Friday, August 28, 2009

Is she sleeping through the night?

This post is for those moms who couldn't say "yes" to the always anticipated question: "Is she sleeping through the night yet?"


Its 12:15am...I know a lot of you may still be up at 12:15 am but I haven't been up this late since prom (ok I may be exaggerating a little but for those of you know me and not to mention make fun of me for my early to bed sleep habits, 12:15 now 12:18 is late). So, why am I up and not sleeping in my comfy bed? Ask Rose.

She is 8 months old and has never (I repeat never) slept through the night. I never slept through the night while I was pregnant. So, that has been almost 18 months of not sleeping through the night. Rose still wakes every three hours to eat and if she doesn't nurse she is not happy. Because the hub doesn't have milk makers, guess who gets up? For a long time I didn't mind and actually enjoyed this quiet, one-on-one time with my little girl; however lately we have realized that Rose is cranky and mom is cranky and an intervention needed to be done. Throughout pregnancy and post I have read up on different "methods" of how to get your child to sleep through the night and thought..."don't worry she will sleep through the night on her own." Many, many people gave me advice after answering the dreaded question but I just thought I would never have to try them because tonight would be the night she would do it. Well, maybe it would've been tomorrow night but here we are. I recently talk with my sister-in-law who needed help with Nano. She tried the "cry it out" method (basically and barbarically letting them cry and to not go into the room unless they were hurt or the house was on fire) and found much success. We decided, hey lets try it for two nights and see where we are. (Please remember that Rose is 8 months and, lets face it doesn't need to be eating around the clock, and from what I have read, this technique should not be used on babies that are under 11 lbs or 4 months old).

So, we are in night one....wakes at 11:57 screams....12:07 I look at the clock and can't believe it has only been 10 minutes...12:10 decide to make this post...12:20 still screaming...12:37 she is unbelievably not crying anymore....12:38 I sneeze and wait for the baby's reaction...12:38 1/2 no reaction...12:41 still quiet and I look in to make sure she is okay...12:42 Rose is sitting hunched over asleep...go get the hub to make fun of Rose for sleeping sitting up...12:45 hub carefully lays Rose on her side...1:00 maybe I will go to bed and let you know how the rest of the night turned out later.

Well, here we are...SUCCESS! Rose slept until 5:30 and I did feed her for two reasons: I was feeling sorry for my baby who hadn't gone this long without nursing since she was in the womb, and two because I was going to explode. Then she slept until 8!

Thanks E for the advice! It is always easier when another trusted momma gives you some personal advice and support. I will update in a few weeks to see where we are.

10 comments:

Sarah B. said...

Good job! I am so glad you got some sleep. That cry-it-out is HARD, HARD, HARD. But worth it in the end...at least for us anyway. Happy sleeping!

Katielin317 said...

Oh man...That whole sleeping business is never fun. ANd it seems that once I finally get the baby to sleep well, and all night, he starts cutting a tooth or something. And the poor sleep habits pop up again. Blah! But I'll take every night of full rest that I can get:) I'm glad that you got some good sleep!! It makes all the difference:)

em said...

YAY! I'm so glad it worked! Hope it keeps up. And man, what, she cried for just under an hour? Good job, ROSE! And parents, of course :) I knew you could do it!!

Hoss.Rose.MiniB said...

Congrats! Funny that as kids we want to stay up late with the big people, but then as grown ups we just want to sleep through the night!

The Little's said...

Yay! Get ready for drastic improvements in mood...really...that sleeping thing works wonders on your overall disposition...at least it did for me!

Kristin said...

Woot woot! That's awesome!

Tiffany said...

Congrats! That's a huge accomplishment! It is SOOOO hard to do the "cry it out" thing, but so worth it in the end. I hope each night keeps getting better.

Katielin317 said...

Hey! In answer to your question, Kai sits right in front of me and his seat straddles the cross bar...well, there's a cross bar you install that attaches to the front of the bike and under the bike seat and THAT is what his seat attaches to. We would HIGHLY recommend this seat!! Kent used to take Emmie "mountain" biking on local hills and stuff and one time his front tire sunk into some mud, and they both toppled over, but Kent could completely protect her because she was right there in front of him instead of exposed, behind him. Not mention, the babies just have so much fun with the wind in their face, getting to see and experience it all. Oh, and we're pretty sure that that's part of the reason Emmie has such great balance on a bike now. She started riding a trike loooong before all of her buddies and then went to training wheels long before them too. She's very average in most things, but she is way ahead in bikeriding:) We're pretty proud of that:) he he he... Sorry, that was a long response:) Take care!

jenn said...

ohh. it makes me actually feel relieved to know that she is sleeping through the night. it is MISERABLE when they don't. baden typically does, but right now he's been teething. can't wait until we can have seperate rooms!!!!!!

Tiffany said...

Ah! Reading that post made we want to cry too:)...I'm no mamma but I hear letting them cry can be the best thing...I just can't imagine being the one listening to it. I proud of you for holding strong. Yeah, for sleeping through the night!