered that he still wakes up every 2 hours to be comforted or fed.  And on those nights when I am just too tired to go into his room, I will bring him into my bed and feed him and let him sleep with us.  I know, I must admit that I've let this get out of control.  At the age of 2 months, he was sleeping for 6-8 hour stretches and sometime between then and now, he has regressed in a major way.

So the doctor responds with "you know, at this age, they can go for 6 hour stretches without being fed".  I know.  "He won't hate you".  I know.  "He won't remember this".  I know.  "You'll be a better mom during the day".  I know.  "it's better to sleep train him at this age before he gets any older because it will just get harder".  I know.  So why am I so reluctant?

Well, we tried sleep training techniques with my daughter - and they never worked.  We stuck with it for a week, letting her cry it out several nights in a row to learn how to "soothe" herself.  Well, it didn't work.  She got even more worked up, more angry, to the point of puking all over the bed.  In the end, her personality/temperament just didn't work with the cry it out method.  Even today, at almost 3 years old, she is the type that needs more hugging, cuddling and love in order to get her to behave.

Plus, my son hardly ever cries.  I mean he really is the best baby - only cries when he needs something, always has a smile for me, and is sooooo much less maintenance than my daughter.  So when he does cry, I feel the need to do something.  Which in this case, is at night.

So, after talking with my doctor, reading about the different techniques, convincing myself that sleeping for more than 2 hour stretches would be really nice, and building up my own determination to do this, we tried our first night of letting him "cry it out".  Just like every other night, he still woke up every 2-3 hours.  But this time I just let him work it out.  He went to bed at 8:30 and the first cry was right on time at 10:30 pm- he surprisingly went back to sleep after about 15 minutes of crying (more like screaming anger)!  He woke up again at 2:00 and I actually got up to feed him.  Then he got up at 5:00, cried off and on for about an hour and then woke up at 6:30 to be fed again.  Overall, the first night wasn't too bad.  But the real test will be over the next few days...