...is a really, really good sleeper.
That is, she's a really good sleeper when you don't totally upend her schedule, stick her in a playpen to sleep in a strange place for two weeks, then switch her back to her crib in another new, unfamiliar place.
Which is exactly what we did a month ago.
Mix that with the fact that the kid could only sleep after she was straight-jacket swaddled along with being bounced and rocked just right, and you can imagine what our first couple of nights were like in our new house. The second night we were here, I was up with her all. night. long. She'd cry, I'd get up, re-swaddle her (This took serious skill and muscles. Have you seen this kid? Receiving blankets were not meant to wrap around a 15-pound 5-month old.), and bounce...and bounce... and bounce. She'd finally fall asleep, I'd lay her down, and two seconds later, she was squeezing her arms out of her blanket and wailing away.
I'd had enough. I know that the poor girl was just confused about being in another brand-new place. I know she probably would have adjusted after a few nights. But I was sleep deprived and frustrated and fed up with the swaddling and bouncing routine anyways.
So the next night, we went cold turkey. Bedtime came and I wrapped her from the armpits down with her arms free (like in the picture), gave her a kiss, turned out the lights, and let her cry.
Do you know how long she cried? An hour. An hour, people! Longest hour of my life. I had no idea I could feel so guilty. I had to turn on some music to drown her out and busy myself with some cleaning. But I stuck with it, and to my amazement, she did indeed fall asleep. By herself. No bouncing. No swaddling.
The point of the story and the reason why this is my happy thing today is that it still works. She still cries for a minute right when I put her down, but then she's off to dreamland. I no longer have to spend 15 minutes getting her to sleep. I don't have to find a place to lay her down to swaddle her in inconvenient places like church. And I can feel relieved knowing my baby can soothe herself to sleep. Awesome!
(I know a lot of moms are opposed to "crying it out." I totally understand that. This is just what happened to work well for us.)
Yay that she can go to sleep on her own now! Letting them cry is so hard, but sometimes that's the only way it'll work for some kids (and parents).
ReplyDeleteGood for you Natalie, and I don't think you have to apologize to other parents. You are doing a great job!
ReplyDeleteI had to do the same thing with Emi, but it took a little longer for her to figure it out. It does make ya feel bad but we all sleep a whole lot better!
ReplyDeleteps The picture of Ellie on the side of your blog is super cute! :)
Isn't it amazing how quickly they learn!?! Once we finally let Zachy scream it out, he was a great sleeper within 2 days! Way to go Nat! It's worth it, but definitely hard!
ReplyDeleteNo apologizing. That's great for you! It does seem like forever when they have to cry it out, but it really is for the best for everyone.
ReplyDeleteHow did I miss this post?! That's awesome that she's sleeping better! Here's my only hold up on letting mine cry- our neighbors. I'm terrified that we'll have bullets flying through our ceiling or floor. I started swaddling them like the picture of Ellie and at least then they can't break out of it and wake themselves up. Our issue is feeding. They still wake up at least once (but sometimes twice) between midnight and 6 to eat. I'd really like to make that stop. Letting them cry themselves to sleep has worked a couple nights, and sometimes I'll only feed them 2 oz just to get them back to sleep. They're starving come 7, but I hope that slowly they'll start learning to eat more during the day and less at night.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's my ridiculously long comment for the day... sorry... :)