For the last 6 days I have been working with my son Gabriel trying to teach him better sleep habits. He is used to taking naps in my laps and when it comes to bed time if I try to lay him in his crib before holding him for an hour he freaks out. He can be deep asleep but as soon as he touches that mattress and realizes that mommy is not holding him he wakes up bawling. Anyway, I couldn't take it anymore. Besides being very time consuming and restricting, he is just getting too big and it is painful to hold him so long with my bad back. So, we decided to Cry It Out (we had already tried creating "routines" to help him sleep and positive encouragement but it did not work with our son). I read about parents feeling bad because their baby cried for 30 minutes...Gabriel cried for 2 hours on at least 3 different instances this past week (and still did not sleep). I ended up going in there and picking him up but would not hold him to sleep, he just missed his nap. I felt really bad because I knew he was tired but I also know he needs to learn to fall asleep on his own. But boy that baby is stubborn! He may be exhausted but he is determined to have his way and sleep in my lap. Even though I read to him and sing to him before I lay him down to sleep it is not enough...he wants mommy! My boy definitely has a strong will and is very determined, I hope it goes to good use when he's grown. I began to think that he was never going to give up and never learn to self-sooth so that he (and I) could get a good nights sleep.
However, for his nap today he only cried 30 minutes! And though he didn't take a full nap (only 35 minutes and I could tell he was still tired) I was still very proud of my little man! So I thanked God for this small blessing and prayed that tonight would be an improvement as well. Sure enough, he only cried/whined for 15 minutes before falling asleep for the night! Also, Gabriel has been waking up after sleeping for a half hour and then cries for 15 to 20 minutes before falling back to sleep ever since we started the Cry It Out; but he didn't do that tonight! Lets hope the rest of the evening goes this well.
good job amanda!!! crying is always way harder on the parents i think! When i started getting Ada to fall asleep on her own, the first two nights she cried for like 45 minutes. I kept reminding myself that she was ok, she had a clean diaper, was fed, and is just now tired. Then i took a long hot shower to block out the noise and to help me relax. now, Ada rarely cries herself to sleep, and if she does its usually not more than 10 or 15 minutes. i know its for her good that she sleeps in her crib more now, but man do i miss those times she would sleep in my arms!!! :)
ReplyDelete