Monday, December 20, 2010

Sleep Training

Today was a long day. I had the joy of resleep training Lucas. One word "FUN"! I had done this previously when he was oh probably around 5-6 months old. And it did work and he did sleep..well mostly anyways. He still woke up for the occasional feed here and there but usually only once a night! I can handle that! Well he decided to throw that out the window a couple weeks/month ago and only recently it has started to get really bad! Now if you were to ask me how all that training dissappeared i wouldnt know what to tell you. I believe it had a little something to do with teething and the fact that he has a larger version of himself  ( i wont name names! lol) wrapped around his little pinky sometimes. And well i confess that i tend to cave as well! One look at the pouty littly monkey face and your done! And throw into the mix that fact that when he is sad he says "Momma" over and over! So instead of letting him calm himself down he used his little monkey charms to get us to rock him! At first it was maybe once every few nights..but lately it has been every night! And into the night as well! Well as you can imagine i am not too fond of having to do this in the middle of the night for any longer than 5 minutes. I am much too cranky of a person at 3:00 am..thus my patience is even thinner than during the daytime! And every since he started walking he would rather be awake and exploring than allowing his parents/mom to recover from the hurricane that ran around the house all day! So needless to say Saturday night was the last straw when he decided that he didnt want to sleep anymore..it would have been fine if it was say..7:00 am..no i lie..8:30am!! Well he must have felt like playing with a growly bear cause he woke up at 3:00 am and stayed up! No amount of rocking, sooshing, cuddling, threats, kisses, bouncing, nursing was going to convince him that bears were really scary and he should go back to sleep! Finally after letting him scream/cry for what seemed like an eternity i was able to return to my nice warm den at 5:30 in the morning to the blissfully ignorant snores of my husband! Last night wasnt much better..this time he decided that 6:00 am was a great time. I might have been able to drag my butt out of bed if it wasnt for the fact that he didnt go to sleep until midnight! So today turned into the day that i was going to change this not so welcoming habit! Truthfully i thought that it was going to go really well! Boy did he prove me wrong! For both naps I caved and rocked him...he slept for a total of 5 mins the first nap and 15 minutes the second. Lets just say that growly bears dont just come out a night!! They turn up as little children as well! So the research began (when i could evade the growls and snaps of a bear at my feet!) And i came up with a sleep plan! The short of it, NO MORE ROCKING..i know it sounds evil but it is necessary for my sanity and thus the sanity of people that come in contact with me! So tonight, we did bedtime routine and put him in his crib and rubbed his head and shushed him for a minute or two and than just stood there like an ominous scarecrow..just willing him to try to stand up and scream..but he didnt..he layed there and was comforted by my presence (i must not have been very ominous! Just wait till daddy stands there!!) He hugged his little zebra and passed out! boo ya! Success! Well that lasted for an hour! And than i got to do it all over again..go in..lay him down, rub his head, shush him and stand there! He layed there and eventually fell asleep again. I have a feeling that i might be standing a lot tonight!! But each night i am hoping and praying that it gets easier and easier for him to put himself back to sleep! And each night i will get further and further away from his crib when i am standing. This is my sleep plan. I will let you know if this works! If you call me and i sound a little gruff on the phone..well its not! :P But i'm too stubborn to give up! Too bad my child is stubborn as well! Oh little monkey...
                                            My view for most the day (hes still so cute when hes upset!)
                           One of the quieter times, he was just sucking his thumb which he never does!

1 comment:

  1. this is a great blog Michelle. Your baby is one cute little guy! The photo at the top of the blog is amazing! Seriously amazing! Keep going girl!

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