I, I know just-just what you are, are, are
No matter how many hours of sleep she steals away from me in the night, come morning Ev tries to front like "oh hey mom, i'm all smiley even though i cried for 2 hours straight starting at 3:30am and you're still going to love me anyway, i know it, so here's to a new day where you're tuckered out and i'm ready to roll." And she's right. I do love her come morning. But I've also come to hate not getting more than 3 hours of sleep straight a night.
People swear by BabyWise. We've had Evelyn on a flexible schedule since she was born, but I've never let her cry it out during the MIDDLE of the night. Well, after giving it some very deep thought and re-reading BabyWise I decided that it was time to let her cry when she would wake up at 12, 2, 3am or whatever and put herself back to sleep. It would be good for her, right? We started on Tuesday. She woke first at 2am. Jared and I laid still in bed as we listened to her cry for 10 min. And then that was it. She fell asleep! We actually highfived each other we felt so proud [I think we highfived it, maybe in my delirious state I thought we did but I know we were proud of ourselves]. The next night we thought would be much better. BabyWise says that with 3-5 nights you should be cured, so it could only go uphill with each night, right? Night #2 - Woke twice at 11 and 3 and cried for 45min both times. Night #3 - woke at 3:30 and cried for 2 HOURS!!! She finally fell asleep at 5:30 and I had to wake her up at 6:30 to keep her on schedule. I feel like a veggie right now. This is exhausting. Wish me luck on night #4.... oh, but Ev's still my sunshine.
....and I can't wait to see THIS Feb '12. Only because it's Rachel McAdams. And she's my girl crush.
We let Logan cry it out when he was about this age. We had him cry while putting him down for bed first, then once he had that down we let him cry in the middle of the night. I remember being so stressed about it while we were doing it, but I'm pretty sure it took less than a week and he either wasn't waking up in the night, or wasn't crying if he did wake up.
ReplyDeleteIt changed our lives.
For real.
There is nothing like a good night's sleep. So, good luck mama! It'll get better and you'll be grateful you helped her learn to sleep on her own. We also read "sleeping through the night" by Jodi Mindell. It was a really good book if you're looking for extra support.
Sorry for the endless message! You can do it!
You can do it! It will get better, but sometimes it just takes a while. Ev is awesome and she'll be so happy once she knows how to fall asleep by herself.
ReplyDeleteschedules suck and rock at the same time. i never read babywise, but it sounds like it's like the ferber method? i dunno....but i think that's what we do. we had to change the girls' schedule around this age. they used to take one large nap, like 11-3 or 4, but now most days they have a mini nap an hour after they get up and then a 2 or 3 hour nap 3 hours later. crazy babies! i also found that the girls sleep better and longer if they are on their tummies. ev's past the major SIDS risk age and is old enough to have a strong enough neck to move around on her tummy....i don't know if you're comfortable with that, but it's just an idea! good luck!
ReplyDeleteMckay keeps waking up at 5 and wanting to eat then sleeping for a few more hours. I really shouldn't complain but It is kind of driving me crazy because he used to not wake up at all and I know he doesn't NEED to eat then. I can't handle letting him cry very long, but maybe I should. Let me know how it goes...
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