Wednesday, March 17, 2010

One Hour....

That's how long Jack cried last night before falling asleep.

We had tried "No Cry Sleep Solution", and "The Babywhisperer". Neither of them worked. Some nights he would sleep 8 hours straight, and some nights we were up shushing, and swaying and rocking all night with him. I said I would never let Jack "cry it out", but after trying everything, and countless nights with no sleep, I finally came to the decision that if he cried last night, we were letting him.

So off to bed at 7:30 like normal, and he was out within 2 minutes. The crying started at 11:00 pm. After what seemed like 5 hours (5 minutes) I went in and pat his chest while telling him he was doing a “great job”. This went on for an hour. He finally whimpered his way to sleep at 12:00 am. He did wake again at 3:30 for a quick bottle and he was right back to sleep.

I have to say it was so tough. I cried. I wondered if he was hungry, or needed me to hold him. But I went in his room every 5 minutes and held his hand or rubbed his chest, and he (and I) made it.  I know in the long run this will only make things easier. Prior to this, he needed us to pat him or sing or rock or shush for him to sleep. Keeping that up might mean years of patting, shushing, rocking; and no sleep for us.


This morning I woke to a smiling, laughing happy baby. If Jack was “mad” mad at us. He was over it very quickly. I only hope tonight is better.


That being said….I got a new camera. I am learning new things everyday and I hope to get better and better.
And hey, doesn’t love a baby in a basket????



8 comments:

Frugal Vicki said...

Oh my gosh! I love that second picture, that is too stinking cute!

liz said...

It's hard, but just a few days of "tough love", and it will make a huge difference! We followed the Sleep Lady (good night, sleep tight by kim west), and she's considered to be the most gentle approach around. Good luck!

Karen said...

I feel your pain. Mine boycotts sleep, too. I'm close to trying CIO but still not yet. I did with my first and he started sleeping all night after 2 nights of it. But he was also over 6 months old, so I'm still waiting. I miss sleep.

Amie said...

I hope things get better for you soon. I just have to say, he is such a cutie!

justicecw said...

Adorable!
I am a new follower from MBC.
Christine from Cute Stuff
http://justicecwscutestuff.blogspot.com

Erin said...

Your little boy is SO adorable, I think so every time I see you on the Bump!

Letting your baby cry is definitely hard, but I believe in the tough love approach, too. Babies need to learn to put themselves to sleep - they'll be much better off for it in the long run! We did a few nights of letting our little guy cry and he's been sleeping like a champ ... hope it continues! Good luck!

Aleksandra Nearing said...

He's adorable. We didn't do "cry it out" till ours was 9 months and luckily it went well. But despite that, our daughter didn't "sleep through the night" till 18 months of age. I guess we've gotten used to the wake-up calls :)

Anne said...

Believe me when I tell you that sleep training is the hardest thing you will ever do but the BEST thing you will ever do. My son went from the worst sleeper in the world to the best sleeper in the world because we did CIO. Honestly. Stick with it!!! You will be so glad you did!!!