What a difference a couple days make.
Yes, I still feel guilty about letting him cry on Friday. But he knows how to fall asleep now, and he keeps getting better at it. Yesterday, I told Sara The Wonder Nanny that she was to put him in his crib awake. This elicited a deer-in-the-headlights look of fear. But I told her to give it a try.
Not only did he go down, he did so quickly and with no crying or fussing. Then he did it again for his afternoon nap. This is amazing.
Now Eric is not a fussy guy in general. That's part of why it was such a heart-wrenching decision to let him cry. He only cries when he's trying to tell me something is wrong, and I was terrified I'd break that covenant with him. He cries, I try to fix whatever is bothering him. But we were getting nowhere with his sleeping.
Last night he went down with nary a peep. I sat in the glider in the corner. He thrashes around until he achieves the perfect frog position, his legs tucked neatly underneath him with his tushy sticking up in the air. Then he picks up his head to check and see if I'm there, and he falls asleep. A day ago, I had to stand over his crib stroking his hair and help him stay focused. Now I just do that if he forgets to lie down. I sit and make the occasional shusshing noise and presto! He falls asleep. But now he stays asleep until close to 2:00 AM, and that folks is the medical definition of a baby sleeping through the night.
Then last night he came in bed with me an nursed and he proceeded to thrash around. It's so cute. One of the positions he tries is leaning back on Rich resting his head sideways, arms akimbo. He looks like a dude in a movie theater trying to look casual as he attempts to cop a feel. It's especially cute if he leans back on his dad and yawns.
But last night I thought, "If he's going to thrash, he may as well thrash in the crib, because there's no way I'm falling asleep before he does at this rate." So, I recribified him, stood over him for a few minutes and then worked my way to the glider and dozed while he got himself back to sleep. Then I went back to bed. At five he woke up. (He usually nurses around 5, but I'd rather he did it after 6:30 when it's officially OK to get us up.) So, I sat there dozing in my chair and it was about half an hour from start to finish and he was down again with no crying, just some thrashing. It was pretty amazing. A week ago, he was waking me up every 2 hours to nurse, and now he seems OK sleeping in his crib.
Tonight, I think I'll nurse him in his room at 2, and put him back down in the crib. I could probably make him sleep completely through the night with no nursing, but I don't want to push for that until he's one. But that will be in about six weeks, so it's good that we're working toward that.
Yes, I still feel guilty about letting him cry on Friday. But he knows how to fall asleep now, and he keeps getting better at it. Yesterday, I told Sara The Wonder Nanny that she was to put him in his crib awake. This elicited a deer-in-the-headlights look of fear. But I told her to give it a try.
Not only did he go down, he did so quickly and with no crying or fussing. Then he did it again for his afternoon nap. This is amazing.
Now Eric is not a fussy guy in general. That's part of why it was such a heart-wrenching decision to let him cry. He only cries when he's trying to tell me something is wrong, and I was terrified I'd break that covenant with him. He cries, I try to fix whatever is bothering him. But we were getting nowhere with his sleeping.
Last night he went down with nary a peep. I sat in the glider in the corner. He thrashes around until he achieves the perfect frog position, his legs tucked neatly underneath him with his tushy sticking up in the air. Then he picks up his head to check and see if I'm there, and he falls asleep. A day ago, I had to stand over his crib stroking his hair and help him stay focused. Now I just do that if he forgets to lie down. I sit and make the occasional shusshing noise and presto! He falls asleep. But now he stays asleep until close to 2:00 AM, and that folks is the medical definition of a baby sleeping through the night.
Then last night he came in bed with me an nursed and he proceeded to thrash around. It's so cute. One of the positions he tries is leaning back on Rich resting his head sideways, arms akimbo. He looks like a dude in a movie theater trying to look casual as he attempts to cop a feel. It's especially cute if he leans back on his dad and yawns.
But last night I thought, "If he's going to thrash, he may as well thrash in the crib, because there's no way I'm falling asleep before he does at this rate." So, I recribified him, stood over him for a few minutes and then worked my way to the glider and dozed while he got himself back to sleep. Then I went back to bed. At five he woke up. (He usually nurses around 5, but I'd rather he did it after 6:30 when it's officially OK to get us up.) So, I sat there dozing in my chair and it was about half an hour from start to finish and he was down again with no crying, just some thrashing. It was pretty amazing. A week ago, he was waking me up every 2 hours to nurse, and now he seems OK sleeping in his crib.
Tonight, I think I'll nurse him in his room at 2, and put him back down in the crib. I could probably make him sleep completely through the night with no nursing, but I don't want to push for that until he's one. But that will be in about six weeks, so it's good that we're working toward that.
posted by Margaret at 12:35 PM
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